Carole Landis
Encyclopedia
Carole Landis was an American film and stage actress whose break-through role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C.
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....

. Landis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

, at 1765 Vine Street
Vine Street
Vine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...

.

Early life and family

Landis was born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin
Fairchild, Wisconsin
Fairchild is a village in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 564 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Fairchild.-Geography:Fairchild is located at ....

. Her mother was a Polish farmer's daughter. A Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine article published the month of her death identifies her father as a "drifting railroad mechanic"; according to a 2005 biography, the mother was married to Norwegian Alfred Ridste, who abandoned the family before Carole was born, and it was Charles Fenner, her mothers's second husband, who most likely was Carole's biological father. Carole was the youngest of five children, two of whom died in childhood. Her early years were filled with poverty and sexual abuse. She was raised Roman Catholic.

In January 1934, 15-year-old Landis married her 19-year-old neighbor, Irving Wheeler, but the marriage was annulled in February 1934. They later remarried on August 25, 1934. Wheeler named Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...

 in an alienation of affections
Alienation of affections
At common law, alienation of affections is a tort action brought by a deserted spouse against a third party alleged to be responsible for the failure of the marriage...

 lawsuit in 1938 involving Landis, and they divorced in 1939.

Early years

Landis dropped out of high school at age 15 and set forth on a career path to show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....

. She started out as a hula dancer in a San Francisco nightclub and later sang with a dance band. She dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to "Carole Landis" after her favorite actress, Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard
Carole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...

. After saving $100 she moved to Hollywood.

Film career

Her 1937 film debut was as an extra in A Star Is Born
A Star Is Born (1937 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who...

; she also appeared in various horse opera
Horse opera
Horse opera refers to a western movie or television series that is extremely cliched or formulaic . The term, which was originally coined by silent film-era Western star William S. Hart, is used variously to convey either disparagement or affection...

s. She posed for hundreds of cheesecake photographs. She continued appearing in bit parts until 1940 when Hal Roach
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...

 cast her as a cave girl in One Million B.C.
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....

. The movie was a sensation and turned Carole into a star. A press agent nicknamed her "The Ping Girl" (because "she makes you purr").
Landis appeared in a string of successful films in the early forties, usually as the second female lead. In a time when the singing of many actresses was dubbed in, Landis's own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. Landis landed a contract with 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

 and began a sexual relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...

. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...

 in Moon Over Miami
Moon Over Miami (film)
Moon Over Miami is a 1941 Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley, and Charlotte Greenwood. It was one of Haley's last appearances in a major, large-budgeted film; after 1943 he...

and I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...

, both in 1941. When Carole ended her relationship with Zanuck, her career suffered and she was assigned roles in B-movies.

USO Tours

In 1942, she toured with comedienne Martha Raye
Martha Raye
Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....

, dancer Mitzi Mayfair and actress Kay Francis
Kay Francis
Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...

 with a USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...

 troupe in England and North Africa. Two years later, she entertained soldiers in the South Pacific with Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...

. Landis traveled more than 100,000 miles during the war and spent more time visiting troops than any other actress. Landis became a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II.

Broadway

In 1945 she starred on Broadway in the musical A Lady Says Yes with Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.-Early years:Jacqueline Susann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to...

, with whom she reportedly had an affair. Susann purportedly based the character Jennifer North in her book Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls
Valley of the Dolls is a novel by American writer Jacqueline Susann, published in 1966. The "dolls" within the title is a slang term for downers, barbiturates used as sleep aids....

on Landis.

Writing

Landis wrote several newspaper and magazine articles about her experiences during the war, including the 1944 book Four Jills in a Jeep
Four Jills in a Jeep
Four Jills in a Jeep is a 1944 film starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair as themselves, re-enacting their USO tour of Europe and North Africa during World War II.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Herself*Carole Landis as Herself...

, which was later made into a movie, costarring Kay Francis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair. She also wrote the foreword to Victor Herman's cartoon book Winnie the WAC.

Personal life

Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...

, director-choreographer, proposed to her in June 1939, but later broke it off. In 1940 she married yacht broker Willis Hunt Jr., a man she called "sarcastic" and left after two months. Two years later, she met an Army Air Corps captain named Thomas Wallace in London, and married him in a church ceremony; they divorced a couple of years later. Carole wanted to have children but was unable to conceive due to endometriosis
Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a gynecological medical condition in which cells from the lining of the uterus appear and flourish outside the uterine cavity, most commonly on the ovaries. The uterine cavity is lined by endometrial cells, which are under the influence of female hormones...

.

She nearly died from amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery
Amoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...

 and malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 she contracted overseas while entertaining American troops.

In 1945, Landis married Broadway producer W. Horace Schmidlapp
W. Horace Schmidlapp
W. Horace Schmidlapp was an American Broadway actor and producer, and was the fourth husband of actress Carole Landis.- External links :*...

. By 1948, her career was in decline and her marriage with Schmidlapp was collapsing. She entered into a romance with actor Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...

, who was married to actress Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer
Lilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...

 at the time. Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife for her; unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide at her Pacific Palisades home by taking an overdose of Seconal
Secobarbital
Secobarbital sodium is a barbiturate derivative drug that was first synthesized in 1928 in Germany. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, sedative and hypnotic properties...

. She had spent her final night alive with Harrison. The next afternoon, he and the maid discovered her on the bathroom floor. Harrison waited several hours before he called a doctor and the police. According to some sources, Landis left two suicide notes, one for her mother and the second for Harrison who instructed his lawyers to destroy it. During a coroner's inquest, Harrison denied knowing any motive for her suicide and told the coroner he did not know of the existence of a second suicide note.

Carole Landis was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

 in plot 814 of the "Everlasting Love" section. Among the celebrities at her funeral were Cesar Romero
Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...

, Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....

, and Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...

. Harrison attended with his wife. Her family's official web site claims that Carole was murdered.

Film credits

List of film and roles
Title Year Role Notes
1937 Chorine Uncredited
1937 Girl in beret at Santa Anita bar Uncredited
1937 Dance Extra
Fly Away Baby 1937 Blonde at airport
1937 Bit part
Broadway Melody of 1938
Broadway Melody of 1938
Broadway Melody of 1938 is a 1937 musical film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition...

1937 Dancer
Varsity Show
Varsity Show (film)
Varsity Show is a 1937 feature film from Warner Brothers about a group of students at "Winfield College" who butt heads with their faculty advisor while producing an annual stage show....

1937 Student
Alcatraz Island 1937 Uncredited
Over the Goal 1937 Co-ed Uncredited
Adventurous Blonde 1937 Uncredited
Hollywood Hotel
Hollywood Hotel (film)
Hollywood Hotel is a 1937 American film, directed by Busby Berkeley. It stars Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, and Ted Healy. Ronald Reagan, Benny Goodman and Harry James also appear....

1937 Hat check girl with coat
1938 Woman waiting to go with her Johnnie
Blondes at Work 1938 Carol
1938 Partygoer leaning on piano during song
Love, Honor and Behave 1938 Wheel watcher at party Uncredited
Over the Wall 1938 Peggy, girl at beach Uncredited
Women Are Like That 1938 Cocktail party guest Uncredited
1938 Guest at banquet Uncredited
Gold Diggers in Paris
Gold Diggers in Paris
Gold Diggers in Paris is a 1938 Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Ray Enright with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins.-Plot:...

1938 Golddigger Alternative title: The Gay Impostors
Men Are Such Fools 1938 June Cooper
When You Were Born 1938 Ship passenger Uncredited
Penrod's Double Trouble 1938 Girl at fair Uncredited
Four's a Crowd
Four's a Crowd
Four's a Crowd is a romantic comedy directed by Michael Curtiz and released by Warner Brothers.-Cast:* Errol Flynn .... Robert Kensington 'Bob' Lansford* Olivia de Havilland.... Lorri Dillingwell* Rosalind Russell .... Jean Christy...

1938 Myrtle, Lansford's 2nd Secretary
Boy Meets Girl 1938 Commissary cashier Uncredited
Three Texas Steers
Three Texas Steers
Three Texas Steers is a 1939 "Three Mesquiteers" Western B-movie starring John Wayne and Carole Landis. Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one films in the series...

1939 Nancy Evans Alternative title: Danger Rides the Range
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Daredevils of the Red Circle
Daredevils of the Red Circle is a 12-Chapter Republic Movie Serial starring Charles Quigley, David Sharpe, Herman Brix and Charles Middleton. It was directed by William Witney and John English and is often considered one of the better serials produced by Republic...

1939 Blanche Granville
Cowboys from Texas
Cowboys from Texas
Cowboys from Texas is a 1939 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie directed by George Sherman.- Cast :* Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke* Raymond Hatton as Rusty Joslin* Duncan Renaldo as Renaldo* Carole Landis as June Jones...

1939 June Jones
Reno 1939 Mrs. Humphrey Uncredited
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C.
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....

1940 Loana
Turnabout
Turnabout (film)
Turnabout is a 1940 comedy film directed by Hal Roach and starring Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis and John Hubbard. Based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Thorne Smith, the screenplay was written by Mickell Novack, Bernie Giler and John McClain with additional dialogue by Rian James.-Plot:Tim...

1940 Sally Willows
Mystery Sea Raider
Mystery Sea Raider
-Cast:* Carole Landis as June McCarthy* Henry Wilcoxon as Captain Jimmy Madden* Onslow Stevens as Carl Cutler* Kathleen Howard as Maggie Clancy* Wally Rairden as Blake, 3rd Mate * Sven Hugo Borg as Sven* Henry Victor as Cmdr. Bulow...

1940 June McCarthy
Road Show 1941 Penguin Moore
Topper Returns
Topper Returns
Topper Returns is the third and final entry in the initial series of films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith. It followed Topper and Topper Takes a Trip...

1941 Ann Carrington
Moon Over Miami
Moon Over Miami (film)
Moon Over Miami is a 1941 Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley, and Charlotte Greenwood. It was one of Haley's last appearances in a major, large-budgeted film; after 1943 he...

1941 Barbara Latimer, aka Miss Sears
Dance Hall 1941 Lily Brown
I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming
I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...

1941 Vicky Lynn Alternative title: Hot Spot
Cadet Girl 1941 Gene Baxter
1942 Helen Mason
My Gal Sal
My Gal Sal
My Gal Sal is a 20th Century Fox musical starring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. The film is a biopic of 1890s composer and songwriter Paul Dresser and singer, Sally Elliot. The story it was based on was written by Paul Dresser's brother, novelist Theodore Dreiser...

1942 Mae Collins
It Happened in Flatbush 1942 Kathryn Baker
Orchestra Wives
Orchestra Wives
Orchestra Wives is a 1942 American musical film by 20th Century Fox starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, and Glenn Miller. The film was the second and last film to feature The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and is notable among the many swing era musicals because its plot is more serious and...

1942 Natalie Mercer
Manilla Calling 1942 Edna Fraser
1943 Kay Evans
Wintertime
Wintertime
Wintertime is a 1943 Twentieth Century-Fox musical film starring Sonja Henie and Cesar Romero, and featuring Woody Herman and His Orchestra.-Cast:*Sonja Henie ... Nora Ostgaard*Jack Oakie ... Skip Hutton*Cesar Romero ... Brad Barton...

1943 Flossie Fouchere
Secret Command 1944 Jill McGann
Show Business at War
Show Business at War
Show Business at War is a short film made in 1943 to tout the United States film industry's contribution to the war effort. Several studios collaborated on the production and approximately 70 stars, producers, directors and studio executives appeared in it....

1943 Herself
Having Wonderful Crime 1945 Helene Justus
Behind Green Lights 1946 Janet Bradley
1946 Loretta de Richet Alternative title: Thieves' Holiday
It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog 1946 Julia Andrews
Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue (1947 film)
Out of the Blue is a 1947 comedy based on the short story by Vera Caspary who also co-wrote the screenplay. It stars George Brent, Ann Dvorak, Turhan Bey and Virginia Mayo...

1947 Mae Earthleigh
Noose
Noose (film)
Noose is a British crime film released in 1948. It was directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starred Carole Landis and Derek Farr.-Plot:Set in post Second World War Britain, Noose is the story of black market racketeers who face attempts to bring them to justice by an American fashion journalist, her...

1948 Linda Medbury Alternative title: The Silk Noose
Brass Monkey
Brass Monkey (film)
Brass Monkey is a British crime drama film directed by Thornton Freeland, starring Carroll Levis, formerly a radio variety show host, and American actress Carole Landis...

1948 Kay Sheldon Alternative title: Lucky Mascot

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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