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People named Dorothy Fields
Below are 225 people with the first name Dorothy and the last name Fields. Try the Fields Family page if you can't find a particular Collaborative Biography in your family tree.
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Dorothy N Fields of Bremen, Muhlenberg County, KY was born on February 19, 1922. She was in a relationship with Eugene v Fields, and had a child David L Fields. Dorothy Fields died at age 73 years old in December 1995.

Dorothy M Fields of Dallas, Dallas County, TX was born on August 24, 1913, and died at age 75 years old on January 28, 1989.

Dorothy Fields of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas was born on December 10, 1923, and died at age 54 years old in October 1978.


Dorothy Fields
Fields, Dorothy (July 15, 1905 – Mar. 28, 1974), lyricist and librettist, was born in Allenhurst, N.J., the daughter of Lew M. Fields and Rose Harris. Her father, born Lewis Maurice Schoenfeld, was famous as a member of the comedy duo Weber and Fields, but left performing in the year of Dorothy’s birth to become a successful Broadway impressario. Although Lew Fields cautioned his children against pursuing careers in the theater, Dorothy’s two older brothers, Joseph and Herbert, also became successful on Broadway, the former as a writer and producer, and the latter as a writer and Dorothy’s sometime collaborator.
Dorothy Fields graduated in 1923 from the Benjamin Franklin School for Girls in New York City, where she excelled at English, drama, and basketball, and had her poems published in the school’s literary magazine. After her father quashed her attempt to land an acting job with a stock company in Yonkers, she worked as a teacher and laboratory assistant, while continuing to submit her verses to magazines.
DOROTHY FIELDS
Born: July 15, 1905
Died: March 28, 1974
Key Shows
"Annie Get Your Gun"
"Blackbirds of 1928"
"Redhead"
"Sugar Babies"
"Sweet Charity"
"Up in Central Park"
Related Artists
Harold Arlen
Fred and Adele Astaire
Irving Berlin
Bob Fosse
Oscar Hammerstein II
Jerome Kern
Ethel Merman
Cole Porter
Richard Rodgers
Gwen Verdon
In 1926 Fields met the popular song composer J. Fred Coots, who suggested that they write some songs together. Although nothing memorable came out of this brief association, Coots introduced Fields to another composer and song-plugger, Jimmy McHugh. Through McHugh she got a job as a lyricist at Mills Music, Inc., where one of her first assignments was to write the lyric for a tune commemorating aviator Ruth Elder’s attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Fields later referred to herself as “Mills Music’s fifty-dollars-a-night girl,” because she was paid 50 dollars for each lyric she composed.
In 1927 Fields received sole billing as lyricist for a revue at Harlem’s Cotton Club that featured Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The following year she and McHugh wrote the song “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” which was dropped from the revue “Revels of 1928,” but found a home alongside another soon-to-be-popular Fields-McHugh number, “Diga Diga Doo,” in the all-black hit, Lew Leslie’s “Blackbirds of 1928.”
After this initial success, the Fields-McHugh team collaborated on “International Revue” (1930), a flop despite two enduring songs, “Exactly Like You” and “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” The family of jazz pianist Thomas (“Fats”) Waller maintained that Waller, not McHugh, actually composed the melodies to “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” and others, and sold them to McHugh for a nominal fee. In any case, however, it is undisputed that Fields is the lyricist.
From 1930 to 1939 Fields worked in Hollywood, first with McHugh, with whom she wrote songs such as “I’m in the Mood for Love” and “Dinner at Eight” for the movie musicals LOVE IN THE ROUGH (1930) and EVERY NIGHT AT EIGHT (1935), and then with Jerome Kern. Kern and Fields first worked together on ROBERTA in 1935, and subsequent collaborations included I DREAM TOO MUCH (1935), SWING TIME (1936), and JOY OF LIVING (1938). In 1936, Kern and Fields won the Academy Award for Best Song for “The Way You Look Tonight,” from SWING TIME. Other Kern-Fields songs from this period that have gone on to become standards include “Lovely to Look At” and “A Fine Romance.”
Jerome Kern and Fields collaborated on songs for movie musicals during the 1930s.
On July 15, 1939, Fields married David Eli Lahm, a clothing manufacturer. They had two children before his death in 1958. The same year, she returned to New York to work with composer Arthur Schwartz on the musical “Stars in Your Eyes.” She then collaborated with her brother Herbert, with whom she had already worked on screenplays and the short-lived musical “Hello Daddy” (1928), and on the books for three Cole Porter hits: “Let’s Face It” (1941), “Something for the Boys” (1943), and “Mexican Hayride” (1944). In 1945 Dorothy and Herbert Fields wrote the book for Sigmund Romberg’s “Up in Central Park.” Her lyrics for the show included “Close as Pages in a Book.”
In 1946, Fields approached Oscar Hammerstein with her idea for a musical based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Hammerstein agreed to produce the show, and Kern and Fields were contracted to write the songs. When Kern died before they were able to begin work on the project, Irving Berlin was hired to replace him. Berlin wrote both music and lyrics for “Annie Get Your Gun,” but Dorothy and Herbert Fields contributed an excellent book. The finished product, starring Ethel Merman as Annie, ran 1,147 performances. It remains one of the most popular shows in the repertoire.
In 1927 Fields received sole billing as lyricist for a revue at Harlem’s Cotton Club.
Fields’ work habits were highly disciplined. Typically, she would spend eight weeks researching, discussing, and making notes on a project, before settling into an 8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. daily work routine. She worked at a bridge table in her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and preferred to write with pencil on a yellow legal pad. She kept notebooks in which she copied passages from Dryden, Shaw, and Thoreau; unusual synonyms for commonly used words; humorous proverbs; rhyming phrases; odd-sounding words; and anything else that might come in handy in writing a lyric. Tall, slender, and well dressed, with chestnut hair and hazel eyes, she spoke well and was active in charitable causes throughout her life.
Fields collaborated with her brother and composer Morton Gould on the lackluster “Arms and the Girl” in 1950. The following year, she wrote several fine lyrics to Arthur Schwartz’s melodies for “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” She scored two films with composer Harold Arlen, MR. IMPERIUM (1951) and THE FARMER TAKES A WIFE (1953), then returned to Broadway to work with Schwartz again on “By the Beautiful Sea” (1954). Herbert Fields died in 1959, while “Redhead,” the show they were working on with composer Albert Hague, was having its out-of-town tryout. Although not a great show, “Redhead” captured the Tony Award for Best Musical in a lean year for Broadway theater.
Her penultimate musical, “Sweet Charity,” written with composer Cy Coleman and librettist Neil Simon, was the biggest hit of the 1965-1966 season. Songs such as “Big Spender” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now” proved that Fields, despite her advancing age, had not lost her knack for up-to-the-minute slang and phraseology. In 1971, Fields became the first woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her last show, “Two for the Seesaw” (1973), also written with Coleman, was not a popular success, but her lyrics were praised for their evocation of modern life in New York. She died at home in New York City.
During her 48-year career Fields cowrote more than 400 songs and worked on 15 musicals and at least 26 movies. Her lyrics were noted for their strong characterization, clarity of language, and middlebrow humor. An amateur pianist and lifelong lover of classical music, she was highly conscious of the melodic line, and tailored her lyrics to float freely over it. Fields’ professional longevity, rare for a songwriter in the popular field, may be attributed to her undimming imagination and her willingness to adapt to changing trends in the musical theater.

Dorothy Fields was born on December 23, 1931, and died at age 52 years old in May 1984. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dorothy Fields.

Dorothy May Fields of Portland, Multnomah County, OR was born on June 27, 1909, and died at age 92 years old on June 19, 2002. Dorothy Fields was buried at Willamette National Cemetery
Section C Site 1113 11800 Se Mt. Scott Boulevard, in Portland.

Dorothy Lee Fields of Temple Hills, Prince Georges County, MD was born on January 22, 1911, and died at age 89 years old on May 7, 2000. Dorothy Fields was buried at Quantico National Cemetery
Section 12 Site 570 18424 Joplin Road (route 619), in Triangle, Va.

Dorothy Elizabeth Fields of Gainesville, Prince William County, VA was born on January 10, 1928, and died at age 79 years old on September 21, 2007. Dorothy Fields was buried at Quantico National Cemetery
Section 4 Site 811 18424 Joplin Road (route 619), in Triangle.

Dorothy L Fields of Aurora, Arapahoe County, CO was born on February 6, 1933, and died at age 71 years old on January 21, 2005. Dorothy Fields was buried at Ft. Logan National Cemetery
Section 5 Site 540 4400 West Kenyon Avenue, in Denver.

Dorothy M Fields was born on May 10, 1934, and died at age 78 years old on October 7, 2012. Dorothy Fields was buried at Maine Veterans' Memorial Cemetery
Section O Row 2 Site 6 Box 916a - Old Belgrade Road, in Augusta, Me. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dorothy M Fields.

Dorothy W Fields was born on September 14, 1911, and died at age 53 years old on December 17, 1964. Dorothy Fields was buried at Rock Island National Cemetery
Section L Site 3 Bldg 118 - Rock Island Arsenal, in Rock Island, Il. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dorothy W Fields.

Dorothy Fields of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI was born on May 20, 1953, and died at age 50 years old on September 18, 2003.

Dorothy L Fields of Easton, Northampton County, PA was born on February 27, 1950, and died at age 46 years old on November 4, 1996.

Dorothy Fields of Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi was born on March 26, 1948, and died at age 28 years old in June 1976.

Dorothy Barbara Fields of Eureka, Humboldt County, California was born on March 7, 1935, and died at age 74 years old on December 9, 2009.

Dorothy Fields of Moyie Springs, Boundary County, ID was born on March 29, 1926, and died at age 66 years old on August 17, 1992.

Dorothy Fields of Valley Village, Los Angeles County, CA was born on April 18, 1909, and died at age 90 years old on June 20, 1999.

Dorothy J Fields of Sacramento, Sacramento County, CA was born on November 29, 1926, and died at age 73 years old on July 8, 2000.

Dorothy R Fields of San Gabriel, Los Angeles County, CA was born on October 8, 1917, and died at age 87 years old on January 2, 2005.

Dorothy G Fields was born on August 13, 1902, and died at age 87 years old on July 10, 1990. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dorothy G Fields.

Dorothy R Fields of Flanders, Morris County, NJ was born on November 19, 1915, and died at age 71 years old on November 2, 1987.

Dorothy Fields of Yreka, Siskiyou County, California was born on April 24, 1913, and died at age 70 years old in November 1983.

Dorothy A Fields of Clearlake, Lake County, CA was born on July 16, 1930, and died at age 81 years old on July 29, 2011.

Dorothy M Fields of Bakersfield, Kern County, CA was born on August 8, 1937, and died at age 64 years old on June 7, 2002.

Dorothy Fields of North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California was born on December 11, 1900, and died at age 85 years old in February 1986.

Dorothy Fields of Jamestown, Stutsman County, North Dakota was born on November 11, 1893, and died at age 75 years old in January 1969.

Dorothy J Fields of Arcadia, Los Angeles County, CA was born on April 1, 1919, and died at age 77 years old on May 21, 1996.
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Donell Fields (Jul 2, 1951 - Nov 10, 2002)
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Donnie Fields
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Doristine Fields (Jan 9, 1949 - Apr 18, 2001)
Dorma Fields (Feb 24, 1934 - Apr 19, 2009)
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Dorothea Fields
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Dorrance Fields (Apr 20, 1927 - Oct 3, 1998)
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Dorsey Fields
Dortch Fields (Mar 7, 1891 - May 1951)
Dortha Fields
Dorthea Fields (May 6, 1899 - Jun 1980)
Dorthy Fields
Dorys Fields (Apr 4, 1922 - Feb 12, 1998)
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Dosha Fields (Aug 14, 1909 - May 22, 2005)
Doshia Fields
Doshie Fields (Sep 6, 1899 - Feb 14, 1988)
Dotsey Fields (Dec 20, 1915 - Mar 15, 2001)
Dotsie Fields (Jul 6, 1917 - Mar 29, 2006)
Dottie Fields
Douglas Fields
Dovella Fields (Aug 18, 1889 - Apr 15, 1971)
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Doyle Fields
Dozier Fields (Apr 27, 1896 - Apr 1975)
Dream Fields (Born Mar 30, 2004)
Drennon Fields (Jun 14, 1931 - Nov 3, 1998)
Drexel Fields (Nov 14, 1904 - May 1986)
Drucie Fields (Aug 15, 1911 - Oct 31, 2002)
Drucilla Fields (Apr 15, 1878 - Apr 15, 1970)
Dryas Fields (Jul 1, 1920 - Jan 1986)
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