Helen Walker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Other people". Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image

Helen Marion Walker (July 17, 1920 – March 10, 1968) was an American actress.[1]

Biography

1920–1940: Early life

Helen Marion Walker was born July 17, 1920, in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Irish-American parents.Template:Sfn According to Walker, she grew up "quite poor."Template:Sfn Her father, who managed a grocery store, died when she was six years old, and she and her two sisters went to live on a farm in Upton, Massachusetts.Template:Sfn Her mother took a job working in a department store but later suffered a nervous breakdown.Template:Sfn

Walker's initial acting experience came in high school, performing in school plays.Template:Sfn She won a scholarship to the Erskine School of Dramatics in BostonTemplate:Sfn and completed one semester of studies, but she withdrew after completing her first play, embarrassed by her performance.Template:Sfn

1941–1946: Career beginnings and film

After dropping out of the Erskine School of Dramatics, Walker began to appear in local stock theater.[2] On Broadway, she portrayed Lisa Otis in Jason (1942).[3] She married Paramount lawyer Robert Blumofe on November 19, 1942, in Tijuana, Mexico,Template:Sfn but the marriage ended in divorce in 1946.

Walker made her film debut in 1942's Lucky Jordan, a comedy starring Alan Ladd. She earned a solid reputation playing leading roles in comedies as what she termed a "reactress," a straight man to comic leads in films such as Brewster's Millions and Murder, He Says, both released in 1945.[4]

According to Yvonne de Carlo, Walker, "the good natured but tough talking starlet," took Gail Russell "under her wing and introduced her to the tranquilizing benefits of vodka" when they were both under contract to Paramount.[5] Russell subsequently became an alcoholic.

1947–1955: Auto accident and career decline

File:Charles Coburn-Helen Walker in Impact.jpg
Charles Coburn and Helen Walker in Impact (1949)
File:Helen Walker in Impact (publicity still).jpg
Helen Walker in a publicity still for Impact (1949)

Walker had just finished filming Her Adventurous Night (1946) and was set to begin Heaven Only Knows[1] when an auto accident drastically disrupted her career. On December 31, 1946,Template:Sfn while driving a convertible coupe[6] belonging to director Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone from Palm Springs to Hollywood on U.S. Route 99,[6] she picked up three hitchhikers: first, a soldier named Robert E. Lee, and later 18-year-old students Philip Mercado and Joseph Montalde.Template:Sfn Near Redlands, California, the car slid off the road into a dirt division strip and rolled for more than 300 feet, flipping over as many as seven times and ejecting all four passengers. Lee was killed as his head struck the pavement,[6] and Walker and the other two passengers were seriously injured.Template:Sfn Walker suffered fractures to her pelvis and clavicle as well as a crushed foot,[6] and spent more than a month in the hospital.[7] Mercado, who had been thrown nearly Script error: No such module "convert". from the car,[6] sued Walker for $150,000,[8] claiming that Walker was driving "like a fool," ignored his requests to slow down and diverted her attention from the road to ask for a cigarette just before the accident.[9] Montalde sued Walker for $100,000.[10] The police estimated that Walker had been traveling in excess of Script error: No such module "convert". and a responding officer stated that he had smelled alcohol on her breath.[9] A coroner's jury found that Walker had been driving negligently.[7] She was charged with manslaughter for Lee's death,[10] but the charge was later dismissed for lack of "evidence".[11] Walker was replaced in Heaven Only Knows by Marjorie Reynolds.

Despite the accident and her legal troubles, Walker continued to act, and she appeared in perhaps her most famous role as the duplicitous psychoanalyst in the original version of Nightmare Alley (1947) with Tyrone Power. She also took prominent roles in films such as Call Northside 777 (1948) with James Stewart, My Dear Secretary (1948) with Kirk Douglas and Impact (1949) with Brian Donlevy.

In 1950, Walker married department-store executive Edward DuDomaine,[12] but the couple divorced in 1952.[1][13]

Following starring roles in My True Story (1951) and Problem Girls (1953), Walker made her final film appearance in Joseph H. Lewis's film noir The Big Combo with Cornel Wilde in 1955. She retired from acting that year at the age of 35.

1956–1968: Post-acting

In 1960, after Walker's house was destroyed by fire, several other Hollywood actresses held a benefit to assist her.[1]

Death

Walker died of cancer following a nine-year illness[7] on March 10, 1968, in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California at the age of 47.[2][14]

Political Affiliation

A Democrat, Walker supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.[15]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1942 Lucky Jordan Jill Evans
1943 The Good Fellows Ethel Hilton
1944 Abroad with Two Yanks Joyce Stuart
1945 The Man in Half Moon Street Eve Brandon
1945 Brewster's Millions Peggy Gray
1945 Murder, He Says Claire Matthews
1945 Duffy's Tavern Helen Walker
1946 People Are Funny Corey Sullivan
1946 Murder in the Music Hall Millicent
1946 Cluny Brown Elizabeth 'Betty' Cream
1946 Her Adventurous Night Constance Fry
1947 The Homestretch Kitty Brant
1947 Nightmare Alley Lilith Ritter
1948 Call Northside 777 Laura McNeal
1949 My Dear Secretary Elsie
1949 Impact Irene Williams
1951 My True Story Ann Martin
1953 Problem Girls Miss Dixon
1955 The Big Combo Alicia Brown

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1956 Dragnet 1 episode
1957 The 20th Century-Fox Hour Shirley Larkin 1 episode
1960 Wichita Town Sue, Scotty's girlfriend 1 episode
1960 Lock-Up Janice Horton / Margaret Benedict 2 episodes (final appearance)

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ a b c d Obituary Variety, March 13, 1968, page 79.
  2. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ "Helen Walker Cleared in Hitchhiker's Death" Los Angeles Times, April 9, 1947.
  12. ↑ "Hollywood Couples Marry Over Weekend."Herkimer (NY) Evening Telegram, 2 May 1950.
  13. ↑ "Actress Given Final Decree." Albany Times-Union, 18 June 1953.
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Sources

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Helen_Walker&oldid=2068066"