Dorothy Comingore

Margaret Louise Comingore (August 24, 1913 – December 30, 1971), known professionally as Dorothy Comingore, was an American stage and film actress. When starting out in minor film roles, she was billed as Linda Winters. Before that, she appeared on stage and on radio as Kay Winters. Her breakthrough as an actress came when she starred as Susan Alexander Kane in Citizen Kane, the critically acclaimed debut film of Orson Welles. However, her acting career was ended prematurely in 1951 by the Hollywood blacklist. The following year she refused to answer questions or "name names" when called before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Early years Margaret Louise Comingore was born in Los Angeles, but spent most of her childhood in Oakland, California. Her father William Paxton Comingore was an electrotyper. He was also a union organizer, which influenced her political education. Her older sister Lucille operated a San Francisco nightclub. Comingore attended the University of California, Berkeley where she studied philosophy.

Film career She lived for a while in Taos, New Mexico, and then returned to California to work in the theater. Chaplin was impressed with both of them and urged them to relocate to Hollywood. Whether Chaplin played a significant role in Comingore's subsequent film career is questionable. In an April 1938 profile in the Oakland Tribune, she denied being his protégé and indicated that press reports had exaggerated the limited contact she had with him and one of his assistants, Tim Durant. Her performance garnered glowing reviews. The Los Angeles Times singled out Comingore as "an important acquisition for pictures". The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she "is put through a range of emotions that would try any actress one could name, but she delivers without a second's let-down. Citizen Kane should make this girl a star."

In demand from other studios but denied loanouts by her new studio employer, RKO Pictures, Comingore fell ill, was ordered to go on bed rest, was suspended by RKO, and found no suitable work on her return. William Randolph Hearst's newspapers had meanwhile damaged her reputation by claiming she possessed Communist leanings. She ended up on a government watch list for "distributing Communist literature to negroes." and promoted "union solidarity". A few years later, when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) gained ascendancy, and the FBI had amassed a "thick" file on her political activities, she became a target.

Comingore's supposed CPUSA connections harmed her in the highly publicized legal battle she waged against her ex-husband, screenwriter Richard J. Collins, for custody of their son and daughter. As a result of his cooperative testimony, and because Comingore was accused of being an unfit mother, he won the custody battle. She did appear in the film version of the Eugene O'Neill play The Hairy Ape (1944) with William Bendix, Susan Hayward, and John Loder. Comingore's last movie credit was a supporting role in The Big Night (1951).

Her career effectively came to a halt in 1951 when she was victimized by the Hollywood blacklist. The following year, she was summoned to testify before the HUAC about her reputed CPUSA connections. She opted to be an "unfriendly witness" who declined on constitutional grounds to answer questions or name names. She was then accused in child custody hearings of being a heavy drinker, and on March 19, 1953, she was arrested for "solicitation", i.e., prostitution, in West Hollywood. The arrest was suspected by some to have been a frameup orchestrated by the local L.A. vice squad in coordination with the HUAC. Comingore shared this suspicion, asserting in the press shortly afterwards that her arrest was "part of my being an 'unfriendly witness.'" In exchange for having the solicitation charge dropped, she had to agree to be committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where she was institutionalized for approximately two years. A copy of the Comingore interview is in the Lilly Library collection at Indiana University Bloomington.

Personal life Comingore was married briefly in the late 1930s to actor-writer Robert Meltzer. She then married screenwriter Richard Collins. They had two children and were divorced in 1946. Her other husbands were screenwriter Theodore Strauss, Alcoholism was also believed to have shortened her life. Nolan was portrayed by Patricia Wettig.

Radio credits

Date Title Episode Notes June 12, 1938 Warner Bros. Academy Theatre "Desirable" Credited as Kay Winters June 26, 1938 Warner Bros. Academy Theatre "The House on 56th Street" Credited as Kay Winters

Film and television credits

Year Title Role Notes 1938 Campus Cinderella Co-ed Uncredited, Short film 1938 Prison Train Credited as Linda Winters 1938 Trade Winds Ann Credited as Linda Winters 1939 Coast Guard Nurse Credited as Linda Winters 1939 Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise June Jenkins Short film, credited as Linda Winters 1939 Scandal Sheet Credited as Linda Winters 1941 Citizen Kane 1952 Rebound (TV) Dotty One episode, "The Losers" 1952 (TV) One episode, "The Red Wig"