Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Sshe was the daughter of Carmen Louise (née LaPorte) and John Watson Slaton, both of whom were waiters. Dorothy Lamour was of French Louisianan, Spanish and Irish descent. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few years, with her mother re-marrying Clarence Lamour, and Dorothy took his last name. That marriage also ended in divorce when Dorothy was a teenager. Early in her career, Lamour met J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, Hoover pursued Lamour romantically, but she was initially interested only in friendship with him. Hoover and Lamour remained close friends to the end of Hoover's life, and after his 1972 death, Lamour did not deny rumors that she had an affair with him in the years after she divorced Herbie Kay.