Dodie Smith

Dorothy-Gladys (Dodie) Smith was born on May 3, 1896, in Whitefield, England. She was an only child. Her father passed away when she was 2 years old, and then Dodie and her mother moved to Old Trafford to live with her grandparents, two aunts, and three uncles. In 1910, her mother remarried, and they moved to London with her new husband and the then 14-year-old Dodie. In 1914, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her fourth play, titled "Call it a Day," was a success and ran for 509 performances in London. When she went to America to stage her play "Dear Octopus," she returned with her friend and manager Alec Macbeth Beesley, whom she married in 1939. Immediately after, they left for America again to avoid legal difficulties because her husband was a conscientious objector. Dodie passed away in England in 1990, where her ashes were scattered according to her wishes. Pongo, the canine protagonist of "The Hundred and One Dalmatians," was named after her own Dalmatian dog, the first of nine. Dodie Smith got the idea for her novel when a friend observed her Dalmatians and said, "Those dogs would make a lovely fur coat!"