Biography
The older sister of Hollywood leading lady
Constance Dowling, American actress Doris Dowling began making films in the mid '40s. Not a classic beauty in the movie sense, Dowling had a cosmopolitan attractiveness that made her useful in "this girl is trouble!" roles. Her best part was as
Ray Milland's saloon pickup and erstwhile drinking companion in
The Lost Weekend (1945). In
The Blue Dahlia (1946), she dispensed truculence to screen husband
Alan Ladd and everyone else around her for a full reel before being bumped off by a mystery killer. Not interested in continuing in such unsympathetic parts, Doris left for Italy in 1948 to appear in such neorealistic films as Bitter Rice (1948) and in such Rennaissance-drenched pieces as
Orson Welles'
Othello (1951), in which she played Bianca. Doris Dowling remained in European picture-making until her retirement in the late '50s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide