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Famous and Infamous People, Leaders & Luminaries in Colorado Arts, Culture & Folklore

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• Dorothy Lamour - Famous film star Lamour reportedly got her start in the limelight as a chanteuse singing in the Cosmopolitan Hotel at Broadway and 17th Avenue in Denver. This was mentioned as an anecdote in a local denver newspaper and is not attributed or confirmed. Bio on the Internet Movie Database indicates she was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton 1914 December 10 in New Orleans, LA. She won the title "Miss New Orleans" in a beauty contest, then headed to Chicago in hopes of becoming a singer. She bacame a vocalist for the Herbie Kay band. Kay was her husband for four years. Dorothy then went on to many starring roles in films beginning with her Hollywood arrival in 1933. Altogether she appeared in at least 59 films. The movie Jungle Princess (1936) is attributed as her catapault to fame. She died 1996 September 22 in Los Angeles at the age of 81.
  - info source Internet Movie Database and others. For the deeply curious you might be able to get some local Denver bio info on Dorothy Lamour by checking newspaper microfilms at Denver Public Library looking for articles and obituaries appearing in the days after her death. The Cosmo' Hotel was imploded circa 1983.