Diana Lewis - YANK Pin-up Girl - 4 Aug 1944 "Down Under Edition"

Diana Lewis was born on September 18, 1919 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Lewis began her film career in “All the King’s Horses” (1934) and worked steadily over the next few years, usually in minor roles. Her more notable films include “It’s a Gift” (1934), “Gold Diggers in Paris” (1938), “Go West” (1940) and “Johnny Eager” (1942). She was the love interest of Andy Hardy as Daphne Fowler in “Andy Hardy Meets Debutante” (1940).

She met the actor William Powell in 1940, married after a courtship of three weeks and retired from acting in 1943. The couple remained together until Powell’s death in 1984.

Lewis was an active supporter of women’s golf and the LPGA. The LPGA’s William and Mousie Powell Award is named in honor of the Powells.

Lewis died from pancreatic cancer on January 18, 1997 in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 77, and was interred at Cathedral City’s Desert Memorial Park in Riverside County, California, alongside Powell, and her stepson, William David Powell.

TRIVIA:

Height: 5′ 1½” (1.56 m)

Nickname: Mousie

Sister of actress Maxine Lewis and composer J.C. Lewis.

William Powell and Diana knew each other for only a few weeks when they eloped. He had previously been married to Carole Lombard and engaged to Jean Harlow at the time of her sudden death.

Diana’s best friend was Carole Landis. Diana gave Carole a gold cross in 1938 that she wore for the rest of her life, and was buried wearing.

Dorothy Malone - YANK Pinup Girl - April 13, 1945

Dorthy Malone was born Dorothy Eloise Maloney in Chicago, Illinois on January 30, 1925. The family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked as a child model and began acting in school plays at Ursuline Convent and Highland Park High School. While performing at Southern Methodist University, she was spotted by a talent agent for RKO and was signed to a studio contract, making her film debut in 1943 in The Falcon and the Co-Eds.

Much of Malone’s early career was spent in supporting roles in B-movies, many of them Westerns, although on occasion she had the opportunity to play small but memorable roles, such as that of a brainy, lusty, bespectacled bookstore clerk in “The Big Sleep” (1946) with Humphrey Bogart, and the love interest of Dean Martin in the musical-comedy “Artists and Models” (1955).

By 1956, Malone had transformed herself into a platinum blonde and shed her good girl-image when she co-starred with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in director Douglas Sirk’s melodrama “Written on the Wind”. Her portrayal of the dipso-nymphomaniac daughter of a Texas oil baron won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. As a result, she was offered more substantial roles in “Too Much, Too Soon” (1958), where she portrayed Diana Barrymore, “Man of a Thousand Faces” (with James Cagney – 1957), and “Warlock” (with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark – 1959). Additional screen credits include “The Tarnished Angels” (in which she reunited with former co-stars Hudson and Stack and director Sirk – 1957), “The Last Voyage” (with Stack – 1960) and “The Last Sunset” (with Hudson – 1961).

In the 1963-1964 season, Malone guest starred on Jack Palance’s ABC circus drama “The Greatest Show on Earth”. Thereafter, she became a household name when she accepted the lead role of Constance MacKenzie on the ABC prime time serial “Peyton Place”, on which she starred from 1964 through to 1968. She had a featured role in the miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man” (1976). Her last screen appearance came as a mother convicted of murdering her family in “Basic Instinct” (1992), appearing with Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.

Malone has been married and divorced three times and has two daughters, Mimi and Diane, from her first marriage to actor Jacques Bergerac. Her star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 1718 Vine. As of 2009, Malone is retired and living in Dallas, Texas.

Gene Eliza Tierney was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1920, to well-to-do parents. Her father was a very successful insurance broker and her mother was a former teacher. Her childhood was lavish indeed. She also lived, at times, with her equally successful grandparents in Connecticut and New York. She was educated in the finest schools on the East Coast and at a finishing school in Switzerland. After two years in Europe, Gene returned to the US where she completed her education.

By 1938 she was performing on Broadway in “What a Life!” and understudied for “The Primerose Path” (1938) at the same time. Her wealthy father set up a corporation that was only to promote her theatrical pursuits. Her first role consisted of carrying a bucket of water across the stage, prompting one critic to announce that “Miss Tierney is, without a doubt, the most beautiful water carrier I have ever seen!” Her subsequent roles “Mrs O`Brian Entertains” (1939) and “RingTwo” (1939) were meatier and received praise from the tough New York critics. Critic Richard Watts wrote “I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have a long and interesting theatrical career, that is if the cinema does not kidnap her away”.

Gene was  spotted by the legendary Darryl F. Zanuck during a stage performance of the hit show “The Male Animal” (1940), Gene was signed to a contract with 20th Century-Fox. Her first role as Barbara Hall in “Hudson`s Bay” (1941) would be the send-off vehicle for her career. Later that year she appeared in “The Return of Frank James” (1940). The next year would prove to be a very busy one for Gene, as she appeared in “The Shanghai Gesture” (1941), “Sundown” (1941), “Tobacco Road” (1941) and “Belle Starr” (1941). She tried her hand at screwball comedy in “Rings on Her Fingers” (1942), which was a great success. Her performances in each of these productions were masterful. In 1945 she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Ellen Brent in “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945). Though she didn’t win, it solidified her position in Hollywood society. She followed up with another great performance as Isabel Bradley in the hit “The Razor`s Edge” (1946). In 1944 she played what is probably her best-known role (and, most critics agree, her most outstanding performance) in Otto Preminger`s “Laura” (1944), in which she played murder victim named Laura Hunt. In 1947 Gene played Lucy Muir in the acclaimed “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (1947). By this time Gene was the hottest player around, and the 1950s saw no letup as she appeared in a number of good films, among them “Night and the City” (1950), “The Mating Season” (1951), “Close to My Heart” (1951), “Plymouth Adventure” (1952), “Personal Affair” (1953) and “The Left Hand of God” (1955). The latter was to be her last performance for seven years.

The pressures of a failed marriage to Oleg Cassini, the birth of a daughter who was mentally retarded in 1943, and several unhappy love affairs resulted in Gene being hospitalized for depression. When she returned to the the screen in “Advise & Consent” (1962), her acting was as good as ever but there was no longer a big demand for her services. Her last feature film was “The Pleasure Seekers” (1964), and her final appearance in the film industry was in a TV miniseries, “Scruples” (1980). Gene died of emphysema in Houston, Texas, on November 6, 1991, just two weeks shy of her 71st birthday.

TRIVIA:

Measurements: 35B-25-36

Height: 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Nickname: The Get Girl

Howard Hughes provided the funds for her retarded daughter’s medical care.

Had her share of love affairs during her Hollywood reign, including a notorious one with John F. Kennedy, whom she met while filming Dragonwyck (1946). Kennedy broke it up because of his political aspirations. She also had dalliances with Tyrone Power during production of The Razor’s Edge (1946) and with Prince Aly Khan in the early 1950s.

Received extensive shock treatment in the 1950s while battling her mental instability.

Tierney was in the throes of suicidal depression and was admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, on Christmas Day in 1957, after police talked her down from a building ledge. She was released from Menningers the following year.

When Gene saw herself on screen for the first time, she was horrified by her voice (“I sounded like an angry Minnie Mouse”). She began smoking to lower her voice, but it came at a great price – she died of emphysema.

The ever-lovely, poised and vivacious blonde Anne Jeffreys was born Anne Carmichael on January 26, 1923 in 1923 in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Firmly managed by her mother, she trained in voice at a fairly early age and received her first break in the entertainment field after signing with the John Robert Powers agency in New York as a junior model. In the interim, she prepared herself for an operatic career and made her debut in a production of “La Boheme” in 1940. The following year, however, Anne won a role in the musical review “Fun for the Money” that was to be staged in Hollywood. This, in turn, led to her first movie role in the tuneful Rodgers & Hart adaptation of “I Married an Angel” (1942) starring her singing idols Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in their last cinematic pairing.

Put under contract respectively by Republic then RKO studios, Anne was utilized as a plucky heroine in a flux of 40s “B” westerns and crimers opposite such stalwarts as Robert Mitchum and Randolph Scott. Also among her roles was the part of Tess Trueheart in the “Dick Tracy” series with Morgan Conway as the steel-jawed hero, and a co-star role opposite Frank Sinatra in the war-era musical “Step Lively” (1944). None of these, however, were able to propel her into the “A” ranks and her film career quickly dissipated by the end of the 40s. In the meantime, Anne continued to prod her vocal skills with symphonic and stage appearances including “Tosca” at the Brooklyn Opera House, Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene” and the Broadway musical “My Romance”.

Divorced in 1949, Anne met handsome actor Robert Sterling during an extended run (887 performances) of “Kiss Me Kate” on Broadway. She and Sterling married in 1951 and had three sons. In an attempt to revive their flagging careers, the singing couple toured nighteries and hotels in the early 1950s with a highly successful club act. This led to them being cast as sly, engagingly cavalier spirits in the classic “Topper” (1953) sitcom. Anne played Marion Kirby (“the ghostess with the mostest”) alongside Sterling’s dapper husband George. Successfully, undertaking the ectoplasmic roles originated on film by Constance Bennett and Cary Grant, the two were an absolute hit as the party-hearty ghosts who reclaim their home to the dismay of current owner Leo G. Carroll.

Anne and Robert weren’t able to recreate that same kind of magic when they subsequently co-starred in the short-lived series “Love That Jill” (1958). In the 1960s Anne semi-retired to raise her family, but occasionally took on musical leads (“Camelot”, “The King and I”) both on Broadway and in regional productions. She later returned full time to TV and became known for her chic, gregarious, sometimes double-dealing matrons on soap operas (“Bright Promise” (1969) and “General Hospital” (1972)). She was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her supporting work in “The Delphi Bureau” (1972) adventure series, and appeared occasionally as the mother of David Hasselhoff on “Baywatch” (1989).

Unlike her husband, who retired decades ago (he died in 2006), Anne remains a tireless performer past age 80. Still quite a beauty, she has been recognized over the years for her civic and humanitarian efforts.

Deanna Durbin was born Edna Mae Durbin on December 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her British-born parents moved to California while she was still young, and her singing voice soon had talent scouts knocking at her door.

She signed a contract with MGM in 1936, at the age of 14, which resulted in her appearance in “Every Sunday” (1936), a short that also starred Judy Garland. Deanna was dropped by MGM but was immediately picked up by Universal Pictures, which cast her in the role of Penny Craig in “Three Smart Girls” (1936).

While preparing for the role she was coached intensely by director Henry Koster; it’s doubtful she would have been the star she was had it not been for Koster. The profits from this film and its follow-up, “One Hundred Men and a Girl” (1937), rescued Universal from bankruptcy. The studio quickly capitalized on these hits, casting Deanna in two successive and highly acclaimed films, “That Certain Age” (1938) and “Mad About Music” (1938). With these films Deanna became Hollywood’s darling. She reprised her role of Penny Craig in “Three Smart Girls Grow Up” (1939).

Deanna was such a hit that she shared the Academy Award’s 1939 Juvenile Award with Mickey Rooney “for their significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth, and as juvenile players, setting high standards of ability and achievement”. Deanna’s singing and acting ability had the world talking. There was no doubt she was the most popular performer of her day.

She was, however, by nature a very private individual, never comfortable with the glitz, glamor and publicity that came with stardom. Despite her uneasiness, she continued to churn out hits and kept the public enthralled. In 1943 she played Penny Craig again, for the third time, in “Hers to Hold” (1943). Deanna’s final film was “For the Love of Mary” (1948), whereupon, at the age of 27, she simply walked away. For a star of her stature, that took a tremendous amount of courage. All she wanted was to be anonymous.

Today Deanna lives in France, just outside Paris, with her third husband, French director Charles David, whom she wed in 1950. She has had numerous offers to return to the screen and has turned them all down. She has not even been interviewed since 1949. Such is her appeal, however, even after all these years, that she still gets fan mail and requests for autographs. Henry Koster did, indeed, create a legend.

TRIVIA:

Was an option to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

By twenty-one, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States and highest-paid female film star in the World.

Deanna Durbin dolls existed along with many other types of merchandising in the 1940s.

Universal Pictures top star in the 1940s where she was paid $400,000 per film. She is reported as the star who saved the company.

Tried for the voice of Snow White in Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) but Disney himself rejected her, claiming she sounded “too mature.” She was 14 at the time.

She was sought for the female leads of the original Broadway productions of both Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Oklahoma!” (1943) and Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” (1956). Universal refused to loan her for Oklahoma! and she turned down the lead in My Fair Lady (after Lerner personally came to her home to audition the songs for her) because, as she said later, “I had my ticket for Paris in my pocket.”

She was the number one female box office star in Britain for the years 1939- 1942 inclusive. She was so popular that in 1942 a seven day “Deanna Durbin Festival” was held during which her films were screened exclusively on the Odeon Theatre Circuit throughout Britain, a feat that has never been duplicated for any other star. According to reports from the BBC over the past three decades, it receives more requests from the public for Durbin’s films and recordings, than for those of any other star of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

She was Holocaust victim Anne Frank’s favorite movie star. There are two pictures of Durbin on Anne’s “Movie Wall” in the secret annex in Amsterdam where Frank and her family hid from the Nazis.

In 1941, Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini published an open letter to Durbin in his official newspaper, “Il Popolo”, asking her to intercede with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on behalf of American youth to dissuade him from becoming involved in Word War II. She didn’t.

She was Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s favorite movie star. He reportedly insisted that he be permitted to screen her films privately before they were released to the public in Britain, and would often screen her film One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) to celebrate British victories during World War II. He considered her “a formidable talent.”

Personal Quotes:

“I couldn’t go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst into song.”

“Just as Hollywood pin-up represents sex to dissatisfied erotics, so I represented the ideal daughter millions of fathers and mothers wished they had.” – 1959

Little known singer/actress Gale Robbins was a knockout-looking hazel-eyed redhead who made a slight dent in post-war Hollywood. Born Betty Gale Robbins in Chicago, Illinois (some say Mitchell, Indiana) on May 7, 1921, she was the daughter of Arthur E. and Blanche Robbins, and educated at Chicago’s Jennings Seminary at Aurora, Illinois and Flower Tech. Gale had a natural flair for music and appeared in glee clubs and church choirs in the early days. She graduated from her Chicago high school in 1939.

She started out in entertainment as a model for the Vera Jones Modeling School in Chicago, but her singing talents soon took over. Signed by a talent agency, she sang with Phil Levant’s outfit in 1940 and later teamed with some male singers for a swing band that called themselves “The Duchess and Her Dukes.” She went on to work with some of the top radio and live ‘big bands’ of that era including the Ben Bernie, Jan Garber and Hal Kemp orchestras.

20th Century-Fox caught sight of this slim looker and quickly signed her up, her first film being the pleasant time-filler “In the Meantime, Darling” (1944). A semi-popular cheesecake pin-up, Gale appeared on the cover of “Yank, The Army Weekly” in 1944 and toured with Bob Hope in Europe the next year. Her post-war parts, mostly sultry second leads, were typically lightweight in nature. She was often lent out to other studios and not always in a singing mode. Gale’s better known film work includes “Race Street” (1948), “The Barkleys of Broadway” (1949), “Three Little Words” (1950), “The Fuller Brush Girl” (1950) and “Calamity Jane” (1953).

Gale went on to host the “Hollywood House” (1949) and also appeared on “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1950) in 1951. In the late 50s the gal with the smooth and sexy vocal style released an easy-listening album (“I’m a Dreamer”) for the Vik Label backed by Eddie Cano & His Orchestra. She covered such standards as “Them There Eyes” and “What Is This Thing Called Love.” After her final film appearance in “Quantrill’s Raiders” (1958) and a few additional TV parts, Gale phased out her career to focus full-time on raising her family.

Married to her high school sweetheart Robert Olson in December of 1943 while he was serving in the Air Force, her husband turned to construction engineering as a career and they had two children. After he was tragically killed in a 1968 building accident, Gale, left with two daughters to raise, decided to make a comeback of sorts. Besides appearing in nightclubs, she was glimpsed in the film “Stand Up and Be Counted” (1972) and appeared on stage in Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Company” in 1975.

Gale Robbins died of lung cancer on February 18, 1980 (aged 58) in Los Angeles, California.

Linda Darnell, was born Monetta Eloyse Darnell, in Dallas, Texas on October 16, 1923. She was one of five children of a post office worker and his wife. A Texas-born beauty, her mother encouraged her to model. Her mother already knew that Linda was special because of her rare good looks. By 1934 she was modeling clothes for an area department store. Sometimes officials would think that she was 15 or 16 because she really didn’t look her age. Neither Linda nor her mother discouraged their thinking.

By the time Linda was 13, she was appearing with local theater companies and her talent was already becoming apparent. There was no doubt that Linda had a rare gift for someone so young. When the Hollywood moguls sent scouts to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, her mother thought it would be a good idea to give Linda a shot at a try-out. The talent scouts took one look at her and her acting abilities and arranged for a screen test. She made the trek to Hollywood and when her true age was discovered she was sent home. After two years and more local theater appearances, Linda returned to California and her career was off and running.

Her debut was in 1939 in the role of Marcia Bromley in “Hotel for Women” (1939). She was all of 16 at the time and became the youngest leading lady in Hollywood history. Her next film was that same year in “Day-Time Wife” (1939). Her third film was as Carolyn Sayres in “Star Dust” (1940) made in 1940 and Linda immediately rose to heights of stardom. Other quality films followed. In 1941 she appeared in “Blood and Sand” (1941) and “Rise and Shine” (1941). In 1945 she played Netta Longdon in the film “Hangover Square” (1945). The movie proved to be a box-office bonanza. The following year Linda appeared with the legendary Lillian Gish in “Centennial Summer” (1946). Later that same year she co-starred with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature in “My Darling Clementine” (1946). It was another hit. Linda reached the height of her career when she played opposite Cornel Wilde in 1947′s “Forever Amber” (1947) where she survives the famed London fire. In 1952 she starred in “Blackbeard, the Pirate” (1952) along with Irene Ryan, Robert Newton, and William Bendix. She had filmed a total of 46 movies.

Linda’s final appearance on the silver screen was in 1965′s “Black Spurs” (1965). She was married and divorced three times. They were: J. Peverell Marley from 1944-1952, Phillip Liebmann (a New York brewer) from 1954-1955 and finally Merle Roy Robertson (an airline pilot) from 1957-1962.

Linda died of burns she suffered in a house fire of an unknown source at the home of her former secretary in Glenview, Illinois. While sleeping upstairs and awakened by smoke, she tried to exit through the downstairs door, but was trapped. Badly burned over 90% of her body she died the following day in the hospital. Ironically, she had been watching “Star Dust” (1940) on television earlier that evening, which was one of the films that set her career in motion. Often described as the “girl with the perfect face”, Linda died on April 10, 1965 at the age of 41.

Virginia Grey was born on March 22, 1917 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor Ray Grey – he was one of the Keystone Kops – and director for Mack Sennett and appeared on the silent screen with Mabel Normand, Dorothy Gish and Ben Turpin, among others. He died while Virginia was still a child. One of her early babysitters was Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of ten in the silent film “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1927) as Little Eva. She continued acting for a few more years, but then left movies in order to finish her education.

Grey returned to films in the 1930s with bit parts and extra work, but she eventually signed a contract with MGM and appeared in such movies as “Another Thin Man” (1939), “Hullabaloo” (1940) and “The Big Store” (1941). She played Consuela McNish in “The Hardys Ride High” (1939) with Mickey Rooney, and in 1942 she was in “Tarzan’s New York Adventure” with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan.

She left MGM in 1942, and signed with several different studios over the years, working steadily.

During her participation in WWII bond drives, she developed a close relationship with John Basilone, US Marine Medal of Honor winner, who was later killed on Iwo Jima.

She had an on again/off again relationship with Clark Gable in the 1940s. After his wife Carole Lombard died and he returned from military service, Clark and Virginia were often seen at restaurants and nightclubs together. Many, including Virginia herself, expected him to marry her. The tabloids were all expecting the wedding announcement. It was a great surprise when he hastily married Lady Sylvia Ashley in 1949. Virginia was heartbroken. They divorced in 1952, but much to Virginia’s dismay their brief romance was never rekindled. Her friends say that her hoping and waiting for Clark was the reason she never married.

She was a regular on television in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing on “Playhouse 90″, “General Electric Theater”, “The DuPont Show with June Allyson”, “Your Show of Shows”, “Wagon Train”, “Bonanza”, “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, “Love, American Style”, “Burke’s Law”, “The Virginian”, “Peter Gunn”, “The Red Skelton Show” and many others.

Although never a box office star, Miss Grey was as indomitable as she was versatile, acting in more than 100 films and 40 television shows — musicals, comedies, adventure films, westerns and romantic dramas.

She retired from the screen in the early 1970s and passed away due to heart failure at the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home on July 31, 2004, at age 87.

Born in Los Angeles, California, on August 8, 1921. Sometimes called “America’s Mermaid,” Esther Williams helped popularize synchronized swimming through a string of hugely popular films in the 1940s and 1950s. The youngest of five children, she suffered a great personal at an early age when her older brother, Stanton, a promising actor, died at the age of sixteen. Soon after his death, Williams found a respite from her sadness by learning to swim. She even got a job at a local swimming pool near her house to earn free swimming time.

As a teenager, Williams was a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. She won several national swimming competition events in 1939 and hoped to compete at the 1940 Olympic Games. But the Olympics were canceled because of World War II. Disappointed, she took a job at an upscale department store. But she did not stay on land for long. Producer Billy Rose asked to audition for his swimming and diving show called “Aquacade” in San Francisco. She landed the lead role opposite Johnny Weissmuller, best known as Tarzan in the popular Tarzan film series.

After the show ended, Williams returned to Los Angeles and eventually landed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios. Around this time, her brief first marriage to Leonard Kovner ended. She made her film debut in Andy Hardy’s “Double Life” with Mickey Rooney in 1942. Williams made a bigger splash, however, with her first swimming movie, 1944’s “Bathing Beauty” with Red Skelton. To film the elaborate synchronized swimming scenes, a special pool was built with all sorts of cranes and lifts to capture the action on film. It became one of the most popular films of that year. The next year she married singer and actor Ben Gage.

Although not an especially good actress, Williams was a sight to see in the water. She starred in a number of aquatic musicals, including “Thrill of a Romance”, “Neptune’s Daughter”, and “Million Dollar Mermaid”. People around the world flocked to movie theaters to see the graceful Williams work her magic on screen, making her an international superstar. Unfortunately, her life—both professionally and personally—hit a rocky period in the late 1950s. Her marriage to Gage ended in divorce, and she had some misses at the box office.

In the 1960s, Williams had almost completely stepped out of the limelight. At request of her third husband, actor Fernando Lamas, she stopped acting. The couple stayed together until his death in 1982. Instead of performing, Williams focused business interests. After endorsing swimsuits in 1940s and 1950s, she designed her own swimsuit line, the Esther Williams Swimsuit Collection. She also put her name on a line of backyard swimming pools. Both businesses are still thriving today.

Now in her eighties, Williams remains active despite a recent health setback. In 2007, she told Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer during a television interview that she had suffered a stroke, but that did not slow her down for long. In time, she recovered and returned to swimming.

Esther Williams lives in Beverly Hills, California, with fourth husband Edward Bell. She has three children from her second marriage to Ben Gage.

TRIVIA:

Measurements: 36-26-36 (as a champion swimmer), 38-27-34 (filming Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

Three step-children, from Lamas: Cristina, Alexandra “Alex,” and Lorenzo.

Born Elsie Lillian Kornbrath to Frederick and Elizabeth Kornbrath on December 14, 1917 in Hartford, Connecticut, she is not the daughter of U.S. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, despite many modern sources suggesting she is. She studied at the Traphagen School of Fashion in Manhattan then embarked on a career in fashion design. Her good looks enabled her to model some of her own creations for Vogue magazine that led to a contract offer from Twentieth Century Fox film studio in 1937.

Knox performed mainly in minor or secondary roles until 1942 when she had a leading role with Lon Chaney, Jr. in “The Mummy’s Tomb”, one of the series of Mummy horror films made by Universal Studios. Knox appeared as herself in the Universal Studios 1944 production “Follow the Boys,” one of the World War II morale-booster films made for both the soldiers serving overseas as well as civilians at home. Knox also was a pin up girl during the War, appearing in such magazines as YANK, a weekly put out by the United States Military.

In late 1945, she was signed by Monogram Pictures to portray Anne Howe, the love interest of fictional boxer Joe Palooka in “Joe Palooka, Champ”. Based on the very popular comic strip, the instant success of the May 1946 film led to Elyse Knox appearing in another five Joe Palooka productions. After acting in thirty-nine films, Elyse Knox retired in 1949 following her performance in the musical film “There’s a Girl in My Heart”.

Knox continued to do modeling work for print ads and while appearing on the Bing Crosby radio show she met football star Tom Harmon. They became engaged, but broke up when Harmon entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942. That year, Knox married fashion photographer Paul Hesse, who had shot many of her print ads and magazine covers. The marriage was brief. Following her divorce and Tom Harmon’s return from World War II (during which he survived two plane crashes and being lost in the jungle), she and Harmon married in 1944. Knox’s wedding dress was made from silk from the parachute Harmon used when bailing out of his crippled plane. The couple remained together until his death in 1990. They had three children, Kristin (b.1945), an actress and painter who at seventeen married recording artist Ricky Nelson and had Tracy, twins Gunnar and Matthew, and son Sam; Kelly (b. 1948), who modeled and also acted in film and television (TJ Hooker) and was once married to automaker John DeLorean; and Mark (b.1951), film and television actor who starred in films such as “The Presidio” and the current TV show “NCIS”.

TRIVIA:

Measurements: 34D-24-35

Brown – light eyes and Blonde hair.

She it the Mother-in-law of actress Pam Dawber.

Besides being married to a football star, Tom Harmon, her brother, Ron Knox, played quarterback for the Chicago Bears, and her son, Mark Harmon, was a star quarterback at UCLA.