The name Dotty Provine might look familiar to you if you’ve read my previous article titled “Dear Lincoln High”. She was the alum who wrote a poem for the final edition of the Totem, Lincoln’s former newspaper, back in 1981. However, Dotty was more than a former Lincoln student reminiscing on the good old days. She would become Lincoln’s very own Hollywood star.

Early life

Dorothy Michelle Provine was born to William and Kathleen Provine on January 20th, 1935, in Deadwood, South Dakota. The family first moved to San Francisco, CA, where Dotty’s sister Patricia Provine (class of ’54) was born and then settled down in the Haller Lake neighborhood of Seattle. I spoke to Darrell Bangerter, class of ’53, who remembers Dotty from their elementary days. 

“My dad owned a grocery store right up near the lake there and I used to deliver groceries to the Provine family once a week,” he recalled. They both went to the Haller Lake School, now Lakeside Middle, and later attended Hamilton Junior High for 8th grade. “She was quiet back then,” Darrell said. “We talked a little bit and we both played clarinet.” 

Lincoln Years

There’s not much in the yearbooks, or the annuals as they were called, about Dotty’s freshman or sophomore years at Lincoln High. In fact, most of Lincoln’s past annuals had little information about the underclassmen. However, Darrell did remember a little square-dancing group that he and Dotty were both a part of from 8th-9th grade: “It was a short time, and it was fun.”

Dotty did continue to play the clarinet for 2 years in band and Darrell sat next to her during that time. In a letter Dotty sent Darrell years later, she mentioned her clarinet playing, writing, “I was awful!! I really think I played with a perpetual squeak!”

In her junior year, Dotty became a songleader. The description next to the picture of the whole squad in the 1952 annual reads, “Eight peppy songleaders kept our spirits and enthusiasm high at all our games this year as they lead us in our school songs.” 

Nowadays, they are called cheerleaders. Female songleaders were actually a brand-new idea at Lincoln back then. Previously, it had been the guys who were chanting at the games. The uniforms from those days may look very different, but the goal was still the same. 

One look next to Dotty’s name in the 1953 annual will tell you that her senior year was quite eventful. She was still a songleader as well as a part of student council and Totem Weekly. 

“At that time the big deal [in student council] was no smoking within 6 blocks of the school,” recalled Darrell. “We spent a lot of time talking about that.”  He remembered her being in a lot of plays and shows in her senior year like the annual Lincoln operetta “Hit the Deck”. 

Dotty was an officer of Pep Club, a club promoting Lincoln’s sports program. She was chosen to be the chairman of Lincoln’s first homecoming in 1953. After the homecoming football game, Dotty was also crowned as Lincoln’s first homecoming queen. To finish off the school year, she was voted ‘best looking’ in the senior class superlatives. 

Her years at Lincoln were only the steppingstones for her bright future to come. 

Life after Lincoln

After graduating from Lincoln, Dotty decided to stay close to home and attended the University of Washington where she majored in theater arts. 

While there, she was a songleader for the football team. She led the crowd in chants with spirit that we can only assume came from her years of leading the students of Lincoln through fight songs. She performed in many plays at the Showboat and Penthouse theaters and got numerous awards while at UW.

After leaving UW, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting, singing, and dancing career. 

Stardom Days

It only took 3 days in LA for Dotty to enter the Hollywood scene. She quickly landed a role in the 1958 movie “The Bonnie Parker Story” and she was in numerous other films as well. 

Dotty was then hired by the Warner Brothers and starred in some of her more well-known shows such as “The Alaskan” (1959-1960) and “The Roaring 20’s” (1960-1962). She recorded an album of songs from “The Roaring 20s” show and that included 2 hit singles. She also starred in some comedies including “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” (1963) and “That Darn Cat” (1965). 

Darrell mentioned that he watched to a lot of Dotty’s shows and listened to her music, his favorite being when she sang “Tea for 2” in “The Roaring 20s” show: “I thought she did a good job.”

In 1968, Dotty was in the Walt Disney Production “Never a Dull Moment,” alongside actor Dick Van Dyke. Her Hollywood life never seemed to have a dull moment either. She appeared on many talk shows and performed at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration ball. She was even in a relationship with Frank Sinatra for some time but refused to marry him due to religious beliefs.

When asked about Dotty’s life after high school, Darrell said that there wasn’t really any contact between her and the rest of the 1953 class. “There is a tendency to judge,” he said. 

Some people thought that Dotty believed she was too good for them. Dotty’s success did come with some snide remarks from a few classmates, but Darrell only harbors good memories of her. He had reached out to her years after graduation, and she had written him a sweet letter back. They had even exchanged Christmas cards some years. 

“I didn’t feel that [Dotty] felt that she was too good to talk to us,” reminisced Darrell. “Pretty much everyone was kind of proud of having her represent our class out there. I think generally she was well liked in high school.”

Post Hollywood

While on set in Rio de Janeiro, Dotty met her husband, Robert Day. After a couple of years, she retired from the movie industry and settled on Bainbridge Island. From what Darrell heard, she got along well with her neighbors and she really liked it there. Dotty had one son named Robert Day Jr who became a rock artist. 

She loved to read and garden. She would go out on drives around the island with her husband. Dotty also loved animals and donated to animal rights charities quite a bit. 

From being a shy and quiet girl, to exploring her talents in high school which ultimately contributed to her fame and success, Dotty led a good life. She died of emphysema on April 25th, 2010, at the age of 75.“She was a nice girl,” Darrell said. “I enjoyed being with Dotty … I say she was a cool friend to have known and to know.”