Dolores Gillen

Dorlores Gillen ( Gillen was the daughter of Dr. B. J. Gillen, a physician, and his wife, Mary. She had a sister and two brothers. with an A. B. degree in dramatics. She also specialized in dramatics while graduating with a master's degree from the University of Kansas. She developed a technique of imitating a crying baby by the way she used a folded handkerchief over her mouth. while she was portraying an ingenue on a serial on NBC radio. When a baby's cry was supposed to be heard on one episode, the sound-effects people could not find the appropriate recording. Gillen volunteered to supply the cry, and she did it so well that thereafter the director used her cries instead of the recording.

She portrayed a 9-month-old boy on Front Page Farrell, a 4-year-old girl on Stella Dallas, 2-year-old Sammy on When a Girl Marries, 5-year-old Barry on Joyce Jordan, Girl Interne, 18-month-old Jackie on Kate Hopkins, 5-year-old Peter Alden on Against the Storm, the baby on Helpmate, one twin on Pepper Young's Family both twins in Abie's Irish Rose, and Skippy on Right to Happiness.

She was also heard on Mommie and the Men, The Romance of Helen Trent, Fish Tales, Princess Pat Players, Today's Children, The Play's the Thing, Dr. Christian, and Life Can Be Beautiful.

Personal life and death Gillen married attorney Vincent Paul Downey on June 15, 1940, in Chicago. Late in 1946 or early in 1947, Gillen decided to stop performing on radio because she was suffering from headaches. Brain specialists determined that a tumor was causing that pain, and they recommended surgery. She died on December 8, 1947, in New York Hospital after an operation.