Lester Dorr

==Films==

==Films==

The federal census of 1930 documents that Dorr was in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] by April that year, working there as an "actor/motion pictures" and residing in a rental house with his wife and mother-in-law."The Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", Los Angeles City, California, April 5, 1930; FamilySearch. Retrieved March 7, 2018. He soon was cast in two Hollywood comedy shorts, both released by Pathé Exchange ([[RKO]]) in 1930: ''All Stuck Up'' and ''Ride 'em Cowboy''. For the remainder of the 1930s, Dorr demonstrated his abilities at portraying an array of characters, such as hotel clerks, police officers, reporters, office workers, elevator operators, salesmen, bank employees, cowboys, mob [[henchmen]], prisoners, truck drivers, train crewmen, soldiers, sailors, and hospital personnel.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724195625/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/52173%7C98348/Lester-Dorr/#filmography "Lester Dorr"], partial filmography, [[Turner Classic Movies]] (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved March 8, 2018. He was cast, often under contract as a [[Bit part|"day player"]], in more than 250 films in just the 1930s alone, remarkably averaging a different role in a different film every two weeks for ten straight years. A very small sampling of those motion pictures include ''[[Riders of the Purple Sage (1931 film)|Riders of the Purple Sage]]'', ''[[Union Depot (film)|Union Depot]]'', ''[[Central Airport (film)|Central Airport]]'', ''[[Helldorado (film)|Helldorado]]'', ''[[The Mighty Barnum]]'', ''[[Murder in the Clouds]]'', ''[[The Case of the Missing Man]]'', ''[[Show Them No Mercy!]]'', ''[[She Gets Her Man (1935 film)|She Gets Her Man]]'', ''[[Love Before Breakfast]]'', ''[[Sinner Take All]]'', ''[[Snowed Under]]'', ''[[The Firefly (1937 film)|The Firefly]]'', ''[[Expensive Husbands]]'', ''[[Big City (1937 film)|Big City]]'', ''[[Criminals of the Air]]'', ''[[Dangerous Holiday]]'', ''[[It's All Yours]]'', ''[[Captains Courageous (1937 film)|Captains Courageous]]'', ''[[Missing Witnesses]]'', ''[[Pardon Our Nerve]]'', ''[[The Cisco Kid and the Lady]]'', ''[[Test Pilot (film)|Test Pilot]]'', ''[[Penitentiary (1938 film)|Penitentiary]]'', ''[[The Main Event (1938 film)|The Main Event]]'', ''[[The Crowd Roars (1938 film)|The Crowd Roars]]'', ''[[Coast Guard (film)|Coast Guard]]'', ''[[Sued for Libel]]'', ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'', and ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]''.[https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/98348 "Lester Dorr"], catalog, [[American Film Institute]] (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved March 8, 2018.Eder, Bruce. [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/lester-dorr-p19769/filmography "Lester Dorr"], filmography, AllMovie, a subsidiary of All Media Network, San Francisco, California. Retrieved March 8, 2018. He also performed in several installments of the 1939 serial ''[[Mandrake the Magician (serial)|Mandrake the Magician]]'', portraying Gray, one of many criminals battling the title character.

The federal census of 1930 documents that Dorr was in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] by April that year, working there as an "actor/motion pictures" and residing in a rental house with his wife and mother-in-law."The Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930", Los Angeles City, California, April 5, 1930; FamilySearch. Retrieved March 7, 2018. He soon was cast in two Hollywood comedy shorts, both released by Pathé Exchange ([[RKO]]) in 1930: ''All Stuck Up'' and ''Ride 'em Cowboy''. For the remainder of the 1930s, Dorr demonstrated his abilities at portraying an array of characters, such as hotel clerks, police officers, reporters, office workers, elevator operators, salesmen, bank employees, cowboys, mob [[henchmen]], prisoners, truck drivers, train crewmen, soldiers, sailors, and hospital personnel.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724195625/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/52173%7C98348/Lester-Dorr/#filmography "Lester Dorr"], partial filmography, [[Turner Classic Movies]] (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved March 8, 2018. He was cast, often under contract as a [[Bit part|"day player"]], in more than 250 films in just the 1930s alone, remarkably averaging a different role in a different film every two weeks for ten straight years. Even a small sample of those motion pictures includes ''[[Riders of the Purple Sage (1931 film)|Riders of the Purple Sage]]'', ''[[Union Depot (film)|Union Depot]]'', ''[[Central Airport (film)|Central Airport]]'', ''[[Helldorado (film)|Helldorado]]'', ''[[The Mighty Barnum]]'', ''[[Murder in the Clouds]]'', ''[[The Case of the Missing Man]]'', ''[[Show Them No Mercy!]]'', ''[[She Gets Her Man (1935 film)|She Gets Her Man]]'', ''[[Love Before Breakfast]]'', ''[[Sinner Take All]]'', ''[[Snowed Under]]'', ''[[The Firefly (1937 film)|The Firefly]]'', ''[[Expensive Husbands]]'', ''[[Big City (1937 film)|Big City]]'', ''[[Criminals of the Air]]'', ''[[Dangerous Holiday]]'', ''[[It's All Yours]]'', ''[[Captains Courageous (1937 film)|Captains Courageous]]'', ''[[Missing Witnesses]]'', ''[[Pardon Our Nerve]]'', ''[[The Cisco Kid and the Lady]]'', ''[[Test Pilot (film)|Test Pilot]]'', ''[[Penitentiary (1938 film)|Penitentiary]]'', ''[[The Main Event (1938 film)|The Main Event]]'', ''[[The Crowd Roars (1938 film)|The Crowd Roars]]'', ''[[Coast Guard (film)|Coast Guard]]'', ''[[Sued for Libel]]'', ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'', and ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]''.[https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/98348 "Lester Dorr"], catalog, [[American Film Institute]] (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved March 8, 2018.Eder, Bruce. [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/lester-dorr-p19769/filmography "Lester Dorr"], filmography, AllMovie, a subsidiary of All Media Network, San Francisco, California. Retrieved March 8, 2018. He also performed in several installments of the 1939 serial ''[[Mandrake the Magician (serial)|Mandrake the Magician]]'', portraying Gray, one of many criminals battling the title character.

Dorr continued to appear regularly in studio productions throughout the 1940s, but with reduced frequency when compared to the preceding decade; nevertheless, he still added more than 140 Hollywood films to his [[résumé]] in that decade. His work on the "big screen" decreased even further in the 1950s as acting opportunities increased on television. He was, though, cast in at least 45 feature films and shorts during the 1950s, including small roles in some notable productions, such as ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'', ''[[The Greatest Show on Earth (film)|The Greatest Show in Earth]]'', and ''[[East of Eden (film)|East of Eden]]''. In another, far more modest [[film-noir]] production from that period, ''[[Quicksand (1950 film)|Quicksand]]'', Dorr portrays "Baldy", a smooth-talking jeweler. His on-screen sales pitch in that role, in which he convinces the story's leading character Dan ([[Mickey Rooney]]) to buy a wristwatch, is typical of the concise, [[wikt:Special:Search/quick study|quick-study]] performances that defined Dorr's career and made him so popular in cost-conscious studio casting offices. Dorr's film work, however, began to draw to a close by the 1960s, when he served in bit parts in only five films. Then, in 1975, he appeared in his final role, playing a doorman in the musical romantic comedy ''[[At Long Last Love]]''.Eder, Bruce. [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/lester-dorr-p19769 "Lester Dorr"], biography, AllMovie. Retrieved March 9, 2018.

Dorr continued to appear regularly in studio productions throughout the 1940s, but with reduced frequency when compared to the preceding decade; nevertheless, he still added more than 140 Hollywood films to his [[résumé]] in that decade. His work on the "big screen" decreased even further in the 1950s as acting opportunities increased on television. He was, though, cast in at least 45 feature films and shorts during the 1950s, including small roles in some notable productions, such as ''[[Ace in the Hole (1951 film)|Ace in the Hole]]'', ''[[The Greatest Show on Earth (film)|The Greatest Show in Earth]]'', and ''[[East of Eden (film)|East of Eden]]''. In another, far more modest [[film-noir]] production from that period, ''[[Quicksand (1950 film)|Quicksand]]'', Dorr portrays "Baldy", a smooth-talking jeweler. His on-screen sales pitch in that role, in which he convinces the story's leading character Dan ([[Mickey Rooney]]) to buy a wristwatch, is typical of the concise, [[wikt:Special:Search/quick study|quick-study]] performances that defined Dorr's career and made him so popular in cost-conscious studio casting offices. Dorr's film work, however, began to draw to a close by the 1960s, when he served in bit parts in only five films. Then, in 1975, he appeared in his final role, playing a doorman in the musical romantic comedy ''[[At Long Last Love]]''.Eder, Bruce. [https://www.allmovie.com/artist/lester-dorr-p19769 "Lester Dorr"], biography, AllMovie. Retrieved March 9, 2018.