Carole Landis was an American film and stage actress whose break-through role was as the female lead in the 1940 film
One Million B.C.One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....
. Landis has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, at 1765
Vine StreetVine is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north-south from Melrose Avenue up past Hollywood Boulevard. The intersection of Hollywood and Vine was once a symbol of Hollywood itself...
.
Early life and family
Landis was born
Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in
Fairchild, WisconsinFairchild is a village in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 564 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Fairchild.-Geography:Fairchild is located at ....
. Her mother was a Polish farmer's daughter. A
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine article published the month of her death identifies her father as a "drifting railroad mechanic"; according to a 2005 biography, the mother was married to Norwegian Alfred Ridste, who abandoned the family before Carole was born, and it was Charles Fenner, her mothers's second husband, who most likely was Carole's biological father. Carole was the youngest of five children, two of whom died in childhood. Her early years were filled with poverty and sexual abuse. She was raised Roman Catholic.
In January 1934, 15-year-old Landis married her 19-year-old neighbor, Irving Wheeler, but the marriage was annulled in February 1934. They later remarried on August 25, 1934. Wheeler named
Busby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
in an
alienation of affectionsAt common law, alienation of affections is a tort action brought by a deserted spouse against a third party alleged to be responsible for the failure of the marriage...
lawsuit in 1938 involving Landis, and they divorced in 1939.
Early years
Landis dropped out of high school at age 15 and set forth on a career path to
show businessShow business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
. She started out as a hula dancer in a San Francisco nightclub and later sang with a dance band. She dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to "Carole Landis" after her favorite actress,
Carole LombardCarole Lombard was an American actress. She was particularly noted for her comedic roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s...
. After saving $100 she moved to Hollywood.
Film career
Her 1937 film debut was as an extra in
A Star Is BornA Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who...
; she also appeared in various
horse operaHorse opera refers to a western movie or television series that is extremely cliched or formulaic . The term, which was originally coined by silent film-era Western star William S. Hart, is used variously to convey either disparagement or affection...
s. She posed for hundreds of cheesecake photographs. She continued appearing in bit parts until 1940 when
Hal RoachHarold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
cast her as a cave girl in
One Million B.C.One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak....
. The movie was a sensation and turned Carole into a star. A press agent nicknamed her "The Ping Girl" (because "she makes you purr").
Landis appeared in a string of successful films in the early forties, usually as the second female lead. In a time when the singing of many actresses was dubbed in, Landis's own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. Landis landed a contract with
20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and began a sexual relationship with
Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl
Betty GrableElizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
in
Moon Over MiamiMoon Over Miami is a 1941 Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley, and Charlotte Greenwood. It was one of Haley's last appearances in a major, large-budgeted film; after 1943 he...
and
I Wake Up ScreamingI Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...
, both in 1941. When Carole ended her relationship with Zanuck, her career suffered and she was assigned roles in B-movies.
USO Tours
In 1942, she toured with comedienne
Martha RayeMartha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
, dancer Mitzi Mayfair and actress
Kay FrancisKay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
with a
USOThe United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
troupe in England and North Africa. Two years later, she entertained soldiers in the South Pacific with
Jack BennyJack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
. Landis traveled more than 100,000 miles during the war and spent more time visiting troops than any other actress. Landis became a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II.
Broadway
In 1945 she starred on Broadway in the musical
A Lady Says Yes with
Jacqueline SusannJacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.-Early years:Jacqueline Susann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to...
, with whom she reportedly had an affair. Susann purportedly based the character Jennifer North in her book
Valley of the DollsValley of the Dolls is a novel by American writer Jacqueline Susann, published in 1966. The "dolls" within the title is a slang term for downers, barbiturates used as sleep aids....
on Landis.
Writing
Landis wrote several newspaper and magazine articles about her experiences during the war, including the 1944 book
Four Jills in a JeepFour Jills in a Jeep is a 1944 film starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair as themselves, re-enacting their USO tour of Europe and North Africa during World War II.-Cast:*Kay Francis as Herself*Carole Landis as Herself...
, which was later made into a movie, costarring Kay Francis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair. She also wrote the foreword to Victor Herman's cartoon book
Winnie the WAC.
Personal life
Busby BerkeleyBusby Berkeley was a highly influential Hollywood movie director and musical choreographer. Berkeley was famous for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns...
, director-choreographer, proposed to her in June 1939, but later broke it off. In 1940 she married yacht broker Willis Hunt Jr., a man she called "sarcastic" and left after two months. Two years later, she met an Army Air Corps captain named Thomas Wallace in London, and married him in a church ceremony; they divorced a couple of years later. Carole wanted to have children but was unable to conceive due to
endometriosisEndometriosis is a gynecological medical condition in which cells from the lining of the uterus appear and flourish outside the uterine cavity, most commonly on the ovaries. The uterine cavity is lined by endometrial cells, which are under the influence of female hormones...
.
She nearly died from
amoebic dysenteryAmoebic dysentery is a type of dysentery caused primarily by the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica. Amoebic dysentery is transmitted through contaminated food and water. Amoebae spread by forming infective cysts which can be found in stools, and spread if whoever touches them does not sanitize their...
and
malariaMalaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
she contracted overseas while entertaining American troops.
In 1945, Landis married Broadway producer
W. Horace SchmidlappW. Horace Schmidlapp was an American Broadway actor and producer, and was the fourth husband of actress Carole Landis.- External links :*...
. By 1948, her career was in decline and her marriage with Schmidlapp was collapsing. She entered into a romance with actor
Rex HarrisonSir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
, who was married to actress
Lilli PalmerLilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...
at the time. Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife for her; unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide at her Pacific Palisades home by taking an overdose of
SeconalSecobarbital sodium is a barbiturate derivative drug that was first synthesized in 1928 in Germany. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, sedative and hypnotic properties...
. She had spent her final night alive with Harrison. The next afternoon, he and the maid discovered her on the bathroom floor. Harrison waited several hours before he called a doctor and the police. According to some sources, Landis left two suicide notes, one for her mother and the second for Harrison who instructed his lawyers to destroy it. During a coroner's inquest, Harrison denied knowing any motive for her suicide and told the coroner he did not know of the existence of a second suicide note.
Carole Landis was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
in plot 814 of the "Everlasting Love" section. Among the celebrities at her funeral were
Cesar RomeroCesar Julio Romero, Jr. was an American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years...
,
Van JohnsonVan Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
, and
Pat O'BrienPat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
. Harrison attended with his wife. Her family's official web site claims that Carole was murdered.
Film credits
External links