Other names Florence Rita Moore Role Film actress Name Dennie Moore | Years active 1927–1957 Occupation Actress | |
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Full Name Deena Rivka Moore Born December 30, 1902 ( 1902-12-30 ) New York City, New York, U.S. Died February 22, 1978, New York City, New York, United States Parents Oren Moore, Gabriella Gefen Movies The Women, Dive Bomber, Angel, Bachelor Mother, Saturday's Children Similar People Florence Nash, Lloyd Bacon, Cora Witherspoon, George Cukor, Garson Kanin | ||
Dennie Moore (December 30, 1902 – February 22, 1978) was an American film and stage actress.
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Early life
Moore was born in New York City on December 30, 1902, as Florence Rita Moore, to Scottish-Irish immigrant parents and raised in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. Her brother, Joe Moore, was an Olympic champion speed skater, and she had two step-sisters and one step-brother. She received six years of schooling.
Career
In the late 1920s, she decided to pursue an acting career, using the name Dennie Moore to avoid confusion with the actress Florence Moore. Starting in 1927 she appeared on Broadway in such plays as A Lady in Love, The Trial of Mary Dugan, Cross Roads, Torch Song, Twentieth Century, Phantoms, Conflict, Anatol, and Jarnegan. She also appeared in productions in Chicago, Illinois and London, England.
In 1935 Moore arrived in Hollywood and made her screen debut in an uncredited role in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn film, Sylvia Scarlett for RKO Radio Pictures. She was primarily a freelance actress and floated between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. Studios. In the course of her film career, she appeared in twenty-two films between 1935 and 1951, including Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Women (1939), Saturday's Children (1940), Dive Bomber (1941), and Anna Lucasta (1949).
By the mid-1940s, Moore found herself getting less work in Hollywood, but more parts on the New York stage. In 1951, she made her last screen appearance as Mrs. Bea Gingras in The Model and the Marriage Broker. Moving back to New York City, she made one final performance onstage, creating the role of Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank. In 1956, she retired from acting altogether at the age of 54.
Later life and death
In 1977 David Ragan wrote in Who's Who in Hollywood that Moore" is retired, lives alone at an excellent hotel on Park Avenue, and is in her late 60s." Moore died of natural causes at age 75 on February 22, 1978 in her Manhattan apartment. She left no immediate survivors. She was cremated and her ashes scattered off her balcony. By the time of Moore's death, she was so forgotten that no obituaries were ever published.