Background
She was born as Dorothy Arnoldine Olson in Duluth, Minnesota, of Norwegian heritage.
She was born as Dorothy Arnoldine Olson in Duluth, Minnesota, of Norwegian heritage.
She graduated from Denfeld High School in 1935. She studied at Paramount School in New York and played bits in pictures as a dancer.
Her 20-year movie career began with 1937’s Freshies and ended with 1957’s Lizzie. By the age of 12 was performing on amateur nights at Duluth"s Lyric Theater and with the local Salvation Army Band. Her first theatrical job was with the Band Box Revue, traveling out of Chicago.
Arnold tested twice with Paramount Pictures, but it was Universal Studios that offered her a stock contract.
She appeared in 15 films between 1937 and 1939. Her most memorable roles were as the imperiled heroine Jean Drew in The Phantom Creeps (with Bela Lugosi and Robert Kent) and Gloria DeVere in The House of Fear (with Irene Hervey and William Gargan).
A brief comeback in 1957 included her last film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Lizzie (with Eleanor Parker and Joan Blondell) and appearances on television’s The Adventures of Jim Bowie and Dragnet. She was interred at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.