Carole Landis

Carole Landis (born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste; January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American actress. She worked as a contract player for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s. Her breakout role was as the female lead in the 1940 film One Million B.C. from United Artists. She was known as "The Ping Girl"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and "The Chest" because of her curvy figure.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Early life

Landis was born on January 1, 1919, in Fairchild, Wisconsin, the youngest of five children of Clara (née Sentek), a Polish farmer's daughter, and Norwegian-American Alfred Ridste, a drifting railroad mechanic who abandoned the family after Landis's birth.<ref name="time48">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name = "Gans 2008">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name=fleming78>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Landis's biographer E. J. Fleming, circumstantial evidence supports that Landis was likely the biological child of her mother's second husband, Charles Fenner. Fenner left Landis's mother in April 1921 and remarried a few months later.<ref>Template:Harv</ref>

In 1923, Landis's family moved to San Bernardino, California, where her mother worked menial jobs to support the family.<ref>Template:Harv</ref> At the age of 15, Landis dropped out of San Bernardino High School and set forth on a career path to show business.<ref>Template:Harv</ref> She started out as a hula dancer in a San Francisco nightclub, where she was described by her boss as a "nervous $35-a-week blonde doing a pathetic hula at her opening night at the old Royal Hawaiian on Bush [Street]...that'll never get her anyplace in show business". He apparently employed her only because he felt sorry for her;<ref name="Caen, Herb">Caen, Herb (1950). Baghdad: 1951. Doubleday & Company, Inc. p. 40.</ref> she later sang with a dance band. She bleached her hair blonde and adopted the name "Carole Landis" in honor of her favorite actress, Carole Lombard, and baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. After saving $100, she moved to Hollywood.<ref name="time48"/>

Career

Film career

She was signed by Warner Bros. in late 1936 and went on to appear in two dozen features, mostly for Bryan Foy's low-budget "B" unit (including gradually increasing roles in four Torchy Blane comedies, some of which gave her screen credit). By 1938 she was working in the studio's major motion pictures like The Adventures of Robin Hood and Boy Meets Girl, but only in uncredited bits.

Dissatisfied with her lack of progress, she moved on to Republic Pictures, a small but efficient studio specializing in action pictures. The smaller studio paid more attention to her, giving her ingenue leads in two Three Mesquiteers westerns and a serial, Daredevils of the Red Circle.

Pioneer producer Hal Roach was preparing One Million B.C., a dramatic film about prehistoric people menaced by the elements. He hired another movie pioneer, D. W. Griffith, to cast the picture. It was to be a rugged shoot, with many scenes staged outdoors. Roach recalled:

Hal Roach saw star potential in Carole Landis and signed her to a contract in June 1940.<ref>Boxoffice, June 8, 1940, p. 32.</ref> He continued casting her in three more starring roles, the best known being Turnabout (1940) a role-reversal farce written by Thorne Smith and co-starring John Hubbard.

File:Carole Landis in Topper Returns.jpg

Carole Landis in Topper Returns, 1941

She returned to Republic for one more film, the Judy Canova comedy Sis Hopkins (1941). She then landed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox and began a sexual relationship with studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable in the musical Moon Over Miami and the crime drama I Wake Up Screaming, both in 1941. When Landis ended her relationship with Zanuck, he stopped furthering her career. She remained under contract but was now assigned to lesser pictures, and Fox loaned her out to other studios three times. Her final two films, Noose and Brass Monkey, were both made in Great Britain.

USO tours

Carole Landis became a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II.<ref name=dame/> In 1942, she traveled with comedian Martha Raye, dancer Mitzi Mayfair, and actress Kay Francis, serving for the USO in England and North Africa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name = "Gans 2008"/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Harv</ref> Two years later, she entertained soldiers in the South Pacific alongside Jack Benny.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> During the war, Landis traveled over 100,000 miles and was the actress who spent the most time engaged in this activity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> During her travels, she became seriously ill due to amoebic dysentery and malaria.<ref>Template:Harv</ref><ref name = "Gans 2008"/>Template:Rp

Broadway

In 1945 she starred on Broadway in the musical A Lady Says Yes, with future novelist Jacqueline Susann in a small role.<ref name=playbill>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=dame/> Susann is said to have based the character of Jennifer North, from her best-selling novel Valley of the Dolls, in part on Landis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=dame/>

Writing

Landis wrote several newspaper and magazine articles about her experiences during the war, including the 1944 book Four Jills in a Jeep, which was later made into a movie costarring Kay Francis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair.<ref name=dame>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also wrote the foreword to Vic Herman's cartoon book Winnie the WAC.<ref name=dame/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

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Sgt. Bill Stewart and Landis ca. 1940s

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Landis and John Wayne, 1939

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William Gargan and Landis, 1946)

Landis was married four times and had no children (she was unable to conceive owing to endometriosis).<ref name="time48"/> In January 1934, 15-year-old Landis married her first husband, 19-year-old Irving Wheeler. Her mother had the marriage annulled in February 1934. Landis persuaded her father, Alfred Ridste (who had left the family shortly after Landis was born and who, by coincidence, lived near the family in San Bernardino), to allow her to remarry Wheeler. He finally relented, and the two were remarried on August 25, 1934. After three weeks of marriage, Landis and Wheeler got into an argument, and Landis walked out. Neither filed for divorce, and Landis began pursuing an acting career.<ref>Template:Harv</ref> In 1938, Wheeler reappeared and filed a $250,000 alienation of affections lawsuit against director and choreographer Busby Berkeley. Even though Landis and Wheeler were estranged, he claimed that Berkeley had enticed and otherwise persuaded Landis to transfer her affections. Landis maintained that she had not seen Wheeler in years and had heard from him only the previous year when he claimed to want a divorce.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Wheeler's lawsuit was later dismissed, and Landis and Wheeler were divorced in 1939.<ref name="Donnelley 2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

In June 1939 Berkeley proposed to Landis but later broke it off. On July 4, 1940, she married yacht broker Willis Hunt Jr. in Las Vegas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Landis left Hunt after two months of marriage due to abuse by Hunt;<ref name="time48"/> they were divorced on November 20, 1940. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While touring army camps in London in 1942, she met United States Army Air Forces Captain Thomas Wallace.<ref name="milwaukee">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> They were married in January 1943, and the wedding received a two-page photo spread in Life magazine.<ref>"Ping Girl" Weds Eagle, Life, February 1, 1943, pages 32-33</ref> Landis would also self-author an article about their honeymoon for the June 1943 edition of Photoplay.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The couple separated in early 1945,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and they would divorce in July 1945.<ref name="milwaukee"/> Landis would write about the relationship, marriage, and later causes that lead to the eventual collapse of their marriage in her article "Don't Marry A Stranger" for the January 1945 issue of Photoplay.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> She would state that "No woman ever loved a man more than I loved Tommy Wallace. And Tommy loved me, too. All my life, above all the rest, I want to remember that."<ref name=":0" />

On December 8, 1945, Landis married Broadway producer W. Horace Schmidlapp.<ref name="Donnelley 2003"/>Template:Rp They separated in 1947, and Landis filed for divorce in May 1948, charging Schmidlapp with "extreme mental cruelty."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During her separation from Schmidlapp, Landis began a relationship with actor Rex Harrison, who was then married to actress Lilli Palmer. The affair became an open secret in Hollywood.<ref>Template:Harv</ref> After Landis's death, however, Harrison downplayed their relationship and publicly claimed that she was merely a close friend of himself and Palmer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

File:Carole Landis Grave.JPG

Grave of Carole Landis at Forest Lawn Glendale

Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife to be with her. On July 5, 1948, unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide in her Pacific Palisades home at 1465 Capri Drive by taking an overdose of Seconal.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name = "Gans 2008"/>Template:Rp Before she took her life, she penned a note to her mother, expressing remorse for the pain her actions would cause. She assured her mother and family members of her love and asked her to find her will, which left everything to her mother. Landis signed off as “Your Baby” and requested her mother’s prayers.<ref name = "Gans 2008"/>Template:Rp Harrison was the last person to see her alive, having had dinner with her the night before she committed suicide.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The next afternoon, Harrison and Landis's maid discovered her on the bathroom floor. Harrison waited several hours before he called a doctor and the police.<ref name="tribune">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name = "Gans 2008"/>Template:Rp 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.<ref>Template:Cite web, a July 1948 Los Angeles Times photograph.</ref> Landis's official website, which her family owns, has questioned the events of Landis's death and the coroner's ruling of suicide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, in plot 814 of the "Everlasting Love" section. Among the celebrities at her funeral were Cesar Romero, Van Johnson, and Pat O'Brien.<ref name="funeral">Template:Cite news</ref> Harrison attended with his wife.<ref name="time48"/>

Landis has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1765 Vine Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	Template:Sortname	Chorine	Uncredited
1937	Template:Sortname	Girl in beret at Santa Anita bar	Uncredited
1937	Template:Sortname	Dance Extra
1937	Fly-Away Baby	Blonde at airport	Torchy Blane comedy
1937	Template:Sortname	Bit part
1937	Broadway Melody of 1938	Dancer
1937	Varsity Show	Student
1937	Alcatraz Island		Uncredited
1937	Over the Goal	Co-ed	Uncredited
1937	The Adventurous Blonde	Uncredited	Torchy Blane comedy
1937	Hollywood Hotel	Hat check girl with coat
1938	Template:Sortname	Woman waiting to go with her Johnnie
1938	Blondes at Work	Carole	Torchy Blane comedy
1938	Template:Sortname	Partygoer leaning on piano during song
1938	Love, Honor and Behave	Wheel watcher at party	Uncredited
1938	Over the Wall	Peggy, girl at beach	Uncredited
1938	Torchy Blane in Panama	Miss Leopard of 1938	Torchy Blane comedy
1938	Women Are Like That	Cocktail party guest	Uncredited
1938	Template:Sortname	Guest at banquet	Uncredited
1938	Gold Diggers in Paris	Golddigger	Alternative title: The Gay Impostors
1938	Men Are Such Fools	June Cooper	Uncredited
1938	When Were You Born	Ship passenger	Uncredited
1938	Penrod's Double Trouble	Girl at fair	Uncredited
1938	Four's a Crowd	Myrtle, Lansford's 2nd Secretary
1938	Boy Meets Girl	Commissary cashier	Uncredited
1939	Three Texas Steers	Nancy Evans	Alternative title: Danger Rides the Range
1939	Daredevils of the Red Circle	Blanche Granville
1939	Cowboys from Texas	June Jones
1939	Reno	Mrs. Humphrey	Uncredited
1940	One Million B.C.	Loana
1940	Turnabout	Sally Willows
1940	Mystery Sea Raider	June McCarthy
1941	Road Show	Penguin Moore
1941	Topper Returns	Ann Carrington
1941	Moon Over Miami	Barbara Latimer, aka Miss Sears
1941	Dance Hall	Lily Brown
1941	I Wake Up Screaming	Vicky Lynn	Alternative title: Hot Spot
1941	Cadet Girl	Gene Baxter
1942	Template:Sortname	Helen Mason
1942	My Gal Sal	Mae Collins
1942	It Happened in Flatbush	Kathryn Baker
1942	Orchestra Wives	Natalie Mercer
1942	Manila Calling	Edna Fraser
1943	The Powers Girl	Kay Evans
1943	Wintertime	Flossie Fouchere
1943	Show Business at War	Herself
1944	Secret Command	Jill McGann
1944	Four Jills in a Jeep	Herself
1945	Having Wonderful Crime	Helene Justus
1946	Behind Green Lights	Janet Bradley
1946	Template:Sortname	Loretta de Richet	Alternative title: Thieves' Holiday
1946	It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog	Julia Andrews
1947	Out of the Blue	Mae Earthleigh
1948	Noose	Linda Medbury	Alternative title: The Silk Noose; released posthumously
1948	Brass Monkey	Kay Sheldon	Alternative title: Lucky Mascot; released posthumously (final role)

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1938	Warner Brothers Academy Theater	Special Agent<ref name=ndw13>Template:Cite journal</ref>
1942	Command Performance	June 11

Theater

Year	Theater genre	Play	Character
1945	Broadway	A Lady Says Yes	Ghisella<ref name=playbill/>

Recordings

Year	Recording	Format	Recording Date
1948	Party Games<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Record	07/02/1948

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Carole Landis Online (archived)
• Official website (archived version)
• Template:IBDB name
• Template:TCMDb name
• Template:Rotten Tomatoes