Louise Currie (born Louise Gunter; April 7, 1913 – September 8, 2013) was an American film actress, active from 1940 into the early 1950s.
Louise Currie | |
|---|---|
_5.jpg) Currie in Adventures of Captain Marvel, 1941 | |
| Born | Louise Gunter April 7, 1913 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | September 8, 2013 (aged 100)[1][2] Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Sarah Lawrence College |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1940–1956 |
| Spouses | Robert Hefner, Jr.
(m. 1934; div. 1940)
John Good
(m. 1948; died 1996)Grover Asmus
(m. 2002; died 2003) |
| Children | 1 |
Biography
edit
Currie was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Charles W. Gunter, a banker,[3] and his wife, Louise (née Currie), whose maiden name she would take for her professional acting surname. She was prominent in society. While attending the Martha Washington Seminary, a finishing school for young women in Washington, D.C., she was chosen as one of the ten most beautiful society girls in the nation's capital.[4] She attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she became interested in acting. She moved to Hollywood, California and attended Max Reinhardt's drama school, where she was spotted by talent scouts while taking part in the school's stage workshop. She declined to attempt screen tests until after graduation.[5]
With the help of her agent, Sue Carol, wife to actor Alan Ladd, she began working with Monogram Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Most of her movies were B-movies and serials, in which she often portrayed the heroine. Her film career began in 1940, when she appeared first in Billy the Kid Outlawed and then as a society debutante, in the Kay Kyser musical You'll Find Out.[4] In 1941 she starred in the serial Adventures of Captain Marvel opposite Tom Tyler.
Currie had an uncredited role in Citizen Kane (1941), as a reporter at Xanadu, which included Alan Ladd as another reporter in the same sequence. She was the last surviving Kane cast member.[6]
From 1940–49 she had roles in 39 films, many of which were starring, including The Masked Marvel (1943). She made a few television appearances in the 1950s, retiring permanently from acting in 1956. [citation needed]
Personal life
editCurrie was first married to Robert A. Hefner Jr., but that marriage ended in divorce on January 29, 1940.[7] She married actor John Whitney (1918-1985) at the peak of her career, but the marriage ended in divorce. On May 4, 1948, she married character actor John Good.[8] He retired from acting, and the two opened a successful antique import-export business in Beverly Hills, remaining together until his death in December 1996.[9]
Other
editIn 1944, Currie starred opposite Hollywood legend Bela Lugosi in The Ape Man (1943) and Voodoo Man (1944). Along with actress Lucille Lund and others, she took part in the documentary film Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997), which detailed the life and acting career of Lugosi. In 2002, she married Grover Asmus, the widower of actress Donna Reed. [citation needed]
On May 17, 2010, Currie appeared at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills to introduce a screening of a restored print of the first chapter of the 1941 serial, Adventures of Captain Marvel.[10] She made repeat appearances on May 24, 2010 and August 16, 2010.
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Billy the Kid Outlawed | Molly Fitzgerald | |
| 1940 | You'll Find Out | Marion | Uncredited |
| 1940 | The Green Hornet Strikes Again! | Bordine's Girlfriend | Serial, Uncredited |
| 1940 | Billy the Kid Outlawed | Molly Fitzgerald | |
| 1940 | Billy the Kid's Gun Justice | Ann Roberts | |
| 1941 | The Reluctant Dragon | Minor Role | Uncredited |
| 1941 | The Pinto Kid | Betty Ainsley | |
| 1941 | Adventures of Captain Marvel | Betty Wallace | Serial |
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | Reporter at Xanadu | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Hello, Sucker | Model | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Tillie the Toiler | Office Girl | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Double Trouble | Miss Mink | |
| 1941 | Look Who's Laughing | Jane, Marge's Friend | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Dude Cowboy | Gail Sargent | |
| 1941 | Bedtime Story | Hotel Telephone Operator | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Call Out the Marines | Girl Too Tired to Dance | Uncredited |
| 1942 | The Bashful Bachelor | Marjorie | |
| 1942 | Stardust on the Sage | Nancy Drew | |
| 1943 | The Ape Man | Billie Mason | |
| 1943 | The Masked Marvel | Alice Hamilton | Serial |
| 1943 | Around the World | WAAC | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Million Dollar Kid | Louise Cortland | |
| 1944 | Voodoo Man | Sally | |
| 1944 | Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves | Katherine Reynolds | |
| 1944 | Christmas Holiday | Stewardess | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Sensations of 1945 | English Girl | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Practically Yours | Uncredited | |
| 1945 | Love Letters | Clara Foley | Uncredited |
| 1946 | Gun Town | Buckskin Jane Sawyer | |
| 1946 | The Bachelor's Daughters | Salesgirl | Uncredited |
| 1946 | Her Sister's Secret | Dick's Blonde Girlfriend | Uncredited |
| 1946 | Wild West | Florabelle Bannister | |
| 1947 | Backlash | Marian Gordon | |
| 1947 | Three on a Ticket | Helen Brimstead | |
| 1947 | The Crimson Key | Heidi | |
| 1947 | Second Chance | Joan Summers | |
| 1947 | The Chinese Ring | Peggy Cartwright | |
| 1949 | And Baby Makes Three | Miss Quigley - Secretary | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Queen for a Day | Secretary |
References
edit- ^ Magers, Boyd (September 11, 2013). "News". Western Clippings. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
- ^ Louise Currie obituary, Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2013; retrieved 2013-09-16.
- ^ "Realism Note--Debs Play Debs". Ogden Standard-Examiner. Utah, Ogden. Associated Press. September 29, 1940. p. 15. Retrieved June 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "RKO Director Makes Ten Strike". Oakland Tribune, December 15, 1940
- ^ Fitzgerald, Mike. "Louise Currie Interview". Western Clippings. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
- ^ "'Citizen Kane' actress Louise Currie dead at 100". Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource. September 15, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
- ^ "On Grounds of 'Dictatorial In-Laws' Wife Is Divorced". The Times. Indiana, Hammond. International News Service. January 29, 1940. p. 43. Retrieved June 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Actor, Actress Marry". Long Beach Independent. California, Long Beach. International News Service. May 5, 1948. p. 9. Retrieved June 10, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ John Good obituary, Variety, February 17–23, 1997.
- ^ Actress Louise Currie. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, May 17, 2010; retrieved January 26, 2013.
External links
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