Port Henry residents star rises

Jun. 29—LOS ANGELES — Dorothy Mae Wilber loves imitating life with people she loves working with to tell a story.

The Port Henry resident especially loves working with millennials, who keeps her spunk fired.

Dorothy has worked on numerous projects — movies, television shows and music videos — in the past five years along with riding out the pandemic in California where she resides with her daughter, Cynthia, during the winter months.

CAREER 'TAKING OFF'

She's a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and landed her first agent at 91 years of age at Master Talent Agency in Los Angeles.

"Her career is taking off right now," Cynthia said.

"She did a short film with Joe Daru, and his agent saw the film and really liked Dorothy a lot.

"He basically said, 'I'm interested.' When he found out she was the age she was, he couldn't believe it.

"He said, 'I'm going to take a chance on her.' She has been going off to auditions. That's been a short amount of time, just a few months now."

"But it's been a lot of fun," Dorothy said.

"They're great."

IN THE BLOOD

Dorothy is a dynamo who loves to dance and be on set as her all-time favorite nonagenarian pastime.

Three years ago, she was cast to dance on "Ellen" with Big Sean.

Dorothy came by her twinkle toes honestly.

Her father, Grover Baxter, was a square-dance caller and a beautiful dancer.

She and her sister, Eleanor were smart dancers.

With her brother, Roger, strumming a guitar, a pint-sized Dorothy, at 5, entertained 1930s Labor Day revelers in Port Henry.

STILL GRINDING

Dorothy's been back to work lately in several shows, including "Carpool Karaoke" the series, Season 5, on Apple TV in episode 4 with Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott.

Dorothy got to lip-sync in Carpool Karaoke.

"It was complicated," Cynthia said.

"Even the producer of the show, her name is Holly, she said 'I was just astonished.' First of all, she didn't know my mom's age. When I told her, she was blown away, and she said what we had her do wasn't easy. It was quite a challenge. They've got a voiceover going over her, and then she has to match that in doing that."

"It was a lot of fun, but difficult in a way," Dorothy said.

"Jumping in and out of a car," Cynthia said.

JUST HAVING FUN

"I don't say this as a bragging thing, but I excel in dancing. That's my love. I love it," Dorothy said.

"When she actually works, she really knows how to sort of focus and do it," Cynthia said.

"She's not nervous, because she's not doing this as other people are as a matter of a life or death situation of 'Oh, I got to get this part.' She is doing it for fun. She approaches it with sheer joy, and fun, and experience at her age of being with people. She loves to be with younger people."

"They're great," Dorothy said.

"They talk about the teenagers and everything today, but the ones I work with, I love them and I love working with them."

'BEST ACTRESS'

Her training ground was in shorts produced by college students in Lake Placid, where she won the "2011 Sleepless in Lake Placid" Best Actress Award at the Lake Placid Film Forum.

"I love young people that do things like instead going out and doing drugs and all," Dorothy said.

"I volunteered my time for five years to be an actress there, and they loved it. All colleges, they loved it, and I loved it, too."

LOVES 'TELLING A STORY'

Now, she is making bank in Burbank.

"What she loves, it's not so much the Hollywood thing," Cynthia said.

"She likes the spirit of telling a story and being part of telling a story. She's always been a storyteller, and so was her mom (Elizabeth Kelly Baxter)."

PAST ROLES

Dorothy's past appearances include "Dead To Me" Season 1 and the Netflix series "Pretty Smart."

"She did work on 'Gaslit,'" Cynthia said.

"It's a current series that's on Starz right now."

"She also worked on Dead to Me, and Liz Feldman, who is the creator of that show, really loved her. She worked on that with Ed Asner before he died (during) the first season. She worked on it on the second season. Liz invited her back. She also worked on a Netflix show called 'Pretty Smart.' She got carried out of the gym by the star (Gregg Sulkin, "Grant") of that show."

Dorothy will be appearing as a "queen" in an episode of a forthcoming unannounced new show.

DAUGHTER'S SUPPORT

Her acting trajectory started when she regularly rearranged her daughter's whole place.

"We have to put that energy into something else," Cynthia said.

"I said, 'You love to meet people. You love to be with people.' And, it went from there. I have guided her. I'm her advocate in the business. I do know a certain amount. I'm experienced as a producer in documentaries, and then I also worked for the Television Academy at the Emmy Awards. That's how I started my career out. I've always been good at guiding other people."

Dorothy wants to bring the joy of living to the screen.

"She really enjoys what she does," Cynthia said.

"She looks at it more or less like she's living out the remaining years of her life imitating life."

'I'VE BEEN BLESSED'

Hollywood auditions win hands-down over bingo, slots, crochet or bus tours.

"I'm just very happy," Dorothy said.

"I've been blessed with a very healthy life. I love it, and I tell that to everybody."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell