Actress. She is best remembered for her portrayal of the straightforward Virginia Bauche in "The Last Gangster" (1937). Born into a prominent family, the youngest of three children of a successful lawyer and well-respected socialite, after attending private schools in the state of New York, she was strongly encouraged by her peers to pursue a career in acting due to her consistent praise of effective readings at assemblies and social functions. Following the completion of her higher education at the University of Syracuse, she began her career in stock companies traveling around the nation. While attending a casting call for bit players, she was discovered by director Jack Conway. Impressed by her blonde good looks, slim physique, and charming poise, he took notice of her potential and arranged for her to begin a career in the film industry beginning with her being under his supervision per a supporting role in "Flying High" (1931). From there, she would go on to appear in 20 feature films and became a familiar character actress; often typecast as girlfriends, chorines, manicurists, secretaries, nurses, waitresses, typists, retail clerks, debutantes, torch singers, glamour dolls, and playgirls. She appeared in such feature films as "Dinner at Eight" (1933), "Footlight Parade" (1933), "Let's Talk it Over" (1934), "Kid Millions" (1934), "The Man With Two Faces" (1934), "Redheads on Parade" (1935), "Two-Fisted" (1935), "Born to Dance" (1936), "Bad Guy" (1937), "Saratoga" (1937), "The Shopworn Angel" (1938), "The Women" (1939), and "A Night in Casablanca" (1946). In addition, she also was prolific on the stage appearing in over 70 productions, some of which included "Street Scene," "All This and Heaven Too," "Blithe Spirit," "Private Lives," "Dubarry Was a Lady," "The Philadelphia Story," "Our Town," "Romeo and Juliet," "And Then There Were None," "The Mousetrap," "Long Day's Journey into Night," "Of Human Bondage," "Wuthering Heights," "Oklahoma!," "Lady in the Dark," "Pal Joey," "One Touch of Venus," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Glass Menagerie," "Hello, Dolly!," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Mame," and "Follies". During her career, she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was an honorary member of Actors Equity, was a model for photographer Paul Hesse, had been the official stand-in for fellow actress Jean Harlow, had been an active parishioner of the Episcopal church, was a member of the Hollywood Republican Committee, presided as a chairwoman for her local charters of the American Red Cross and the Boys & Girls Clubs, and she was a theatrical instructor for the Neighborhood Playhouse. In 1985, Dees, who never married nor had any children, officially retired from acting in repertory theatre and after relocating to Florida, she spent the final years of her life being a generous benefactor for several libraries and hospitals, along with being focused on numerous religious and charitable causes, until her death from the complications of advanced age.
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Aug 2023. There is some kind of mix up regarding the Bio by: Lowell Thurgood and Mary Ella Dees the daughter of Arthur Guy Dees (1881 - 1924) and Ella Foster (1886 - 1965).
Arthur Guy 'Sony' Dees was a house carpenter, not a well to do lawyer [see US Census 1920 Cottondale, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA]. Mary Ella Dees had a half brother from a different father, and possibly a second half brother from a different mother. It is unlikely that Mary Ella Dees of Tuscaloosa attended Syracuse.
If Mary Dees the actress was from Alabama, then the bio listed here has some inaccuracies that should be corrected. But if the biography is correct about Mary Dees coming from a well to do family, then there may be a case here of mistaken identity between two different people named Mary Dees.
Mr. Thurgood unfortunately can't be engaged to discuss the discrepancies since he is deceased.
I hope that someone will be able to do the research needed to rewrite this bio some time in the future.
Glen FIND A GRAVE ID 47219659.