Actress. Her soft voice and gentle femininity made her a favorite leading lady in films such as "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress) and "Friendly Persuasion" (1956). Born Dorothy Hackett McGuire, she was an only child who started her acting career in her hometown, at the Omaha Community Playhouse. She moved to New York City, New York and appeared on Broadway as an understudy to Martha Scott in "Our Town" and gained her own stardom in the domestic comedy "Claudia." She was brought to Hollywood by producer David O. Selznick on the strength of her stage performance and she starred in her first film, a movie adaptation of her Broadway success, "Claudia" (1943), co-starring Robert Young. She immediately gained popularity with the public and critics alike and was the catalyst for not only a sequel, "Claudia and David" (1946, also co-starring Robert Young), but also for numerous other film roles, including "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1945), "The Enchanted Cottage" (1945), "Till the End of Time" (1946), "The Spiral Staircase" (1946), "Mister 880" (1950), "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954), "Old Yeller" (1957), "A Summer Place" (1959), "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960), "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965, as the Virgin Mary), and the television film "Little Women" (1978). She also appeared in the television mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976) as well as in episodes of "The Love Boat," "St. Elsewhere," and "Highway to Heaven." In 1943 she married Life Magazine photographer John Swope until his death in 1979. She died of a heart attack at the age of 85 in Santa Monica, California following a brief illness. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.