Dot Mendoza
Australian pianist (1899-1986)
Doris Rosetta Elizabeth Mendoza OAM (11 September 1899 – 20 May 1986), also known as Dot Mendoza, was an Australian pianist, composer, drama coach and theatre director. She was associated with J. C. Williamson's company, the Minerva Theatre and Phillip Street Theatre.
Family and early life
Mendoza was born on 11 September 1899 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Her parents were Frederick Herbert Mendoza and Phoebe Mendoza (née Herman).
Mendoza was born with a congenital dislocation of both her hips. She had 35 operations before she turned 6 and was unable to walk until being treated by a specialist in Vienna, Austria. She had a permanent limp and underwent further treatment for osteoarthritis in the 1950s.
Mendoza married Frederick John Morton on 26 November 1921 in East St Kilda, but they separated six years later and divorced in 1942. She remarried to Francis Daniel Forde on 27 September 1943 in Melbourne.
Mendoza's daughter June Mendoza became a portrait painter known for her portraits of British royalty, politicians and musicians.
“Dot Mendoza” enters the record as australian pianist (1899-1986). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mendoza, Australian and pianist can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dot Mendoza” 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.