Actress and wife of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Born Dorothy Arnoldine Olson, she was performing by the age of 12 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 out of Chicago. She studied at Paramount School in New York and played bits in pictures as a dancer until Universal Studios offered her a contract where she appeared in 15 films between 1937 and 1939, most notably in The Phantom Creeps with Bela Lugosi and in The House of Fear. In 1937, she met Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio on the set of Manhattan Merry-Go-Round in which he had a minor speaking role. They were married on November 18, 1939, in San Francisco, and in October of 1941, the year of DiMaggio's famous 56-game hitting streak, she gave birth to their only child, Joe, Jr. The couple split up in 1942 but later reconciled. However, they separated for good in October of 1943 and were divorced on May 12, 1944. She received $500 a month in alimony, custody of Joe Jr., and $150 in child support. Following her marriage to DiMaggio, she quit acting, except for a brief comeback in 1957's Lizzie and some appearances on TV's The Lone Wolf, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, and Dragnet. Arnold and her third husband, Ralph Peck, owned and operated a supper club in Palm Springs, where she performed until her death from pancreatic cancer in 1984 at the age of 66.
Actress and wife of baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. Born Dorothy Arnoldine Olson, she was performing by the age of 12 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 out of Chicago. She studied at Paramount School in New York and played bits in pictures as a dancer until Universal Studios offered her a contract where she appeared in 15 films between 1937 and 1939, most notably in The Phantom Creeps with Bela Lugosi and in The House of Fear. In 1937, she met Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio on the set of Manhattan Merry-Go-Round in which he had a minor speaking role. They were married on November 18, 1939, in San Francisco, and in October of 1941, the year of DiMaggio's famous 56-game hitting streak, she gave birth to their only child, Joe, Jr. The couple split up in 1942 but later reconciled. However, they separated for good in October of 1943 and were divorced on May 12, 1944. She received $500 a month in alimony, custody of Joe Jr., and $150 in child support. Following her marriage to DiMaggio, she quit acting, except for a brief comeback in 1957's Lizzie and some appearances on TV's The Lone Wolf, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, and Dragnet. Arnold and her third husband, Ralph Peck, owned and operated a supper club in Palm Springs, where she performed until her death from pancreatic cancer in 1984 at the age of 66.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
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