Doris Eaton was born into a family deeply rooted in the show business. At the tender age of five, she began appearing on stage alongside her brothers Charles and Joseph, and sisters Mary and Pearl. Her Broadway debut came in 1917 alongside her brother Charles in "Mother Carey's Chickens." The following year, the 14-year-old Doris became a Ziegfeld Girl, performing in the "Ziegfeld Follies" of 1918 and 1920, and the "Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic" in 1919.
After serving her dance apprenticeship in Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.'s chorus for three years, Doris transitioned to the silver screen, making her screen debut in "At the Stage Door" (1921) alongside Billie Dove. She then moved to England to appear in three films, including "Tell Your Children" (1922),"The Call of the East" (1922),and "The Call of the East" (1922).
Back in America, Doris appeared in several films and stage productions, including "The Broadway Peacock" (1922) with Pearl White, "High Kickers" (1923) with Jack Cooper and the Gorham Follies Girls, and "No Other Girl" (1924),"The Sap" (1924),and "Excess Baggage" (1924) on Broadway.
In 1925, Doris co-starred with Al Jolson in the musical comedy "Big Boy," and later appeared in "Excess Baggage" (1927) and "Cross My Heart" (1928). She moved to Hollywood in 1929, where she became a featured dancer at the Music Box Review Theater on Sunset Boulevard, introducing the song "Singin' in the Rain."
Her last appearance on Broadway in a legitimate production was in the comedy "Page Pygmalion" (1932). During the Great Depression, her career as a dancer began to decline, and she became an Arthur Murray dance instructor in 1936. She eventually relocated to Michigan, where she operated 18 Arthur Murray dance schools.
Doris retired to Oklahoma with her husband Paul Tavis, where they operated a quarter horse ranch. When they built their house, Doris demanded a foyer large enough for dancing, and still dances there at night, playing records and performing the foxtrot, waltz, and rumba.
Since her husband's passing in 2000, Doris has allowed people to board their horses on the ranch, jokingly referring to it as the "Travis Ranch Nursing Home for Horses." In the 1980s, Doris returned to college, graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1992, and was named a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors society.
At 101 years old, Doris attributed her longevity to dance, and even made a stage appearance just one month shy of her 106th birthday.
