Doty draws fans from afar

Actress, teacher becomes author in her 80s

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A Hollywood actress with local roots, who traded the lifestyle for higher education and lately became an author, talked to fans from as far away as Colorado following her film festival Saturday at the New Ulm Community Center.

Kathryn Adams Doty of Mankato was born in New Ulm, the daughter of the Rev. Christian Hohn, pastor of New Ulm's first German Methodist church.

A student at Hamline in 1939, she entered the Gateway to Hollywood talent contest. Doty didn't win and later learned the contest was rigged. However, Italian movie director Gregory LaCava was so impressed with her, he offered her a contract under the name Kathryn Adams.

The day after the contest, she got a phone call and job offer. The next day, she left Minneapolis in tears at the Milwaukee Road train depot. All students in the Hamline Drama Department attended her departure and gave her two dozen roses.

She still remembered the event.

"I ate dinner in the first class car on the train with a journalist who was going to Palm Springs. He noticed I was upset and thought I was a new bride that was stood up by the groom," Doty said.

She made movies for a couple of years before marrying Hugh Beaumont of "Leave It To Beaver" fame.

Doty's mother journeyed to Hollywood to spend some vacation time with her. The pair thought they would enjoy a Christmas Day dinner at LaCava's place in Malibu.

They arrived at 2 p.m., thinking the meal would take place. By 8 p.m., the women drank root beer but had not been fed. The rest of the crowd was roaring drunk and entertained themselves by throwing popcorn balls at Christmas ornaments.

Doty and her mother met actor W.C. Fields.

"He was the raunchiest, most foul-mouthed man in Hollywood," Doty said. "My mother thought he was funny. She later dreamed she married him and wound up crocheting the rest of her life."

Doty traded the Hollywood lifestyle to become a housewife and raise three children with Beaumont. She talked about why did made the switch.

"My brief acting career didn't feel terribly important to me. It wasn't where my heart was," Doty said. "It's of much greater interest to others. I've grown to accept that."

When her oldest child was six, she earned her bachelor's degree and a master's degree in educational psychology at Los Angeles State University.

Doty taught school, became a licensed psychologist and after retiring, returned to her first love -- writing. She moved back to Minnesota in 1977 and lives in Mankato with her husband, Fred Doty.

Earlier this year, her book "A Long Year of Silence," was published by the Edinborough Press. The novel, set in New Ulm when the United States entered World War I in 1917, deals with how a young girl's life is turned upside down.

Anti-German hysteria swept Minnesota, disrupting the lives of friends and family. A 16-year-old minister's daughter, the girl in the novel, Emma Altenberg struggles with challenging relationships with her parents and friends.

Doty thanked Brown County Historical Society Research Librarian Darla Gebhard for all her work that helped Doty write the book.

Doty's children have followed her lead.

Her oldest son is a psychologist in Germany. He has written several books about the inner emotional journey of children who's parents were Nazis.

Doty's daughter is a psychologist for Blue Earth County Social Services.

Her youngest son was head of an Atlanta Textile Co. and more recently had an executive job in the Dominican Republic. He is considering buying a canoe outfitting company in northern Minnesota.

Fans asked her why she returned to Minnesota?

"I just couldn't get it out of my blood," Doty said. "We kept coming back here years ago, after buying property up north. I wanted my kids to enjoy some of the things I did as a youngster."

Doty said she actually missed winter weather in California and said she didn't miss life out west.

Actress Barbara Billingsley, who played Beaumont's wife in "Leave It To Beaver," carried on a good relationship with Doty in California. Jerry Mathers (Beaver) and Doty were also friends.

Doty encouraged film fest goers to write a book and get it published.

Retired Carlton College Chaplain and professor Dr. David Maitland was among the film fest attendees. He spoke with historical author Dan Hoisington who hosted the event.

Maitland has written several books and continues to write. He talked about Doty's book and about people filling new roles in their later years.

"There's often so much more to us than the culture allows," Maitland said. "Sometimes you have to thumb your nose at the culture and be yourself. I was very captivated by her (Doty's) book and about her relationship with her father in the book. It was very believable."

Fritz Bunch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.