Doris Eaton Travis, one of the last living Ziegfeld Follies Girls and a contemporary of Louise Brooks, has died. She was 106 years old.
In her long career, Travis appeared in silent and talking pictures, performed for presidents and princesses, bantered with Babe Ruth, offended Henry Ford, outlived her six siblings (who were also performers), wrote a newspaper column, hosted a Detroit television show, and earned a degree in history at age 88.
Her film roles include small roles in Taking the Count (1928) and Street Girl (1929). The former was written by Rube Goldberg. The latter starred Bettty Compson.
Travis continued to work late in life, with annual appearances on Broadway, a small role in a Jim Carrey movie, and a recently published memoir, The Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family From Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray and Beyond. That book was published in 2003.
Travis continued to work late in life, with annual appearances on Broadway, a small role in a Jim Carrey movie, and a recently published memoir, The Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family From Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray and Beyond. That book was published in 2003.
In 2006, a visual biography about Travis was also published. It was called Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies. More about Doris Eaton Travis at Wikipedia, and here at her AP obituary. Here is a short video made a few years ago.
Here is a long and interesting article from today's New York Times
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/arts/dance/12travis.html