Carole Landis: A Most Beautiful GirlUniv. Press of Mississippi, 2008 - 282 pages Despite appearing in twenty-eight movies in little over a decade, Carole Landis (1919-1948) never quite became the major Hollywood star her onscreen presence should have afforded her. Although she acted in such enduring films as A Scandal in Paris and Moon over Miami, she was most often relegated to supporting roles. Even when she played the major role in a feature, as she did in The Powers Girl and the film noir I Wake Up Screaming!, she was billed second or third behind other actors. This biography traces Landis's life, chronicling her beginnings as a dance hall entertainer in San Francisco, her career in Hollywood and abroad, her USO performances, and ultimately her suicide. Using interviews with actors who worked with Landis, contemporary movie magazines and journals, and correspondence, biographer Eric Gans reveals a tragic figure whose life was all too brief. Landis's big break came in 1940 with Hal Roach's One Million B.C. She appeared in thirteen Twentieth Century-Fox pictures between 1941 and 1946. In 1942-43, Landis entertained troops in England and North Africa in the only all-female USO tour. The trip led to her memoir, Four Jills in a Jeep, and a Fox movie of the same title. After her last American film in 1947, she completed two projects in England while having an affair with married actor Rex Harrison. Tormented by a love that could not lead to matrimony and depressed about growing older, she took a fatal drug overdose on July 5, 1948. Eric Gans is professor of French at University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous books including most recently The Scenic Imagination: Originary Thinking from Hobbes to the Present Day, and his articles have appeared in many periodicals. |
Contents
3 | |
Chapter 1 Beginnings 19191935 | 11 |
Chapter 2 In Northern California 19351937 | 24 |
Chapter 3 First Years in Hollywood 19371939 | 31 |
At Roach Studios 19391940 | 42 |
At Twentieth CenturyFox 1941 | 64 |
Chapter 6 B Actress and Patriot 19411942 | 94 |
Carole at War 19421944 | 113 |
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actress Angeles appeared April attractive August beauty Betty Grable blonde Broadway Bryan Foy Cadet Girl called career Carole Landis Carole's Cesar Cesar Romero claimed Clara column columnist comedy contract couple Crivello Dance Hall December divorce Dorothy Eagle-Lion entertain February final Four Jills Fox publicity Frances glamour gossip Hal Roach Hayworth Hedda Hopper Hollywood Reporter Horace Schmidlapp husband January July June Lady later letter Lilli Lilli Palmer Louella Parsons March marriage married Million B.C. Miss Landis Mitzi musical never night November October Orchestra Wives photographs Photoplay picture play Powers Girl Press Prod production relationship returned Rex Harrison Rex's Ridste role romance Romero San Bernardino Scandal September sexual shot Silver Screen singing Skolsky star story studio suicide tells told Tommy tour trip Turnabout Twentieth Century-Fox uncredited performance Wake Up Screaming Walker Warner Bros week Winchell woman York Zanuck