Louise Currie (born Louise Gunter; April 7, 1913 – September 8, 2013) was an American film actress, active from 1940 into the early 1950s.

Biography

Currie was born in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, the daughter of Charles W. Gunter, a banker, 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. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, she was chosen as one of the ten most beautiful society girls in the nation's capital."RKO Director Makes Ten Strike". ''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...

'', December 15, 1940 She attended

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where she became interested in acting. She moved to

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

and attended

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

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. With the help of her agent, Sue Carol, wife to actor

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in ...

, she began working with

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

and

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

. Most of her movies were

B-movies A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

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 James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. Early years Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Emily Royster Kyser ...

musical ''

You'll Find Out ''You'll Find Out'' is a 1940 American comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Kay Kyser. In 1940, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song ("I'd Know You Anywhere") at the 13th Academy Awards. In the film, ...

''. In 1941 she starred in the serial ''

Adventures of Captain Marvel ''Adventures of Captain Marvel'' is a 1941 American 12-chapter black-and-white movie serial from Republic Pictures. The serial was produced by Hiram S. Brown, Jr., directed by John English and William Witney, and stars Tom Tyler as the super ...

'' opposite

Tom Tyler Tom Tyler (August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films, and for his portrayal of superheroes in movie serials ''The Adventures of Captain Marvel'' and ''The Phantom''. Tyler als ...

. Currie had an uncredited role in ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...

'' (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. From 1940–49 she had roles in 39 films, many of which were starring, including ''

The Masked Marvel ''The Masked Marvel'' (1943) is a 12-chapter film serial created by Republic Pictures, who produced many other well known serials. It was Republic's thirty-first serial, of the sixty-six they produced. Plot In ''The Masked Marvel'', a hero dres ...

'' (1943). She made a few television appearances in the 1950s, retiring permanently from acting in 1956.

Personal life

Currie was first married to Robert A. Hefner Jr., but that marriage ended in divorce on January 29, 1940. 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. 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.

Other

In 1944, Currie starred opposite Hollywood legend

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

in '' The Ape Man'' (1943) and ''

Voodoo Man ''Voodoo Man'' is a 1944 American horror film directed by William Beaudine, and starring Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and George Zucco. Plot Nicholas runs an isolated gas station in the countryside. One night, he gives a young woman driver dir ...

'' (1944). Along with actress

Lucille Lund Lucille Lund (June 3, 1913 – February 15, 2002) was an American actress. She is best known for her role in the film '' The Black Cat'' (1934). Background Lucille Lund was born in Buckley, Washington to Olaf Sylfestson Lund (1888–1940) ...

and others, she took part in the

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''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 Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in ...

. On May 17, 2010, Currie appeared at the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

in Beverly Hills to introduce a screening of a restored print of the first chapter of the 1941 serial, ''Adventures of Captain Marvel''.Actress Louise Currie

, May 17, 2010; retrieved January 26, 2013. She made repeat appearances on May 24, 2010 and August 16, 2010.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Currie, Louise 1913 births 2013 deaths Actresses from Oklahoma City Sarah Lawrence College alumni American film actresses 20th-century American actresses American women centenarians 21st-century American women