Dorothy Gordon
Andrea in 1941
Born
Dorothy Hetty Fosbery Jenner

1 March 1891
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died24 March 1985 (aged 94)
Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia
Other namespen name Andrea
Occupations
  • Actress
  • journalist
  • broadcaster
  • art director

Dorothy Hetty Fosbery Jenner OBE (1 March 1891 – 24 March 1985), also known as Dorothy Gordon, was an Australian actress, journalist, and radio broadcaster. She was an actress in Hollywood and she played the lead in the silent Australian film Hills of Hate in 1926. She is best known for her long career as a columnist and radio commentator under the name Andrea. She was a prisoner of war in Hong Kong during World War II.[1][2]

Life

Gordon was born in 1891. Her parents were Dora Ellen (born Fosbury) and her husband William Alexander Gordon. Her mother was born in Melbourne and her father, who was a station manager, was born in India. She enjoyed her education although the academic parts were not her main interest. She was tutored privately until they lived in Sydney when she went to local schools including the Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School. She had more teaching before she went to the UK where she enjoyed an indulgent social life.[2] In 1912 she was in Melbourne as a chorus girl.[3] She created a business making dresses. This led to her further involvement with show business as she assisted James Cassius Williamson's company organise a show to raise funds for the war.[2]

Dorothy Gordon in Hills of Hate

In 1915 she went to Hollywood where she spent ten years taking bit parts and reviving her dressmaking skills. She had two unsuccessful marriages. The first was to Murray Eugene McEwen who she said enjoyed other women and alcohol. The second to George Onesiphorus Jenner was also brief. In 1925 she was back in Australia with the last name of Jenner.[2] She played the lead in the (now lost) Australian film Hills of Hate in 1926.[3] In the following year she was employed to do the art direction on the expensive Austalian film For the Term of His Natural Life.[2]

She is best known for her long career as a columnist and radio commentator under the name Andrea. This name was chosen at random to accompany an account she wrote of observing a bullfight in Spain while on a European tour. She later continued her popular column after she went to the USA.[2]

Gordon was a prisoner of war in Hong Kong during World War II where she gained a deep voice after damaging a vocal chord.[1][2]

She returned to journalism for different newspapers before moving to radio including a show on 2GB. She was made an OBE in 1968 and co-wrote her biography in 1975.[4]

Death and legacy

She died at her home on 24 March 1985. Andrea Place, in the Canberra suburb of Bonython, is named in her honour.[5]

Partial filmography

References

  1. 1 2 Christina Twomey, Australia's Forgotten Prisoners: Civilians Interned by the Japanese in World War Two (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Griffen-Foley, Bridget, 'Jenner, Dorothy Hetty Fosbury (Andrea) (1891–1985)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University accessed 11 January 2012
  3. 1 2 "Dorothy Gordon – Women Film Pioneers Project". wfpp.columbia.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "ANDREA: Darlings l've had a ball!". Australian Women's Weekly. 8 October 1975. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "Australian Capital Territory National Memorials Ordinance 1928 Determination — Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Periodic (National : 1977–2011), p.3". Trove. 31 August 1988. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
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