Carole Landis
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Carole Landis (January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American film actress.
Born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin to a Norwegian father, Alfred Ridste, and Polish mother, Clara Ridste, her early life was a struggle as her father abandoned the family and left them to fend for themselves. It would later be revealed that Alfred Ridste may not have been Carole's biological father. Her real father could be Charles Fenner, Clara Ridste's second husband. Carole was the youngest of five children but tragically two of her brothers died in childhood. Several sources have claimed that Carole was molested by her older brother, Lawrence. A feminist at an early age she tried unsuccessfully to form an all-female football team in high school. By the age of 15, Landis had married and left high school, but this marriage was annulled and she set herself on a path towards a career in show business.
She worked as a nightclub singer and a hula dancer in San Francisco before her 1937 film debut as an extra in A Star Is Born. Throughout her career she would be plagued by rumors that she had worked as a prostitute but these rumors were false. The beautiful teenager dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to "Carole Landis" after her favorite actress, Carole Lombard. She continued appearing in uncredited bit parts until being signed to a contract in 1940. Her first starring role as a cave girl in One Million B.C. attracted a lot of attention and made her a celebrity if not a star. She also had a high profile engagement to choreographer Busby Berkeley.
Tall, lean, glamorous and with a strong singing voice, Landis appeared in a string of films in the early forties, usually as the second female lead. In a time when many actresses were dubbed in their singing roles, Landis' own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. Carole landed a contract with 20th Century Fox partly due to her sexual relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck. Her second marriage, to Willis Hunt Jr. lasted just four months.
She had two roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami and I Wake Up Screaming both 1941. Landis too became a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II and toured with comedienne Martha Raye, dancer Mitzi Mayfair, and actress Kay Francis with a USO troupe in England and North Africa. Carole would spend more times visiting troops than any other actress and nearly died from the amoebic dysentery while traveling overseas. She starred in a film about the tour, Four Jills and a Jeep, based on her book of the same title, but the response from the public was lukewarm, and Landis's career seemed to stall. She married an air force captain named Thomas Wallace in 1943 but this marriage also ended in divorce. In 1945 she married Broadway producer Horace Schmidlapp. Carole desperately wanted to become a mother but suffered from endometriosis and was unable to have children.
By 1948 her career was fading, she had health problems, and with four divorces and several failed romances behind her, she entered into a romance with famed actor Rex Harrison who was at the time married to actress Lilli Palmer. Landis was reported to be crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife in her favor and unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal. Her final night alive had been spent with Harrison and it was Harrison who found her body the next morning. The beautiful and stunning actress was only 29 1/2 years old.
Carole Landis was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California in plot 814 of the "Everlasting Love" section.
She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 1765 Vine St.
The character of Jennifer North in the novel Valley of the Dolls and played by Sharon Tate in the film of the same name, was based partly on Carole Landis. The author Jacqueline Susann and Landis had worked together on Broadway and became friends. Jacqueline later claimed she and Carole were lovers.
[edit] Filmography
- A Star Is Born (1937)
- A Day at the Races (1937)
- Fly Away Baby (1937)
- The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937)
- Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
- Varsity Show (1937)
- Alcatraz Island (1937)
- Hollywood Hotel (1937)
- The Invisible Menace (1938)
- Blondes at Work (1938)
- A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
- Love, Honor and Behave (1938)
- Over the Wall (1938)
- Women Are Like That (1938)
- Gold Diggers in Paris (1938)
- When Were You Born (1938)
- Men Are Such Fools (1938)
- Four's a Crowd (1938)
- Penrod's Double Trouble (1938)
- Boy Meets Girl (1938)
- Girls on Probation (1938)
- Three Texas Steers (1939)
- Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)
- Cowboys from Texas (1939)
- Reno (1939)
- One Million B.C. (1940)
- Turnabout (1940)
- Mystery Sea Raider (1940)
- Road Show (1941)
- Topper Returns (1941)
- Meet the Stars #5: Hollywood Meets the Navy (1941) (short subject)
- Moon Over Miami (1941)
- Dance Hall (1941)
- I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
- Cadet Girl (1941)
- Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2 (1941) (short subject)
- A Gentleman at Heart (1942)
- My Gal Sal (1942)
- It Happened in Flatbush (1942)
- Orchestra Wives (1942)
- Manila Calling (1942)
- The Powers Girl (1943)
- Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
- Wintertime (1943)
- Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
- Secret Command (1944)
- Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
- Behind Green Lights (1946)
- A Scandal in Paris (1946)
- It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1946)
- Out of the Blue (1947)
- Brass Monkey (1948)
- The Noose (1948)
