Dorothy Morris was born Dorothy Ruth Morris and raised in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of a Methodist minister. She was the younger sister of Caren Marsh Doll, who later became a dancer and stand-in for Judy Garland. Morris studied acting under famed drama teacher Maria Ouspenskaya. She did a screen test for the female lead in The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942), but lost to Donna Reed. Appearing in bit parts in several of the studio’s more successful films, Morris was signed to an MGM contract in 1942. For one of her early film roles, Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943), she affected a British accent. Her next picture was the well-received drama The Human Comedy, which featured a star cast, headed by Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, James Craig and Marsha Hunt. Morris’ role was Mary Arena; the girlfriend of Van Johnson’s character. The highlight of her career, however, came in 1945 when she starred as the doomed Ingeborg Jensen in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes. Other screen roles included Someone to Remember (1943), Pilot No. 5 (1943), Rationing (1944) and None Shall Escape (1944). Dorothy Morris is often remembered for her featured appearances in MGM short subjects. She appeared in several of the studio’s short films including the Pete Smith Specialties, The Passing Parade, and Crime Does Not Pay series. The Crime short turned out so well that MGM expanded it into a full-length feature, Main Street After Dark in 1945, for which the actress was billed as Dorothy Ruth Morris. (Morris reminisces about her short-subjects experience in the Turner Classic Movies documentary Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story, first broadcast in 2002.)

After Dorothy Morris married in 1946, she took a hiatus from movie making. In the late 1950s, she made guest appearances on television series such as The Untouchables, The Donna Reed Show, Rawhide, Casey Jones, and Wagon Train. She made one film appearance during the 1950s in Macabre (1958). Her last film role was in Seconds (1966) starring Rock Hudson. Her last television appearance was in a 1971 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D.. Dorothy Morris resided in Palm Springs, California until her death on November 20, 2011 at the age of 89.