Doris Merrick

Doris Roberta Merrick (nee Simpson, June 6, 1919 – November 30, 2019) was an American film actress and model.

Doris Merrick
Merrick in The Fighting Stallion (1950)
Born	Doris Roberta Simpson (1919-06-06)June 6, 1919
Died	November 30, 2019(2019-11-30) (aged 100) U.S.
Other names	Doris Hatfield (married name)
Occupation(s)	Actress, model
Years active	1942–1955
Spouses	Maximilian "Max" Marek ​ ​ (m. 1936; div. 1944)​ John Meagher Knoll ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1962)​ Matthew Lawton Hatfield ​ ​ (m. 1964; died 1986)​
Children	5

Biography

Pin-up photo of Merrick for Yank, the Army Weekly in 1943

Merrick was born in June 1919, to Joseph Simpson and Nellie Weber, and had five brothers and four sisters. She attended Hyde Park High School and worked as a singer with her sisters, before becoming a soloist at NBC, she subsequently worked as a model before signing a contract with Warner Bros. in 1941. She was first given the name Beth Drake but changed to Doris Merrick not long after. After appearing in an uncredited role in Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney, in 1941, she made her star film debut the following year in Girl Trouble. While a couple of her roles went uncredited she had a notable supporting role in the Laurel and Hardy comedy The Big Noise (1944). She appeared in the magazine Yank, the Army Weekly during the WWII years and her professional acting career ended in 1955.^[1][2][3]

Personal life

Merrick was married to boxer Max Marek from 1936 to 1944, before being married to rancher and lumberman John Meagher Knoll from 1946 to 1962.^[4] Merrick lived in the Golden Valley Estates Assisted Living Centre in Yuma, Arizona and was going under her married name of Doris Hatfield. Merrick turned 100 in June 2019 and died in November.^[5][6]

Filmography

• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Uncredited
• Girl Trouble (1942) as Susan
• That Other Woman (1942) as Irene
• Time to Kill (1942) as Linda Conquest Murdock
• Heaven Can Wait (1943) as Nellie Brown (uncredited)
• Ladies of Washington (1944) as Susan
• In the Meantime, Darling (1944) as Mrs. MacAndrews
• The Big Noise (1944) as Evelyn
• Sensation Hunters (1945) as Julie Rogers
• This Love of Ours (1945) as Vivian
• Hit the Hay (1945) as Sally Mansfield
• Child of Divorce (1946) as Louise Norman
• The Pilgrim Lady (1947) as Millicent Rankin
• The Counterfeiters (1948) as Margo Talbot
• The Fighting Stallion (1950) as Jeanne Barton
• Untamed Women (1952) as Sandra
• The Neanderthal Man (1953) as Ruth Marshall
• Interrupted Melody (1955) as nurse (uncredited)