Stickney, Dorothy (1896–1998)

American actress. Born Dorothy Hayes Stickney on June 21, 1896, in Dickinson, North Dakota; died at her home in Manhattan on June 2, 1998, age 101; daughter of Dr. Victor Hugo Stickney and Margaret (Hayes) Stickney; educated at La Salle Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts, and St. Catherine's College, St. Paul, Minnesota; studied drama at North Western Dramatic School, Minneapolis; married Howard Lindsay (an actor and playwright), in 1927.

For four seasons, Dorothy Stickney and Howard Lindsay met nightly to star as husband and wife in the robust hit Life with Father at the old Empire Theater on Broadway. They then went home together to their aging brownstone at 50 West 11th Street. The play, based on Clarence Day's childhood reminiscences in which Stickney portrayed his mother Vinnie Day , opened in November 1939 and did not close until 1944—3,224 performances—the longest running non-musical show in Broadway history. "Little did we realize that the play would last through World War II," said Stickney.

Though Stickney was born in 1896 in North Dakota, her parents had originally come from Vermont, where her uncle William Stickney had been state governor. In her youth, Stickney suffered from corneal ulcers; since her eye impairment precluded college, she turned instead to the study of elocution and dancing. Her first stage appearance in New York was in Toto; her Broadway debut was in 1926 as the crazy char-woman Liz in Chicago. Stickney also appeared as Cherry in The Beaux' Strategem (1928), Mollie Molloy in The Front Page (1928), Mincing in The Way of The World (1931), and Granny in On Borrowed Time (1938). Her films include The Little Minister (1934), The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), and I Never Sang for My Father (1970). Dorothy Stickney was also seen on television, as well as in her solo show, A Lovely Light, in which she presented the writings of Edna St. Vincent Millay .