Dennie Moore

Dennie Moore
210px Moore in The Women (1939)
Born	Deena Rivka Moore (1902-12-30)December 30, 1902 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	New York City, New York, U.S.
Other names	Florence Rita Moore
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1927–1957

Dennie Moore (December 30, 1902 – February 22, 1978) was an American film and stage actress.

Early life

Moore was born in New York City to Jewish parents, Oren Moore (January 12, 1883 — March 13, 1967), a cantor at one of the local synagogues, and Gabriella Gefen (October 31, 1885 — November 19, 1954). Some sources indicate she was born Deena Rivka Moore, but she was legally known as Florence Moore by the 1930s. It has been reported that she changed her forename given her parents' disapproval of her becoming an actress.

Early career

In the late 1920s, she decided to pursue an acting career on the Broadway stage. She began her career on Broadway in 1927, appearing in such plays as A Lady in Love, The Trial of Mary Dugan, Cross Roads, Torch Song, Twentieth Century, Phantoms, Conflict, Anatol, and Jarnegan.

Hollywood

In the 1930s, she decided to embark on a film career and in 1935 she arrived to Hollywood and made her screen debut in an uncredited role in the Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn film, Sylvia Scarlett for RKO Radio Pictures. She primarily was what is known as a "free-lance actress" and floated between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. Studios. In the course of her film career, she would star in twenty-two films between 1935 and 1951. Some of her film credits include parts in Boy Meets Girl (1938), The Women (1939), Saturday's Children (1940), Dive Bomber (1941), and Anna Lucasta (1949).

By the mid-1940s, Moore found herself getting less work in Hollywood, but more parts on the New York stage. In 1951, she made her last screen appearance as Mrs. Bea Gingras in The Model and the Marriage Broker. Moving back to New York City she made one final performance onstage in The Diary of Anne Frank in the role of Mrs. Van Daan. In 1957, she retired from acting altogether, aged 54.

Later life and death

After her film career in Hollywood ended, Moore sold her home and permanently moved back to her native New York City, where she lived the rest of her life. Following her retirement she was active in campaigning civil rights for Jewish communities and women's rights.

Moore died of natural causes on February 22, 1978, aged 75, in her Manhattan apartment. She left no immediate survivors. She was cremated and her ashes scattered off her balcony.

Stage appearances

• A Lady in Love (1927)
• The Trial of Mary Dugan (1927)
• Jarnegan (1928–1929)
• Conflict (1929)
• Cross Roads (1929)
• Phantoms (1930)
• Torch Song (1930)
• Anatol (1931)
• East Wind (1931)
• The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1932)
• The Great Magoo (1932)
• Twentieth Century (1932–1933)
• Man Bites Dog (1933)

• The Pursuit of Happiness (1933–1934)
• Say When (1934–1935)
• Swing Your Lady (1936–1937)
• Hitch Your Wagon (1937)
• In Clover (1937)
• Ah, Wilderness! (1941)
• Johnny on a Spot (1942)
• We Will Never Die (1943)
• Over 21 (1944)
• Seven Lively Arts (1944–1945)
• Star-Spangled Family (1945)
• The Rat Race (1949–1950)
• The Diary of Anne Frank (1955–1957)

Partial filmography

• Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)
• The Perfect Specimen (1937)
• Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
• Secrets of an Actress (1938)
• Bachelor Mother (1939)
• The Women (1939)
• I'm from Missouri (1939)
• Saturday's Children (1940)
• Women in War (1940)
• Dive Bomber (1941)
• Anna Lucasta (1949)
• The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)

External links

• 1940 US census, with "Florence D. Moore" listing, and age given as 36, familysearch.org; accessed March 30, 2015.