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Dorothy DeBorba

American child actress (1925–2010)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ186631 ↗
Source-derived summary

Dorothy Adele DeBorba (March 28, 1925 – June 2, 2010) was an American child actress who was a regular in the Our Gang series of short subjects as the leading lady from 1930 to 1933.

Early life

Dorothy Adelle DeBorba was raised in Livermore, California. Of Portuguese Azorean ancestry, she came from a show business background. Her mother was a singer-dancer-actress, and her father was a drummer in Paul Whiteman's band.

Our Gang

Dorothy DeBorba began her career at age five. She impressed Hal Roach with her ability to cry on cue. Her debut was an auspicious one: in Pups Is Pups (1930), she plays Jackie Cooper's younger sister.

With her trademark curls and elaborate hair bows, Dorothy quickly became an audience favorite. Her mother made those bows and would spend two hours every night brushing and putting Dorothy's hair up in curlers. Her natural energy and mischievousness added to her appeal.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dorothy DeBorba” as american child actress (1925–2010). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1925, 2010, 1930, 1933—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1925-03-28. The account is most persuasive where Dorothy, DeBorba and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american child actress (1925–2010). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q186631. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1925, 2010, 1930 and 1933.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dorothy DeBorba”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dorothy DeBorba primary sources, Dorothy DeBorba archive and Dorothy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dorothy DeBorba”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Dorothy DeBorba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.