She relocated to Portland, Oregon where she opened "the Little Theatre", an acting school attended by wealthy area students.

[3] It was at the Little Theatre that Dillon met a then unknown aspiring actor 17-years her junior named W. C. Gable, while she was working as a stage director for the Red Lantern Players.

She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and to gain better resonance and tone.

After the long period of rigorous training, Dillon eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career in Los Angeles.

Two days later, Gable married wealthy socialite Maria Franklin Prentiss Lucas Langham, nicknamed "Rhea".

Her students included Bruce Cabot, Gary Cooper, Donna Reed, Rita Hayworth and Linda Darnell.

In the years following their divorce, Clark Gable became one of the most popular leading men of the era and would win an Academy Award in 1934.

He claimed he was motivated only by love and added that he "owed [Dillon] a debt of gratitude" for guiding his early career.

"[5] Throughout the 1950s and early 60s, Dillon continued to teach acting and lived in a small home in the San Fernando Valley.

After Gable's death in November 1960, the press reported that his will stipulated that the remainder of Dillon's mortgage be paid in full by his estate.

She later reported that she regularly received abusive and insulting letters and telephone calls from Gable fans despite the fact that she never publicly disparaged him.