Dora Knowlton Ranous | |
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| Born | Doris Isabelle Knowlton Thompson August 16, 1859 Ashfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 19, 1916 (aged 56) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Plain Cemetery, Ashfield, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | actress, author, editor, translator, book reviewer |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | Packer Collegiate Institute |
| Notable works | Diary of a Daly Debutante, Good English in Good Form, A Simple Record of a Noble Life |
| Spouse | William Vardell Ranous (m. 1881; divorced) |
| Children | Alice Knowlton Ranous Chubb |
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Dora Knowlton Ranous (August 16, 1859 – January 19, 1916) was an American actress, author, editor, translator, and book reviewer. She began her literary career editing educational books and contributing to Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia and The Criterion. Ranous attained distinction as a translator of French and Italian classics, and among the books rendered into English by her, either alone or in collaboration with Dr. Rossiter Johnson, whom she assisted, are The Literature of Italy, The Immortals, a collection of French works published under the sanction of the Académie Française; Guy de Maupassant's stories in fifteen volumes, and Gustave Flaubert's writings in ten volumes. She wrote two books of her own, The Diary of a Daly Debutante and Good English in Good Form. A memoir entitled A Simple Record of a Noble Life, which included some of her unpublished work, appeared in 1916.