In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator, band vocalist (for her first husband, bandleader Herbie Kaye) and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess, and continued to play a female Tarzan-Crusoe Gauguin-girl-with make-up through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road to ..." movies - a strange combination of adventure, slapstick, ad-libs and Hollywood inside jokes that became very popular. Of these she said, "I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business." As she aged, however, the quality of her films dropped. Among her serious films were Johnny Apollo and A Medal for Benny.
The Fleet's In (1942): $5,000/week
Aloma of the South Seas (1941): $5,000/week
Caught in the Draft (1941): $5,000/week
Road to Zanzibar (1941): $5,000/week
St. Louis Blues (1939): $1,500/week
Spawn of the North (1938): $1,500/week
Tropic Holiday (1938): $1,000/week

Femme fatale in the Bing Crosby - Bob Hope "Road" series of Paramount Pictures offerings from 1941 to 1953. In the final entry, The Road to Hong Kong, she appeared with Crosby and Hope but the femme fatale this time was Joan Collins. Miss New Orleans 1931. Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Enduring Faith section, lot 387, space 2. Derived her acting name name "Dorothy Lamour" from her step-father, who was surnamed "Lambour". Host of NBC Radio's "Sealtest Variety Theater" (aka The Dorothy Lamour Show) (1948-1949). "The Moon of Manakoora" from 1937's The Hurricane, was her signature song. During World War II, she toured the country selling war bonds. She sold $300-million worth. In 1946 (with the full assistance of Paramount's publicity department) she staged a memorable stunt by publicly burning a sarong, the garment with which she had been associated since her first starring role. Went to secretarial school where she became an excellent typist and even as a wealthy star, she typed her own letters. Her step-son gave her a dog, CoCo, when her husband died. She didn't want it at first, but he insisted. She soon learned to love the dog and referred to him as her boyfriend. Her step-son William Ross "Bill, Jr." Howard IV was born in 1933. Her son John Ridgely "Ridge" Howard was born January 8, 1946. Her son Richard Thomson "Tommy" Howard was born on October 20, 1949. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her Motion Picture star is located at 6332 Hollywood Blvd., while while her radio star is located at 6240 Hollywood Blvd. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 338-339. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Although not of "Hispanic" descent, she was described as such in the documentary Hispanic Hollywood. Interestingly, this documentary also failed to mention her Louisiana roots and her birth name. Both sides of her family were American for several generations when she was born. She was not a Spanish speaker nor did she come from a family of Spanish speaking people.