Suzy Parker (1932-2003) New York-born Suzy Parker became fashion's first supermodel in the early 1950s, and she parlayed her fame into a somewhat brief film career in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Parker acted in such films as Kiss Them For Me (1957; with Jayne Mansfield), A Circle of Deception (1960; with Bradford Dillman), and Chamber of Horrors (1966; with Marie Windsor). Parker put the brakes on her career when she married third husband Bradford Dillman in 1963 and, by 1970, Parker had retired from acting. She passed away in May 2003 at the age of 70. Julie Parrish (1940-2003) Born in Kentucky on October 21, 1940, beautiful Julie Parrish acted in several films and numerous television program during her career which spanned the early 1960s through the late 1990s. After a few years in small parts, Parrish landed plum roles in Winter A-Go-Go (1965; with James Stacy and Nancy Czar), Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966; with Elvis Presley), and Fireball 500 (1966; with Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian). Marriage interrupted Parrish's promising career, but she revitalized her resume with quite a bit of TV work in the 1970s and 1980s. A couple of bouts with cancer did her health and career no favors. Sadly, Julie Parrish passed away from cancer on October 1, 2003, at the age of 62. Helen Parrish (1924-1959) Born in Georgia, Helen Parrish grew up in Hollywood. At the age of three she made her first film appearance in Babe Comes Home (1927). Throughout the early to mid 1930s, Parrish appeared in films, often as an extra but by 1938, she was finding plum roles in films such as Mad About Music. He career was strong through the early 1940s, but Parrish married in 1942 and put the brakes on her career, appearing only occasionally in film roles and on early television. She and her husband parted ways in 1954, and afterward Parrish began working in television on a steady basis. In 1956, she married game show producer John Guedel. But their happiness was to be short-lived, as Parrish died of cancer at age 35 on February 22, 1959. Vera Ralston (1921-2003) Czech-born beauty Vera (Hruba) Ralston gained fame as an ice skater in the late 1930s. In the early 1940s, Republic Pictures head Herbert Yates signed Ralston, in the hopes that she would become the next Sonja Henie. Ralston would stay at Republic until the studio folded in 1958. Some of her films include The Lady and the Monster (1944), Lake Placid Serenade (1944), and The Man Who Died Twice (1958). Ralston married Yates in 1952, and they remained a couple until his death in 1966. Ralston retired following the demise of Republic Pictures. She passed away on February 9, 2003 from cancer at the age of 81. Thalmus Rasulala (1939-1991) Thalmus Rasulala was a fixture in blacksploitation films, including Blacula (1972; with Denise Nichols) and Bucktown (1975; with Pam Grier). Rasulala often portrayed cops or often a good guy who was concerned with correcting a societal evil, sort of a male version of Pam Grier. He worked in films and television until his death from a heart attack at the age of 52. The above photo is from Blacula. Donna Reed (1921-1986) While everyone remembers Donna Reed from her 1958-1966 series The Donna Reed Show, Reed made a number of A and B films in the 1940s and 1950s, such as Scandal Sheet (1952; with John Derek) and Backlash (1956; with Richard Widmark). Perhaps her greatest achievement was winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in From Here to Eternity (1953). Her film career ended with the beginning of her TV series, and when the series was cancelled in 1966, Reed retired from acting. She made a comeback nearly twenty years later as Barbara Bel Geddes' replacement on Dallas during the 1984-1985 season. However, Reed fell ill and passed away from pancreatic cancer on January 14, 1986 at age 64. Liz Renay (1926-2007) Born Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, knockout Liz Renay's personal life often overshadowed her film career. She became a showgirl and, later, a stripper after running away from home in the 1940s. In the 1950s, Renay made an effort toward acting and landed a starring role in Date with Death (1959; with Gerald Mohr and Robert Clarke) and was considered for other big roles. But when she was sentenced to three years in Terminal Island Prison after refusing to testify against her lover, mobster Mickey Cohen, her hopes for screen stardom vanished. After her release from prision, Renay published her famous autobiography My Face for the World to See (1971) and found work as an actress in low-budget films. Some of her work includes The Thrill Killers (1964; with Ray Dennis Steckler), The Nasty Rabbit (1965; with Arch Hall Jr.), and John Waters' Desperate Living (1977; with Mink Stole and Edith Massey). Renay's last film was Ted V. Mikels' Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002; with Tura Satana). The above photo is from The Thrill Killers with Cash Flagg (aka Ray Dennis Steckler). Michael Rennie (1909-1971) Erudite Michael Rennie desperately wanted to escape the boredom of working for his family's wool export enterprise and turned to acting. Although he had no experience or training as an actor, he perservered, getting small roles in several British-made films in the late 1930s . With the outbreak of World War II, Rennie joined the RAF; after the war's end, he returned to acting, appearing in better films and doing early television. By chance, he landed a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1949 and left Britian for the U.S. One of his earlier films for the studio was his best, the 1951 release The Day the Earth Stood Still (see the left-hand photo). But when Rennie's contract with Fox lapsed in the late 1950s, roles began to dry up. He did a TV series for the BBC entitled The Third Man (1959) but worked little in films until the mid 1960s. In the late 1960s, Rennie found work in Italy doing a string of films, but after years of smoking heavily, his declining health called a halt to his career in 1970. He passed away the following year at the age of 61. Candice Rialson (1951-2006) Los Angeles-born Candice Rialson acted in a number of films in the 1970s, most often for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. With starring roles in such classic B films as Candy Stripe Nurses (1974; with Robin Mattson), Hollywood Boulevard (1976; with Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel), and the hilarious Chatterbox (1977; with Rip Taylor and Larry Gelman), Rialson attained a cult status early in her career. She also took small roles in A pictures such as The Eiger Sanction (1975; with Clint Eastwood and Jack Cassidy) and Logan's Run (1976; with Michael York) in between television work on the series Fantasy Island and Maude, among others. In the late 1970s, Rialson called it a day and retired from acting to raise a family. Sadly, she passed away on March 31, 2006 from a liver ailment. Adam Roarke (1937-1996) Born in New York in 1937, Adam Roarke starred in numerous biker films and other low-budget movies in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Hells Angels on Wheels (1967; with Jack Nicholson), Psych-Out (1968; with Bruce Dern), The Savage Seven (1968; with Robert Walker Jr.), Frogs (1972; with Ray Milland and Lynn Borden), and Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974; with Peter Fonda). Roarke died in Dallas, Texas, of a heart attack at age 58. The above photo is from Roarke's 1968 film Hell's Belles; to his right is Dick Bullock. Kasey Rogers (1925-2006) Pretty Kasey Rogers was put under contract by Paramount in the late 1940s. Renaming her Laura Elliott, the studio cast her in a number of film noir thrillers, including Special Agent (1949; with George Reeves) and Paid in Full (1950; with Lizabeth Scott and Eve Arden), and one of her meatiest roles came when she was loaned out to do Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951; with Robert Walker and Farley Granger) in which she portrayed Granger's doomed estranged wife. Yet her career did not flourish at Paramount, and Rogers left the studio in 1954. She changed her professional name back to Kasey Rogers in the mid 1950s when she began working in television. Rogers spent many years doing guest spots until the mid 1960s, when she secured a role as the mother of Barbara Parkins on ABC's Peyton Place in 1964. In 1966, she took over the role of Louise Tate on the ABC-TV series Bewitched. Soon after the series left the air in 1972, Rogers retired from the screen. She passed away in July 2006 after several bouts with cancer and a stroke. She is survived by her two sons, two daughters, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The above photo is from a 1957 episode of The Millionaire. Roy Rogers (1911-1998) Born in Leonard Slye in Ohio in 1911, Roy Rogers made his way to California during the early part of the Depression. He initially found a job as a migrant farm worker, but Rogers' musical talent soon led him out of the fields and into radio, where his group The Sons of the Pioneers met with great success. Rogers and the Sons were cast in musical roles in films in the mid 1930s, and by 1936 were appearing in Gene Autry's western vehicles. Rogers proved to be a popular presence in these films, so in 1938, when Autry temporarily left Republic in a salary dispute, the studio starred Roy Rogers in his own series of westerns. Rogers was a popular singer and actor throughout the 1940s, and his 1947 marriage to Dale Evans made the couple a favorite in the U.S. In the 1950s, Rogers and Evans starred in the TV series The Roy Rogers Show and made many personal appearances across the nation. After the series left the air in 1957, Rogers cooled his acting career to focus on his growing chain of Roy Rogers fast food restaurants, as well as other business endeavors. Roy Rogers passed away in 1998 at the age of 86. Irene Ryan (1902-1973) Before starring as Granny Clampett on the 1962-1971 CBS TV series The Beverly Hillbillies, Irene Ryan appeared in dozens of B films in the 1940s and 1950s; prior to her screen career, Ryan did vaudeville with her first husband, actor Tim Ryan, and she also was a familiar radio personality in the 1930s and 1940s. After divorcing Tim Ryan, she married producer-director Harold Knox, but that union ended in 1961. After the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies, Ryan began acting in the theatre. A heavy smoker, Ryan's habit took its toll on her health, and she died at the age of 70 from multiple causes. The above photo is from Bonzo Goes to College (1952). Robert Ryan (1909-1973) Robert Ryan was a boxer before becoming interested in acting. He often served as the heavy in such films as Act of Violence (1948; with Van Heflin), Beware, My Lovely (1952; with Ida Lupino), and Bad Day at Bad Rock (1955; with Spencer Tracy and Anne Francis). Ryan worked steadily in films until his death from cancer in 1973 at the age of 63. The above photo is from The Set-Up (1949; with Audrey Totter). |
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