Shore grew up in Winchester and Nashville, Tennessee, moved to New York after graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1938, and built her name on radio before records made her famous. Her 1940 recording of “Yes, My Darling Daughter” sold roughly half a million copies, and she went on to rack up 75 charted hits through the mid-1950s.
VIDEO | “Yes, My Darling Daughter” (1940)
When television arrived in earnest, Shore was a natural fit. The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ran from 1956 to 1963, drawing big audiences with its “Living Color” production and Shore’s easy charisma — she closed every episode with a signature kiss blown to the camera, accompanied by “See the USA in Your Chevrolet.” By the time that run ended, she had won six Emmy Awards.
After a quieter stretch in the mid-to-late 1960s, Shore returned to television in 1970 with Dinah’s Place, a half-hour NBC morning show built around cooking, crafts and conversation. “It was a ‘do’ show,” Shore later said of the format. “I love to cook, and we did some cooking demos.”
The show earned her two more Emmys and led directly to her first cookbook, Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah, which she was developing while her Beverly Hills kitchen was undergoing a full remodel. That kitchen, covered in American Home magazine in 1967, was fitted out with a commercial gas range, a griddle, copper pots and two ovens — practical tools, not decorative ones. Shore reportedly owned more than 300 cookbooks and did most of her own cooking, drawing from recipes collected on the road and from friends.
VIDEO | The Dinah Shore Show (1959)
The Beverly Hills home also reflected Shore’s wide social world. She built a guest cottage on the property so friends and family could stay comfortably, and the house was a regular gathering spot throughout the ’70s, during which time her daytime talk show Dinah! (later Dinah and Friends) made her one of the most visible personalities on television.
Off-screen, she was equally active — she helped found the Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Tournament in 1972, which became one of the LPGA’s major events and ran at Mission Hills Country Club near her Palm Springs home for decades. The Palm Springs property, designed in 1964 by architect Donald Wexler at around 7,000 square feet, was a different kind of statement — modernist, desert-oriented, with walls of glass framing views of the San Jacinto mountains.
Shore continued hosting television programs through 1991, when Dinah Comes Home brought her back to the Grand Ole Opry stage for the Nashville Network. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993 and died at her Beverly Hills home on February 24, 1994, at age 77. She had three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — one each for radio, recording and television — and was posthumously inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. The vintage photos and magazine spreads collected here give a room-by-room look at the Beverly Hills home as it appeared in 1967 and again in the 1970s, at the height of Shore’s second act in television.
Come into the kitchen with Dinah Shore (1967)
From American Home – November 1967
“My kitchen is home to me,” says Dinah Shore — singer, TV hostess, cook. And her newly remodeled kitchen is a warm, comfortable place, where she can happily whip up anything from a barbecue to a gourmet meal.
The pride of Dinah’s well-equipped kitchen is the giant commercial gas range and griddle (opposite) with its glowing copper pots and pans. Dinah puts her two spacious ovens to good use (left). Behind her is a dining nook lined with windows.
Preparing breakfast (below, left), Dinah makes toast in a space-saving toaster that folds back into wall. Food center (below) gives Dinah easy access to small appliances. All are run by counter-top mechanism. Long kitchen is beautifully organized for easy workflow and for serving frequent meals in dining nook.
Dinah Shore and her beautiful, beautiful home in Beverly Hills (1978)
From Good Housekeeping – March 1978
Here’s where the popular international star — her talk show, Dinah!, is seen around the world, as far away as Australia and Hong Kong — relaxes with friends for more good talk, good food, good tennis, good times.
Spacious grounds (below) sold Dinah on the house 10 years ago — there was plenty of room to add a tennis court (she plays every day), guest house, and flower and vegetable gardens she helps tend.
The garden room in Dinah Shore’s home
The garden room typifies her casual, California style of life. Its filled with invitingly soft sofa and chairs, vibrant color, huge plants, sunlight streaming through the huge multi-paned window.
Dinah Shore’s study converts to screening room
A rug on the wall covers the opening to the projection room. Here Dinah and friends enjoy films and out-takes from her show (material cut from the final tapes).
In keeping with her feeling that each room should have its own motif, here the look is American Indian. Custom-made butcher-block tables, built on casters, stand side by side, and can move easily to wherever they’re needed.
The small guest cottage next to Dinah Shore’s home
The cottage was built by Dinah so friends and family could stay over at the house in real comfort. An over-size wall-covering pattern coordinates the sitting room, sleep area.
Dinah’s at home in the kitchen
She owns over 300 cookbooks, has written one herself, and does most of the cooking, using recipes collected on her travels and from friends. Her restaurant-type stove can cope with a crowd.
One Response
Gosh, this all makes me miss my childood/adult home—my parents’ home—in Arcadia. It was a two story English Tudor style on the outside, and such a cozy home inside. There was a dumbwaiter, a basement mom made into a darkroom. Tall camellia bushes surrounded the bay windows, the dining room was lovely, there was a light filled breakfast nook. The big yard had a guest house and patio, a swimming pool, a small orchard, a greenhouse my dad built for his orchids. We had an annual Christmas party and plenty of poolside barbecues.
But in spite of the luxuries, it was cozy, unpretentious and just home. I miss it and those days so much.