Background
Wellman was born Dorothy Coonan in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Wellman was born Dorothy Coonan in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Cast her in several of his films. She moved to Los Angeles, California with her family as a child. Her career as a dancer began at the age of 14 with Warner Brothers Studios.
Her early film credits as an on-screen dancer and actress included small, uncredited parts in such early talkies as The Broadway Melody (1929), Whoopee! (1930), Kiki (1931) Palmy Days (1931), and The Kid from Spain (1932).
Her best-known films were 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933. Many of the films in which she appeared were choreographed by Busby Berkeley. highlight Film director William cast Coonan as "Sally" in his 1933 film, Wild Boys of the Road.
This was the only role she played in which she was credited or had a character with a name. She makes an uncredited appearance in "s The Story of G.I. Joe (1945) as an army nurse nicknamed Red who marries a soldier on the battlefield, only to be widowed shortly afterwards.
A relationship soon followed and Coonan and were married in 1934.
The couple remained married until she was widowed on December 19, 1975. Dorothy died in Brentwood, California at the age of 95 in 2009.