Historical Portrayal: Dorothy Fuldheim
With a focus on history for Lakeside’s Sesquicentennial, Hoover Auditorium will host several historic portrayals this summer. The first in the series, Actress Ellen Rooney will portray the remarkable life and career of Dorothy Fuldheim, a pioneer in television, news broadcast journalist, commentator and author at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 7.
Fuldheim was a nightly presence on television in Northeast Ohio for an unbroken span of 47 years. As WEWS Channel 5’s resident news analyst, she offered a thoughtful nightly commentary on life, death and every aspect of human endeavor in between.
She interviewed presidential candidates, Hollywood stars, and is known as the only American journalist to have interviewed Adolf Hitler. She traveled the world, authored four books, married twice, and raised one daughter and granddaughter.
Rooney joined Women in History, a Cleveland area based non-profit corporation, in 2003. She portrays comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers, Mother of Modern Dance Isadora Duncan, Civil Rights martyr Viola Liuzzo, and Ohio historian Margret Manor Butler.
Rooney has worked in dance, theater and film in New York City, Los Angeles and Cleveland. She has master’s degree from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and a PhD in theater from Bowling Green State University. She is professional acting instructor and author of Memory Acting. Dr Rooney teaches acting at Cleveland State University Film School.
