Born Dorothy Mullican, she was playing piano at age twelve in cinemas as accompaniment to silent films. She studied at a music conservatory for two years, then went to New York with her sister Leota; they appeared in the Gus Edwards vaudeville revue and debuted on Broadway in Greenwich Village Follies. In 1928 Lola starred opposite George Jessel in Broadway's War Song, after which she was signed to a film contract by Fox; she debuted onscreen in Speakeasy (1929). Until the late '30s she appeared as brassy leads, mostly in minor productions; she became more successful with a string of films in which she was cast with her sisters Priscilla and Rosemary Lane. She retired from the screen in 1946. She was married five times; her husbands included actor Lew Ayres and directors Alexander Hall and Roland West.
by Rovi
biography
