WAYNE MORRIS (1914-59) While he was making Flight Angels (1939), Wayne Morris decided to take flying lessons. Consequently, in the summer of 1941, he enlisted in the US Navy Reserve. In February, 1942, two months after Pearl Harbor, he married former Olympic swimmer Patricia O’Rourke whose uncle commanded Air […]
DOLORES MORAN (1926-82) Dolores was one of those actresses whose private life proved to be far more interesting than her film career. The extremely well-endowed Californian beauty was signed to a seven-year contract at Warner Bros at the age of sixteen (with her parents’ full consent) in […]
JOHN MILLS (1908 – 2005) Norfolk-born John Mills enjoyed one of the most outstanding film careers of all British actors and was greatly admired by all who knew him. He was over thirty years of age and acting at the Old Vic when war broke […]
BUTTERFLY MCQUEEN (1911-95) Born Thelma McQueen in 1911 in Tampa Florida, she acquired the nickname ‘Butterfly’ – a tribute to her constantly moving hands – for her performance of the Butterfly Ballet in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She never much cared for her Christian […]
LEE MARVIN (1924-87) Like Audie Murphy, Lee Marvin was not an actor when war broke out, but became one after hostilities ended. He was still a teenager when he enlisted in the US Marine Corps Reserve on August 12, 1942. As a member of the 4th Marine Division, he took […]
PATRICK MACNEE (1922 – 2015) The British actor who made a name for himself in the sixties and seventies playing John Steed in a couple of popular TV series – The Avengers and The New Avengers – was called up for the United Kingdom Armed Forces just as he […]
CAROLE LOMBARD (1908-42) There is no doubt that the greatest wartime tragedy to befall Hollywood was the death of popular actress Carole […]
VIVIEN LEIGH (1913 – 67) The beautiful actress who will forever be Scarlett O’Hara in 1939’s Gone with the Wind, entered this world via Darjeeling, (in what was then British India), to a British broker and his wife. Vivien and British star Laurence Olivier, having obtained divorces from their […]
GERTRUDE LAWRENCE (1898 – 1952) The English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy star was in her forties when WW2 began, but her husband was a Lieutenant in the US Navy and she was determined to do her bit to entertain Allied troops. The UK’s Entertainments National Service […]
CAROLE LANDIS (1919 – 48) In October 1942, the War Department organized its second entertainment troupe to go abroad, a tour that was intended to last for approximately five weeks. Carole Landis, comedienne Martha Raye, veteran actress Kay Francis and little known dancer Mitzi Mayfair volunteered. The tour would […]
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