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Sheila Ryan (born Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin, June 8, 1921 – November 4, 1975) was an American actress who appeared in more than 60 movies.


Career

Born in
Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat ...
, Ryan went to Hollywood in 1939 at the age of 18. Her acting career began when she tried out for a role on a program at television station W6XAO (later KCBS) in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
. An article in a contemporary magazine reported, "She proved to be a perfect television type and was given a role at once." At age 19, Ryan was selected by a group of Hollywood directors as one of 13 "baby stars of 1940." She was signed by
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...
in 1940 and was credited in her early films as Bettie McLaughlin. Adopting the name Sheila Ryan, she starred in the crime drama '' Dressed to Kill'' the following year. Ryan appeared in other memorable films, including two
Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo ...
movies, '' Great Guns'' (1941) and '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1942), and the
Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical film, musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric p ...
musical '' The Gang's All Here'' (1943). Ryan also was featured in several
Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alt ...
and
Michael Shayne Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. The character appeared in a series of seven films starring Lloyd Nolan for Twentieth Century Fo ...
mysteries. By the late 1940s, however, her career waned and she began appearing mostly in
B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...
s, especially low-budget westerns. She worked with
Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
, co-starring in several of his films, including ''The Cowboys and the Indians'' (1949), and ''Mule Train'' (1950) as well as with
Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...
in films like '' Song of Texas''. She also had roles in several television shows such as ''
The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...
'', notably the Pete-and-Pedro episode (#7 in 1949) and another entitled "The Whimsical Bandit" in 1950. Ryan retired from acting in 1968.


Physical characteristics

Ryan had brown hair, was 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighed 107 pounds. A 1940 newspaper story included her in a group of actresses "whose alluring curves alone might have disqualified them from screen careers not so long ago," in the words of Travis Banton, a Hollywood stylist.


Personal life

Ryan married actor
Allan Lane Allan "Rocky" Lane (born Harry Leonard Albershardt; September 22, 1909 – October 27, 1973) was an American studio leading man and the star of many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in more than 125 films and TV shows i ...
in 1945, but divorced him a year later. Later, she and actor Eddie Norris married, but they had problems in 1948. While working with Autry, Ryan met actor
Pat Buttram Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram (June 19, 1915 – January 8, 1994) was an American character actor. Buttram was known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the television series ''Green Acres''. He had ...
. They married in 1952 and remained together until her death in 1975. They had a daughter, Kathleen Buttram, nicknamed Kerry. Ryan died November 4, 1975, in the Motion Picture Hospital in
Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Geography Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of C ...
from lung disease. She was 54 years old. Their daughter Kerry Buttram-Galgano died of cancer in 2007.


Partial filmography

* '' What a Life'' (1939) - Jessie * '' The Farmer's Daughter'' (1940) - Dorinda * '' Those Were the Days!'' (1940) - Miss Claire (uncredited) * ''
The Way of All Flesh ''The Way of All Flesh'' (sometimes called ''Ernest Pontifex, or the Way of All Flesh'') is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of th ...
'' (1940) - Mitzi Kriza * ''
Queen of the Mob ''Queen of the Mob'' is a 1940 American film (also known as ''The Woman from Hell''), directed by James P. Hogan. The source material here was a book attributed to Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover entitled ''Persons in ...
'' (1940) - Party Girl * ''
I Want a Divorce ''I Want a Divorce'' is a 1940 Paramount film directed by Ralph Murphy. The screenplay was written by Frank Butler (based on a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns). The film starred then-married actors Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, who would late ...
'' (1940) - Waitress (uncredited) * '' The Gay Caballero'' (1940) - Susan Wetherby * '' Dancing on a Dime'' (1940) - Brunette (uncredited) * '' Life with Henry'' (1940) - Minor Role (uncredited) * '' A Night at Earl Carroll's'' (1940) - Miss Borgia * ''
Golden Hoofs ''Golden Hoofs'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Lynn Shores and written by Ben Grauman Kohn. The film stars Jane Withers, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Kay Aldridge, George Irving, Buddy Pepper and Cliff Clark. The film was released o ...
'' (1941) - Gwen * '' The Mad Doctor'' (1941) - Hostess at Charity Bazaar (uncredited) * '' Dead Men Tell'' (1941) - Kate Ransome * '' Dressed to Kill'' (1941) - Connie Earle * ''
Sun Valley Serenade ''Sun Valley Serenade'' is a 1941 musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features the Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by the Nicholas Brothers. ...
'' (1941) - Phone Operator (uncredited) * '' We Go Fast'' (1941) - Diana Hempstead * '' Great Guns'' (1941) - Ginger Hammond * ''
Pardon My Stripes ''Pardon My Stripes'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by John H. Auer and written by Lawrence Kimble and Stuart Palmer. The film stars William "Bill" Henry, Sheila Ryan, Edgar Kennedy, Harold Huber, Paul Hurst and Cliff Nazarro. The fi ...
'' (1942) - Ruth Stevens * '' Lone Star Ranger'' (1942) - Barbara Longstreth * '' Who Is Hope Schuyler?'' (1942) - Lee Dale * '' Footlight Serenade'' (1942) - Ann, Cowgirl in Movie (uncredited) * '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1942) - Margo * ''
Careful, Soft Shoulders ''Careful, Soft Shoulders'' is a 1942 American comedy film written and directed by Oliver H. P. Garrett. The film stars Virginia Bruce, James Ellison, Aubrey Mather, Sheila Ryan, Ralph Byrd and Sigfrid Tor. It was released on September 18, ...
'' (1942) - Agatha Mather * '' Song of Texas'' (1943) - Sue Bennett * '' The Gang's All Here'' (1943) - Vivian Potter * ''
Ladies of Washington ''Ladies of Washington'' is a 1944 American drama film directed by Louis King and starring Trudy Marshall, Ronald Graham and Anthony Quinn.Rowan p.9 It concentrates on a group of young women employed by the federal government in wartime Washin ...
'' (1944) - Jerry Dailey * ''
Something for the Boys ''Something for the Boys'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields. Produced by Mike Todd, the show opened on Broadway in 1943 and starred Ethel Merman in her fifth Cole Porter musical. ...
'' (1944) - Melanie Walker * '' The Caribbean Mystery'' (1945) - Mrs. Jean Gilbert * '' Getting Gertie's Garter'' (1945) - Patty Ford * ''
Deadline for Murder This is a list of ''Murder, She Wrote'' episodes in the order that they originally aired on CBS. Most of the episodes took place either in Jessica's fictional hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine, or in New York City, but her travels promoting books o ...
'' (1946) - Vivian Mason * '' Slightly Scandalous'' (1946) - Christine Wright * ''
The Lone Wolf in Mexico ''The Lone Wolf in Mexico'' is a 1947 American black-and-white mystery-adventure film directed by D. Ross Lederman for Columbia Pictures. It features Gerald Mohr as the title character, detective Lone Wolf. Chronologically the third-to-last Lo ...
'' (1947) - Sharon Montgomery * '' The Big Fix'' (1947) - Lillian * '' Heartaches'' (1947) - Toni Wentworth * '' Philo Vance's Secret Mission'' (1947) - Mona Bannister * '' Railroaded!'' (1947) - Rosie Ryan * '' Caged Fury'' (1948) - Kit Warren * '' The Cobra Strikes'' (1948) - Dale Cameron * ''
Hideout Hideout may refer to: Entertainment * ''Hideout'' (film), a 1949 American thriller film directed by Philip Ford * ''The Hideout'' (1956 film), a 1956 British crime film directed by Peter Graham Scott * ''The Hideout'' (film), a 2007 film by Pup ...
'' (1949) - Edie Hanson * ''
Ringside Ringside may refer to: Sports *Ringside of a boxing ring *Ringside of a wrestling ring *Ringside seating (combat sports), see Ringside (boxing) Film *'' Ringside Maisie'', 1941 boxing film * ''Ringside'' (1949 film), American boxing drama film ...
'' (1949) - Janet 'J.L.' Brannigan * ''
Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch ''Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch'' is a 1949 American film directed by Reginald Le Borg. It was one in the series of ''Joe Palooka'' films for Monogram starring Leon Errol. It was co-written by Cy Endfield. Cast * Leon Errol as Knobby Wa ...
'' (1949) - Myra Madison * ''
The Cowboy and the Indians ''The Cowboy and the Indians'' is a 1949 American Western film directed by John English and written by Dwight Cummins and Dorothy Yost. The film stars Gene Autry, Sheila Ryan, Frank Richards, Hank Patterson, Jay Silverheels and Claudia Dra ...
'' (1949) - Doctor Nan * '' Mule Train'' (1950) - Carol Bannister * '' Western Pacific Agent'' (1950) - Martha Stuart * ''
Square Dance Katy ''Square Dance Katy'' is a 1950 American musical film directed by Jean Yarbrough and written by Warren Wilson. The film stars Barbara Jo Allen, Jimmie Davis, Phil Brito, Virginia Welles, Warren Douglas and Sheila Ryan. The film was released on Ma ...
'' (1950) - Vicky Doran * '' Fingerprints Don't Lie'' (1951) - Carolyn Palmer * '' Mask of the Dragon'' (1951) - Ginny O'Donnell * '' Gold Raiders'' (1951) - Laura * '' Jungle Manhunt'' (1951) - Anne Lawrence * '' On Top of Old Smoky'' (1953) - Lila * ''
Pack Train A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use o ...
'' (1953) - Lola Riker * '' Street of Darkness'' (1958) - Carmen Flores (final film role)


References


External links

* * *
B-Western Ladies, Shiela Ryan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Sheila 1921 births 1975 deaths Actresses from Kansas American film actresses American television actresses Deaths from lung cancer Actors from Topeka, Kansas 20th Century Studios contract players 20th-century American actresses