Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dorian performed on the stage, radio, television and film. He appeared in features including Woody Allen’s, and lent his voice to Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic as an archaeologist whose tape-recorded readings from an ancient text resurrect a demon.which premiered in 1996, but it is as American Movie Classics’ first prime-time host for which he is best known. The network launched in 1984 as a premium channel focused on classic movies.
An avowed movie buff, Dorian wanted to exude his love for films to viewers. “We never use tape-overs,” he told the Dallas Morning News in 1994, explaining his process. “If I make a mistake, we leave it in. I want to seem like a human being who enjoys movies, not a superior professor talking down to an audience.”. He also performed frequently in regional theater productions, including the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. He had recently retired to Florida.