Mary Ella Dees (1911-2004) is perhaps best known for her most macabre job. Jean Harlow, who had befriended Dees after she played a bit in Red-Headed Woman (1932), died in 1937 during the production of Saratoga. Dees was hired to stand in for Harlow, in floppy hats and viewed obscurely, during the few scenes that remained to be shot.
Mary Dees was uncredited in about 22 films all told, including two MGM musicals, Flying High and Born to Dance, playing a chorus girl in both. Her film career ended in 1946, but she continued to act on the stage well into her seventies.
Dees’s obituary quotes her channeling Norma Desmond: “We were stars. Today actors look like any other jerk on the street”. Calling herself a star might be stretching it, but she’s otherwise not wrong.
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