Biography Marion Doughtery was born on Febuary 9, 1923 in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania. In her early career, she was brought as a casting executive assistant. Three months later, she would be promoted to being a casting executive for Kraft Television. By being the casting executive, she would ditch the former casting system known as, “casting cattle,” and would go to near theatres and watch plays and musicals and potentially talk to the actors or actresses and would cast them for shorts.
After gaining the attention of directors and producers, many of them would go to Dougherty and hire her to be the casting executive for their projects. Some of the most known projects she has done was, “Midnight Cowboy,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “The Killing Fields,” “Batman” (1989), and “The Sting.” Marion Dougherty would later move from New York to California where she was the head casting executive for Paramount Pictures and later Warner Brothers Studio.
Significance Marion Doughtery was ultimately one of the first pioneers when it came to casting executives in film projects and television. When Dougherty ditched the studio system of casting actors who were under contract with the company, more and more films were becoming more successful as actors were able to act like the character they portrayal which resulted in winning numerous awards. She has also helped uplift many notable actors we see on screen today, for instance, Clint Eastwood, Danny Glover, Al Pacino, and many more. Her significance brought a new form of appreciation towards casting directors. However, the DGA, Director Guild of America, does not find casting executives as directors as directors are the ones who make the decisions when leading a project. This resulted in a failed attempt on having a casting category at the Academy Awards and as well a failed attempt at an honorary award for Marion Doughtery at the Academy Awards.
Notable Actors who Ma
Clint Eastwood
Al Pacino
Duffin H
arion Dougherty helped
Hoffman
Jon Voight
James Dean
Monument
The main monument Marion Dougherty should have is a monument that is a camera, with films coming out of the film reel of actor’s profile to indicate that Dougherty had an eye of what the project was going to look like when the actors were doing their audtions. The film camera fits with their time, and what she envisioned from the actors would later move forward to the directors to which the directors would be very please of Dougherty’s casting. The second monument would simply be Marion Dougherty sitting on a chair in any theatre to tell that Dougherty loved being in the theatre and that theatre is where she found many of her actors to be casted in many of the projects she worked on.
Location #1
Music Theatre Building (George Mason University Fairfax Campus)
The primary location to have the Dougherty monument would be the Music Theatre Building in George Mason University. As Marion Dougherty loved theatre, it would be the perfect spot to have her monument there. Her monument of a film camera with film reels coming out of the film reel would be actors and actresses profile picture to showcase that Dougherty had an eye for what the projects would look like, either would it be for film or for television, and that the actors would help the directors vision.
Alternate Location
Harris Theatre Building (George Mason University Fairfax Campus)
An alternative location to have the Dougherty monument would be in the Harris Theatre in the George Mason Campus in Fairfax County. Dougherty would have the statue of herself sitting down in a chair in the Harris Theatre auditorium to showcase that Dougherty would go to plays and musicals in New York to watch and find actors or actresses that are great on acting and would potentially cast them for projects on televison or for movies.
Location #2
The second location to have the Doughtery Monument would be near Manhattan, New York, close to her office, Marion Dougherty Associates. The signifiances to have the monument at this location is because this is where Doughery’s career skyrocketed as many directors and producers would come and ask her to be the casting directors. She spent many of her years working here with other casting directors that would follow her footsteps. This location simply fits her home and she would want a monument at this location as well.
To Know More
To know more about Marion Dougherty’s story, the documentary, “Casting By” by Tom Donahue talks about the life of Marion Dougherty and how she has changed the film industry to what we see today. Even if she is unable to get a monument or get the recognition she deserves, this film is the closest thing to the recognition she worked so hard for.
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