Trivia

Was a favorite of singer Billie Holiday, who changed her first name from Eleanora to Billie after her idol.

Allegedly lost enthusiasm for the movie business after William Randolph Hearst ordered extensive recutting of Blondie of the Follies (1932) because Dove outshone Marion Davies, Hearst's mistress.

Most of her films were destroyed in a studio fire.

Lived with Howard Hughes for three years in the 1930s.

Was offered the role of "Belle Watling" in Gone with the Wind (1939) but turned it down.

Was a pilot, a painter and a poet.

She claimed she retired not because of disappointment in her career, but because she wanted to become a mother.

Although Billie Dove is often called a Ziegfeld Girl, she is not credited in any of his "Follies" productions. She may have appeared in Ziegfeld's "Midnight Frolics," an after-hours revue show staged on the New Amsterdam Theater's rooftop nightclub. Dove's only Broadway credit is as a showgirl in "Sally," which ran from 1920-1922.

Gerald Ford was a fan of hers.

Played the love interest of both Douglas Fairbanks in The Black Pirate (1926) and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in One Night at Susie's (1930). The younger Fairbanks also played supporting roles in two other films starring Dove: The Air Mail (1925) and Wild Horse Mesa (1925).

She had a biological son, Robert Alan (April 18, 1934 - February 5, 1995), and a daughter, Gail Melinda (February 10, 1938 - February 15, 1999), whom she adopted.

Her daughter, Gail Adelson, was once married to Barbara Walters' former husband, Merv Adelson.

After her second husband died, Dove, who had already divorced her third husband, went back to using his surname until she died.

Her son predeceased her, dying in 1995.

Silent film actress.

She had two grandsons, Robin Kenaston and Gordon Kenaston.

Her first husband, Irvin Willat, was the director of her second film.