Little Known Spaghetti Western actors ~ Dorothy DeBorba

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Dorothy Adelle DeBorba was born in Los Angeles, California on March 28, 1925.She originated from a music background. Her mother was a singer and a dancer, and father was a drummer in the Paul Whiteman orchestra. Her first starring role was for “Men of the North” (1930), a movie directed by Hal Roach, who liked her so much he hired her to star in his Our Gang series. Despite her cute and curly hair appearance, she was a big tom-boy. In her first appearance, “Pups Is Pups”, she recalled having a lot of fun having to make thirty-seven takes jumping into a pool of mud, getting taken out, cleaned and redressed to do it again. However, in “Shiver My Timbers”, filmed at San Pedro Harbor, she got a splinter in her while sliding down a gangplank, and during a storm scene, she got wet inside a box that turned out not to be waterproof. She also recalls falling on the phony ice in “Spanky” and getting rammed by the goat in “Hook And Ladder”.

After three years of shorts, Dorothy entered the gawky age and was let go. She was the last Our Gang leading lady to serve multiple years until Darla Hood became a regular two years later. Director Robert F. McGowan advised her mother to wait before letting her star in any features, possibly to let Dorothy blossom into a young beautiful lady, but Hal Roach gave Dorothy a short scene in "Bombshell" with Jean Harlow. Afterward, Dorothy left acting altogether. She grew up, had two children and settled in Northern California. Before she retired, she was a senior clerk in the School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.

Dorothy became a member of the Sons of the Desert in 1980, loyally attending banquets in Los Angeles and International Conventions until her health no longer allowed her to travel. She was planning on attending the International Convention in Sacramento, when she passed away from emphysema and lung disease on June 2, 2010, in Walnut Creek, California at the age of 85..

Dorothy’s only Euro-western as mentioned above was “Men of the North” in 1930 a s a child.

DeBORBA, Dorothy (Dorothy Adelle DeBorba) [3/28/1925, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. – 6/2/2010, Walnut Creek, California, U.S.A. (emphysema)] – film actress, daughter of singer, dancer, film actress Lillian DeBorba [1898-1955], married to stuntman ? (1946-194?) mother of Richard Lawrence Haberreiter [1946-    ], married Max Ferdinand Haberreiter [1922-2005] (1950-1958) mother of Janet Sue Haberreiter [1952-    ].

Men of the North – 1930 (child)