A child of Hollywood, Potter left to build businesses
Raised in Hollywood, Deborah Dozier Potter briefly considered an acting career like her mother, Joan Fontaine. She later became a successful talent agent working away from the camera like her father— producer William Dozier. Her godmother was actress Maureen O’Sullivan, and her aunt is Olivia de Havilland.
But growing up in a famous Hollywood family could be challenging.
“My parents were ‘extremely’ divorced and fought over me a lot,” recalled Potter from her home in Santa Fe. New Mexico. While she never doubted her parents’ love, their careers often took priority.
“My father was a big studio executive and gone a lot,” she said of Dozier, best remembered for producing (and narrating) the 1960s ABC series “Batman.” “I knew he didn’t have much time to give me, but he was very kind and gentle and a good dad when he was there.”
The relationship with her mother, however, was more complicated.
“When my mother went off to make a movie, my foster sister and I were often left for months on end with a strange assortment of nannies. But when she was home and wanted to be a mother, she was an absolute joy to be around — we’d cook, arrange flowers and do things together. She could be the most enthusiastic and exuberateperson, ever. But then she’d turn, and we were terrified of her. Maybe she was bipolar because you just didn’t know what you were going to get.”
In 1979, Potter abandoned the glitz of the West Coast entertainment world and moved to Santa Fe with husband Earl Potter. The couple established thriving businesses, including a downtown hotel (see www.hotelsantafe.com) and a chain of about a dozen Five and Dime General Stores (see www.fiveanddimegs.com).
But several years ago after falling off her horse in 1999 and suffering numerous bone breakages, Potter would have been incapable of walking alone into one of her stores or any establishment where crowds gather. Her fear of being touched and possibly injured led Potter to eventually recognize a surprising diagnosis.
“When I learned about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and that anyone experiencing traumatic injury could develop them, I was stunned to realize that’s what I had,” she recalled.
Potter says her border collie shelter dog, Buster, instinctively came to her aid and “took care of me when I was out in public.” Her recovery required years, and in 2007, she published “Let Buster Lead” as a tribute to her dog, but also to help others with PTSD (see www.deborahdpotter. com).
Despite coming from a broken home, Potter credits her family for instilling in her one quality that not only helped her recover from PTSD but professionally in her own business ventures.
“That nothing’s impossible and that you should never quit,” she says. That’s very true in the entertainment world because if you say, ‘I can’t do that’ — you’re outta there! And it’s true in other professions, too, so that was a great ethic to grow up with.”