Carole Landis - February 2012 Featured Player

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Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin, as Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her childhood was, for the most part, normal. Her father, a railroad mechanic, was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father left the family and Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister were left to fend for themselves. Once she graduated from high school, she married Irving Wheeler, but the union lasted a month before the marriage was annulled because Carole was only 15 at the time. The couple remarried in August of 1934 and the two headed to California to start a new life. For a while she worked as a dancer and singer, but it wasn't long before the glitter of show business drew her to Los Angeles. She won a studio contract with Warner Brothers, but was a bit player for the most part in such films as A Star Is Born (1937), A Day at the Races (1937), and The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937). The following year started out much the same way with more bit roles. Carole's career was stalled. By 1939, she was getting a few more into speaking roles, although mostly one-liners, and that year ended much like the previous two years with more bit roles, plus a divorce from Wheeler. In 1940 she was cast as Loana in the Hal Roach production of One Million B.C. (1940), where her beauty (and skimpy outfit) finally got her recognition, and her career finally began moving. She didn't star in big productions but began getting parts in B pictures. Although she had a fine acting talent, the really good roles were snatched up by the established stars of the day. Her busiest year ever turned out to be 1942, with roles in six films such as Manila Calling (1942), The Powers Girl (1943) and A Gentleman at Heart (1942). It seemed that her films never really attracted good critical reviews, and if they were reviewed at all it was in reference to Carole's breathtaking beauty. By the middle 1940s her career was beginning to short-circuit. Her contract with 20th Century-Fox had been cancelled, failed marriages to Willis Hunt Jr. and Thomas Wallace, her current marriage to Horace Schmidlapp on the skids, plus a battle with poor health spelled disaster for her professionally and personally. Her final two films were released in 1948, Brass Monkey (1948) and The Silk Noose (1948). On July 5, 1948, Carole committed suicide by taking an overdose of seconal in her Brentwood Heights, California, home. She was only 29 and had made 49 pictures, unfortunately, mostly forgettable ones. If Hollywood moguls had given Carole a good chance, she could have been one of the brightest stars in its history.

Trivia

Parents: Alfred Ridste, Norwegian railroad mechanic; Clara Stentek Ridste (Polish). They separated when Carole was a baby.

Two older siblings: Dorothy Ridste Ross, born 1917, and Lawrence Ridste.

Carole protested strongly and publicly against the nonsensical nickname "Ping Girl" (apparently short for "purring") coined by Hal Roach publicist Frank N. Seltzer in April 1940.

In her musicals, Carole usually sang in her own voice.

A keen amateur photographer, she developed her own pictures.

She initiated divorce proceedings against her last husband in March 1948 but the divorce was not final when she died.

Rex Harrison, who had dined with her the previous night, discovered her body the day she committed suicide.

Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Everlasting Love area, Lot #814, Section #8.

Became friendly with future author Jacqueline Susann in 1944 when they appeared together in the Broadway revue "The Lady Says Yes". The character of fragile, blonde Jennifer North in "Valley of the Dolls" is partially based on Landis.

A feminist at a young age, she once tried to start a girls football team at school but got into trouble because it was considered "un-lady like"

Measurements: 37C-24-35 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

According to a biography of Darryl F. Zanuck, she had a brief affair with him.

Actress Diana Lewis once gave Carole a gold cross as a gift. Carole wore the cross for the rest of her life and was even buried wearing it.

She was the youngest of five children. Two of her brothers died when they were toddlers. Jerome was burned by scalding water and Lewis was accidentally shot.

Spent more time visiting troops during World War II than any other Hollywood star. She nearly died from malaria she contracted while traveling overseas.

She chose the name Carole because she was a fan of Carole Lombard.

Carole desperately wanted to become a mother but she suffered from endometriosis and could not have children. She had numerous other health problems during her life including dysentery, malaria, pneumonia, and depression.

Her name was legally changed to Carole Landis on April 23, 1942.

Biography courtesy of IMDB.com