Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 25, 1994 TAG: 9402250149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Her first husband, actor George Montgomery, and their two children, Melissa Ann Hime and John David Montgomery, were with her when she died after a short illness. She had recently been diagnosed as having cancer.
Her career, remarkable for its longevity, stretched from radio in the late 1930s to cable television in the early 1990s. Her signature series was "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show," which ran from 1956-63, during which she taught millions of viewers this jingle:
"See the U.S.A.
In your Chevrolet.
America is asking you to buy."
"She was the sunshine in my life and millions and millions of others," said actor Burt Reynolds, a former companion. "She is the only person I ever knew who had nothing bad to say about anyone."
Shore won the first of her eight Emmys in 1954 for her first TV series, "The Dinah Shore Show," and her last in 1975-76 for another series, "Dinah."
On her "Chevy Show," which she always ended by throwing a big kiss to the audience, Shore was the model 1950s prime-time variety show host: unfailingly upbeat. Years later, she said, "I don't see anything wrong with that. It wasn't synthetic. I really enjoy working."
She also enjoyed playing golf, and for more than 20 years hosted the Dinah Shore Classic golf tournament in Palm Springs.
After her divorce from Montgomery in 1962, Shore married building contractor Maurice F. Smith in 1963, but they divorced 15 months later. In '70s, she was involved in a much publicized love affair with Reynolds, who is 19 years younger. Brushing aside their age difference, she said, "What difference does it make? Chronology has nothing to do with it. It has to do with how you feel emotionally about yourself. Love is so hard to find that you must cherish it at any level."
by CNB