Biography

Mary Ella Dees (June 3, 1911 – August 4, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress who once served as a primary stand-in double for actress Jean Harlow. Born in Syracuse, New York, on June 3, 1911, the daughter of a successful lawyer, Dees was for a time raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She worked for a short time as a typist before moving to Hollywood in 1932. She was named Miss America in Hollywood in 1932, an accomplishment that led director Jack Conway to give her a bit part in Red Headed Woman. That film starred Jean Harlow, who befriended Dees. She advised the newcomer to study dancing, helped her to shop for "the right clothes" and helped to pay for Dees's gowns.Dees was a dancer when, in 1937, after the sudden death of Harlow, she was cast by MGM boss Louis B. Mayer as a four-minute stand-in for the star, who was acting opposite Clark Gable on the film Saratoga, which was still in production.Dees had parts in The Last Gangster (1937), The Women (1939), as well as a number of Three Stooges shorts, which included Hoi Polloi (1935), and numerous Marx Brothers comedies.