Gloria Pall

Gloria Pall (July 15, 1927 – December 30, 2012) was an American model, showgirl, film and television actress, author and businesswoman.

Pall was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an English family. During World War II, she worked as an aircraft mechanic in upstate New York at Rome Army Air Depot. On July 28, 1945 she was employed by the USO headquarters office on the 56th floor of the Empire State Building in New York City when a U.S. Army B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the 79th floor.

In 1947 Gloria Pall won a beauty contest that opened the door to work as a model. She worked as a showgirl in both Reno and Las Vegas as well as in Hollywood where for a time she was chosen to be "Miss Earl Carroll" from the huge cast of beauties. This was at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Blvd. in 1952. She dated Howard Hughes for a time.

Pall got her first acting job on television in 1951 and went on to a successful career as an actress for ten years, primarily in secondary and minor roles. In 1958, she was cast as Blanche Golden in "Abracadabra" of the western aviation adventure series, Sky King, starring Kirby Grant and Gloria Winters. Pall had a small role in the The Twilight Zone episode, "And When the Sky Was Opened". She had small roles in feature films such as Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation (1953), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953), The French Line (1954), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Jailhouse Rock (1957), The Brothers Karamazov (1958), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and Elmer Gantry (1960).

She appeared on the cover of several national celebrity magazines and twice was a centerfold in Esquire.

In late 1954 and early 1955, she developed a television show called "Voluptua" for KABC-TV that caused a furor for what was then seen as obscenity. In a 2011 radio interview with author and broadcaster R. H. Greene, Pall reminisced about the Voluptua program, explaining the show's format, re-enacting character dialogue, and explaining how Christian and PTA groups labelled the character "Corruptua" and pressured KABC to take her off the air.[1]

Cancelled after seven weeks, Voluptua got Pall feature stories in Life and Playboy magazines.

In 1959, Pall began developing a career in real-estate and in 1962 opened her own office on Sunset Strip. In later years she turned to writing books about Hollywood, penning self-published books under Showgirl Press, including the following:

In later years, Gloria continued her real-estate career and occasionally made public appearances at autograph shows and special events in the Los Angeles area. She remained close friends with author "Mark Paul" Sebar, who helped edit some of her work. She also did documentary interviews from time to time, about her life and career. According to her Los Angeles Times obituary, Pall dressed frequently in shades of purple and drove a Ford Thunderbird of that color. A sign outside her lavender-colored real-estate office read: "Call Pall."

Death

Pall died in Burbank, California on December 30, 2012 at the age of 85. Cause of death was heart failure. A memorial service was held on January 20, 2013.[2]

She is survived by her only child, Jefferson Kane, a bookkeeper who lives in North Hollywood, California.

References

  1. ↑ Voluptua: The Love Goddess (2010). KPCC 89.3 FM, radio documentary
  2. ↑ Gerber, Marisa (2013-01-05). "Gloria Pall dies at 85; Voluptua character deemed too sexy for TV". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
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