Dorothy Lamour

Dorothy Lamour — born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton — American actress and singer best remembered for the Road comedies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, died at her home in Los Angeles on September 22, 1996. She was eighty-one. Born December 10, 1914, in New Orleans, she worked as a band singer and beauty-pageant winner before Hollywood cast her in sarong roles that made her a 1930s and 1940s box-office fixture. The Road to Singapore and its sequels paired her comic timing with Crosby's croon and Hope's wisecracks; she also headlined dramas and musicals and sold war bonds by the millions as a WWII pin-up and performer. Later she returned in cameo and stage work, never pretending the sarong was the whole story even when publicity insisted it was. Friends described a professional who knew exactly how much glamour the camera needed and how much craft the joke required. Los Angeles remained her long address after New Orleans beginnings. She died at home after a period of declining health, closing a career that had spanned radio, film, and nostalgia tours. She died in Los Angeles on September 22, 1996. Road-picture marathons still introduce her to viewers who recognize the smile before the credit. Lamour's gift was buoyant partnership — holding her own beside two of comedy's biggest stars without vanishing into the setup. Notice Nearby keeps the death date so September 22 remembers the New Orleans singer who became Hollywood's Road-picture constant.