ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone has a story — some more well-known than others. Across Western North Carolina, so much history is buried below the surface. Six feet under. With this series, we introduce you to some of the people who have left marks big and small on this special place we call home.
American model, actress and activist Dorothy Hart (1922-2004) is buried in Lewis Memorial Park in Asheville.
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From playing the titular role of Jane in a Tarzan film to staring in a television series alongside Ronald Reagan, actress Dorothy Hart’s Hollywood career could have lasted decades. But Hart’s desires led her away from magazine covers and movie posters, choosing a very different stage to spar star on.
While today she is best known for films like I Was a Communist for the F.B.I., The Naked City or Tarzan’s Savage Fury, Hart would prefer to be remembered for her speaking and activism on behalf of the United Nations.
Dorothy J. Hart was born on April 4, 1922, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Hart attended Shaker Heights High School, where she must have had stellar grades, reportedly being offered scholarships to Mount Holyoke College, The College of Wooster and Bryn Mawr College.
Likely due to its proximity to her home, Hart chose to study at Western Reserve University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in less than three years.
Toward the end of World War II, Hart fell in love with acting, using her free time to study the art at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square.
After college, Hart pursued acting as a career, moving to New York to receive voice lessons and continue her theater training. She initially paid her bills by working as an assistant to an oral surgeon.
Hart’s prospects changed forever when her friend, a newspaper reporter, submitted her photograph to a national beauty competition.
Sponsored by Colombia Pictures, the 1944 National Cinderella Cover Girl competition included submissions from 20,000 young ladies. Against the odds, Hart won.
Part of her prize was a modeling contract with Harry Conover, who soon made Hart a household image, plastering her stunningly beautiful face in magazines from sea to shining sea.
Another prize was a movie contract with Colombia Pictures. Hart refused it on the grounds that she wanted to improve her acting on Broadway before hitting the big screen.
A year later, Hart would cave to Colombia’s interest in her acting chops and move to Hollywood. After her first film, Hart signed a contract with Universal Pictures. She would later work for Warner Brothers as well.
According to IMDB, Hart would go on to star in 16 films, including Academy Award winning The Naked City, and 14 television shows.
The Hollywood executives never seemed to find their footing with the starlet, throwing Hart in all genres of film, from westerns to musicals and film noir to adventure.
Hart’s Hollywood hustle ended prematurely, but not because of any external factors. Hart was determined to chase international change.
On why she abandoned her film career, Hart said, “I felt some of the films were mediocre and that I was contributing to that mediocrity.”
But more than the anger over her internalized mediocrity, Hart had an ache in her soul, unfulfilled by the bright lights and fat paychecks. She moved back to New York to satisfy her dilemma, choosing to join the volunteer arm of the American Association of the United Nations.
Eleanor Roosevelt appointed Hart as a featured speaker on behalf of the United Nations. Hart also served as a delegate at the World Federation of the United Nations from 1957-1958 in Geneva, Switzerland.
While serving on behalf of the expanding United Nations, Hart also served with the Red Cross.
Hart continued acting on the side, although no longer on the silver screen or the Broadway stage. The advent of television offered her new opportunities, including starring alongside Ronald Reagan in Medallion Theater. Most of her television appearances were in a drama series.
In 1954, Hart married Frederick Pittera, with whom she had one son, but the couple divorced less than a decade later in 1965.
Hart’s final acting gigs were in the burgeoning world of television game shows, often appearing as a celebrity host, panelist or judge on shows like Take a Guess, I’ve Got a Secret and Stump the Stars.
In 1961, Hart gave birth to a son, Douglass. Not wanting to raise the boy as a single mother in New York, she gave up both her United Nations position and her television career to move south.
Hart moved to Asheville to live a quieter life near her parents. On the move, Hart later told a reporter, “I decided there would be no more ‘Dorothy Hart, the star.’ I would become ‘Dorothy Hart, the mother of Douglass.’ I decided Douglass would be the star.” Hart seemed fulfilled with her decision, just as she was fulfilled with her service with the United Nations and Red Cross.
Hart spent her final days in Asheville tending to her rose garden, writing poetry and painting.
Hart died of complications with Alzheimer’s disease on July 11, 2004, in Arden, North Carolina at age 82. She is buried in Lewis Memorial Park in Asheville, North Carolina.
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