Bergetta "Dorothy" Peterson (December 25, 1897 - October 3, 1979) was an American actress. She began her acting career on Broadway before appearing in more than eighty Hollywood films.

Early years

Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota, the daughter of Oscar Frank Peterson and Emily Johnson Peterson. She had a brother, Buford, and was raised in Zion, Illinois. She was of Swedish ancestry. She studied at a dramatic school, performing in adaptations of Greek plays, and then attended the Chicago Musical College.

Career

Billed by her birth name, Peterson acted with a company in Icebound at the Montauk Theater in Brooklyn, New York, in September 1923. For two years, Peterson toured with Borgony Hammer's Ibsen Repertory Company. She left that troupe to go to New York, where she began performing in Broadway productions. Broadway plays in which she acted included Subway Express (1929), Dracula (1927), God Loves Us (1926), Pomeroy's Past (1926), Find Daddy (1926), The Fall Guy (1925), All God's Chillun Got Wings (1924), and Cobra (1924). She made her screen debut in Mothers Cry (1930), a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film.

Death

Peterson died on October 3, 1979. She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Zion, Illinois.

Filmography