In the trailer for Citizen Kane, Orson Welles predicted Dorothy Comingore would be much-talked about by audiences after her turn as Susan Alexander Kane.
But a decade later, Comingore would have her career destroyed by the Hollywood Blacklist.
She made no film or television appearances following her 1952 appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
There would be failed marriages, battles with alcoholism and health setbacks.
Comingore spent her final years in the beachside community of Stonington, Connecticut, where she died on December 30, 1971 at the age of 58.
Her ashes were scattered in multiple locations and there is no monument to mark her passing.
Fifty years later, a group of admirers is seeking to change that. They hope to erect a cenotaph, or marker, in historic Stonington Cemetery off Route 1.
“Many in the community have protected Dorothy’s story as she became an Islander here in Connecticut for the last 15 years of her life,” said filmmaker Frank Durant, a supporter of the cenotaph effort.
A crowdfunding page at gofundme.com/f/fj6wny-dorothy-comingore-cenotaph-fund hopes to raise $6,000 for the Comingore memorial.
The cemetery monument is not the only tribute to the actress in the works, Durant noted.
Comingore’s son, Michael Collins, is developing a novel and a documentary based on his mother’s life.
Collins late father, screenwriter Richard J. Collins, was called before HUAC in 1951 and acknowledged his past membership in the Communist Party USA. He identified more than 20 colleagues as communist sympathizers .
___________
Post your comments on the Wellesnet Message Board.