DOROTHY LAYTONDorothy Layton, who died on 2 June, 2009, aged 96, was an actress who appeared in a handful of early talkies in the 1930s before renouncing the glamorous life for volunteer work.Born Dorothy Violet Wannenwetch on 13 August, 1912, in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was a Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers 'Baby Star' in 1932, listed alongside the likes of Ginger Rogers, Boots Mallory and Gloria Stuart.She appeared in a number of Laurel and Hardy's films produced by Hal Roach: Chickens Come Home (1931), The Chimp (1932), County Hospital (1932) and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932).She also featured alongside Charley Chase in Young Ironsides (1932) and Fallen Arches (1933), and with George Raft in crime drama Pick-up (1933).She was also known for her relationship with Hollywood lawyer Roger Marchetti who represented Howard Hughes, Louis B Mayer and Bing Crosby and attended top show business parties.But this glamorous coupling ended in 1933 and her film career was over in the same year.She went on to marry a Baltimore mattress salesman and start a family. In the 1940s she became a volunteer at a health centre where she would work for 30 years.She later reflected: “Volunteer work gave me a sense of belonging, whilst Hollywood was false and phoney.”
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