Lillian Bohny (born Bertha Eugenie Bohny; May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997), known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.
Early life and career Dove was born Bertha Eugenie Bohny in New York City in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagl) Bohny, both immigrants from Switzerland. She had a younger brother, Charles Reinhardt Bohny (1906–1963). As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his Ziegfeld Follies Revue. She legally changed her name to Lillian Bohny in the early 1920s and moved to Hollywood, where she began appearing in silent films. She soon became one of the more popular actresses of the 1920s, appearing in Douglas Fairbanks' smash hit Technicolor film The Black Pirate (1926), as Rodeo West in The Painted Angel (1929), and The American Beauty (1927).
She married Irvin Willat, the director of her seventh film, in 1923. The two divorced in 1929. Dove had a legion of male fans; one of her more persistent was Howard Hughes. She had a three-year romance with Hughes and was engaged to marry him, but she ended the relationship.
Hughes cast her as a comedienne in his film Cock of the Air (1932). She also appeared in his movie The Age for Love (1931).
Dove was also a pilot, poet, and painter.
Early retirement Following her last film, Blondie of the Follies (1932), Dove retired from the screen to be with her family. She married wealthy oil executive Robert Alan Kenaston in 1935, a marriage that lasted for 35 years until his death in 1970. The couple had a son, Robert Alan Kenaston, Jr., who married actress Claire Kelly and died in 1995 from cancer, and an adopted daughter, Gail who briefly married media mogul Merv Adelson.Los Angeles Times: "Gail Adelson; Hostess, Home Designer to the Stars" by Myrna Oliver February 22, 1999 Billie Dove later had a brief third marriage, in 1973, to architect John Miller, which ended in divorce.
Last years Aside from a cameo in Diamond Head (1963), Dove never returned to the movies. She spent her retirement years in Rancho Mirage, then moved to the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California where she died of pneumonia on New Year's Eve 1997, aged 94.
She is interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.
Legacy Dove has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6351 Hollywood Blvd.
Jazz singer Billie Holiday took her professional pseudonym from Dove as an admirer of the actress.
Filmography Year Title Role Note1921 Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford Dorothy Wells Lost film At the Stage DoorMary Mathews Lost film1922 Polly of the Follies Alysia Potter Lost film Trailer survives Beyond the Rainbow Marion Taylor A copy is held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive Youth to Youth Eve Allison Lost film One Week of Love Bathing Party Guest Lost film Uncredited 1923 All the Brothers Were Valiant Priscilla Holt Lost film Madness of Youth Nanette Benning Lost film Soft Boiled The Girl A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum The Lone Star Ranger Helen Longstreth Lost film The Thrill Chaser Olala Ussan Lost film1924 On Time Helen Hendon Lost film Try and Get It Rhoda Perrin A copy is held at the Library of Congress Yankee Madness Dolores Lost film Wanderer of the WastelandRuth Virey Lost film filmed in Technicolor The Roughneck Felicity Arden Lost film The Folly of Vanity Alice A copy is held at the Czech Film Archive1925 The Air Mail Alice Rendon An incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress The Light of Western Stars Madeleine Hammond Lost film Wild Horse Mesa Sue Melberne The Lucky Horseshoe Eleanor Hunt A copy is preserved at the Museum of Modern Art The Fighting HeartDoris Anderson Lost film The Ancient Highway Antoinette St. Ives Lost film1926 The Black Pirate Princess Isobel Filmed in Technicolor The Lone Wolf ReturnsMarcia Mayfair A copy is held at the George Eastman Museum The Marriage Clause Sylvia Jordan An incomplete copy is held at the Library of Congress Kid Boots Eleanore Belmore A copy is held at the Library of Congress1927 An Affair of the Follies Tamara Lost film Sensation Seekers Luena "Egypt" Hagen The Tender Hour Marcia Kane The Stolen BrideSari The American Beauty Millicent Howard Lost film The Love Mart Antoinette Frobelle Lost film1928 The Heart of a Follies Girl Teddy O'Day Lost film Yellow LilyJudith Peredy A copy is held at the BFI National Archive Night Watch Yvonne Corlaix A copy is held at the Cineteca Italiana Adoration Elena A copy is held at the Czech Film Archive1929 Careers Hélène Gromaire The Man and the Moment Joan Winslow Her Private Life Lady Helen Haden The Painted Angel Mammie Hudler Lost film; Vitaphone track survives 1930 The Other Tomorrow Edith Larrison Lost film A Notorious Affair Patricia Hanley Sweethearts and WivesFemme de Chambre One Night at Susie's Mary Martin1931 The Lady Who Dared Margaret Townsend The Age for Love Jean Hurt Lost film1932 Cock of the Air Lili de Rosseau Blondie of the FolliesLottie 1962 Diamond Head Herself Cameo role
References Other sources including the California registry of births and deaths cite 1900 or 1901 as her year of birth, although the 1910 census supports 1903 as her year of birth, as does her entry in the New York City Birth Registry. Drew, William M. Billie Dove profile , The Lady in the Main Title: On the Twenties and Thirties. Vestal Press, 1997. Wagner, Bruce. "Moving Pictures", Annals of Hollywood, The New Yorker. July 20, 1998, p. 54.
"Billie Dove (1903–1997)", Goldensilents.com. Retrieved February 17, 2015. Kliment, Bud. Billie Holiday. Holloway House Publishing, 1990, p. 29. .
External links
Photographs and bibliography for Billie Dove, film.virtual-history.com; accessed February 17, 2015.