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Doris Kenyon
Kenyon in 1926
Born	(1897-09-05)September 5, 1897 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Died	September 1, 1979(1979-09-01) (aged 81) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1915–1962
Spouses	Milton Sills ​ ​ (m. 1926; died 1930)​ Arthur Hopkins ​ ​ (m. 1933; ann. 1934)​ Albert D. Lasker ​ ​ (m. 1938; div. 1939)​ Bronislaw Mlynarski ​ ​ (m. 1947; died 1971)​ [1]
Children	1
Relatives	Raymond T. Kenyon (brother)

Doris Margaret Kenyon^{[citation needed]} (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1979) was an American actress of film and television.

She grew up inSyracuse, New York, where her family had a home at 1805 Harrison Street. Her father, Dr. James B. Kenyon, was aMethodist Episcopal Church minister at University Church. Kenyon studied at Packer College Institute and later atColumbia University. She sang in the choirs of Grace Presbyterian and Bushwick Methodist Churches inBrooklyn, New York. Her brother was a dentist and New York assemblymanRaymond T. Kenyon.^[2]

Her voice attracted the attention ofBroadway theatrical scouts who enticed her to become a performer on the stage. In 1915 she first appeared as a chorus girl in theVictor Herbert operettaThe Princess Pat.^[3]

In 1915, she made her first film,The Rack, withWorld Film Company ofFort Lee, New Jersey. One of the most remembered^{[by whom?]} films of her early career isMonsieur Beaucaire (1924). In this production, she starred oppositeRudolph Valentino. She and her husband, Milton Sills, starred inThe Unguarded Hour for First National Pictures (1925). Laura Wood, a star swimmer and wife of Gaylord Wood, First National Pictures cinematographer, doubled for her swimming scenes because she couldn't swim.

Kenyon's first sound film wasThe Home Towners (1928). She also starred inParamount Pictures' first talking film,Interference (1928).^[3]

Kenyon was cast opposite actorGeorge Arliss in two films:Alexander Hamilton (1931) andVoltaire (1933). She participated inCounsellor at Law (1933) withJohn Barrymore. In the autumn of 1935, Doris appeared withRamon Novarro in the playA Royal Miscarriage inLondon.

Kenyon's film career ended with a cameo inThe Man in the Iron Mask (1939).

Kenyon's performances as a singer grew out of an evening in New York when a manager of concert artists heard her sing at home for some friends. Afterward, he worked with her to arrange a tour. Singing eventually became an outlet for expressing her feelings after her first husband's death.^[4] Asoprano, she performed in Detroit as part of the Town Hall Series and in Phoenix as part of the All-Star Artists Series, among others.^[5]

Kenyon's concerts featured more than vocal performances. Her "Lyrical Silhouettes" tour in 1933 included "characterizations presented in a half-dozen or more foreign languages and dialects."^[6] A variety of costumes supplemented the music in the program's segments.^[6]

Kenyon played Ann Cooper in the soap operaCrossroads on NBC in the 1940s.^[7]

Kenyon continued her acting career in television in the 1950s. She was cast in episodes ofThe Secret Storm (1954),Schlitz Playhouse of Stars and77 Sunset Strip.

Kenyon was married four times.

• Her first husband was the actorMilton Sills. She wed Sills on October 12, 1926.^[3] She was widowed in 1930. She had one son with Sills, Kenyon Clarence Sills, born in 1927.^{[citation needed]}
• She married New York real estate broker Arthur Hopkins in 1933. The two divorced the following year, citing incompatibility.^{[citation needed]}
• In 1938 Doris marriedAlbert D. Lasker, owner ofLord & Thomas, an advertising agency. They divorced in 1939.^{[citation needed]}
• Her final marriage was to musician Bronislaw Mlynarski in 1947.^[3] He was the son of composerEmil Młynarski and the brother-in-law ofArthur Rubinstein.^{[citation needed]}

Doris Kenyon died on September 1, 1979, at her home in Beverly Hills, California of cardiac arrest.^[8]

In 1922, a newborn girl, Doris Kappelhoff, was named after Kenyon. Kappelhoff grew up to be singer and actressDoris Day. Many years later, Day purchased a home in Beverly Hills that was "a few houses away from [Kenyon's], on the very same street."^[9]

Silent

Sound

Bibliography

• "Doris Kenyon Sills Dies, Known On and Off Screen".Los Angeles Times. September 10, 1979. p. B18.
• "Doris Kenyon and Hopkins To Be Married".Syracuse Herald. April 15, 1933. p. 2.
• "Will Play In England".Syracuse Herald. June 27, 1935. p. 14.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDoris Kenyon.

• Doris Kenyon atIMDb
• Doris Kenyon at theInternet Broadway Database
• Doris Kenyon atFind a Grave
• Doris Kenyon at Virtual History

• Methodists from New York (state)
• 20th-century American actresses
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• American silent film actresses
• American vaudeville performers
• Actresses from Syracuse, New York
• 1897 births
• 1979 deaths
• Columbia University alumni
• 20th-century American singers
• 20th-century American women singers

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