Ellen Drew

Ellen Drew (November 23, 1915 – December 3, 2003) was an American film actress.

Born Esther Loretta Ray in Kansas City, Missouri, Drew worked various jobs and won a number of beauty contests before becoming an actress. Moving to Hollywood in an attempt to become a star, she was discovered while working at an ice cream parlor where one of the customers, actor William Demarest, took notice of her and eventually helped her get into films.

She became a fixture at Paramount Pictures from 1938 to 1943, where she appeared in as many as six films per year, including Sing You Sinners (1938) with Bing Crosby and The Lady's from Kentucky (1939) with George Raft. She moved to RKO in 1944. Among her leading men were Ronald Colman, William Holden, Basil Rathbone, Dick Powell, and Robert Preston (in The Night of January 16th and Night Plane from Chungking).

Her films include Christmas in July (1940), Isle of the Dead (1945), Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Man from Colorado (1948), The Crooked Way (1949) and The Baron of Arizona with Vincent Price (1950). In the 1950s, with her movie career on the decline, she worked as a television actress. Among her final roles was the part of Julia Webberly in the 1960 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Larcenous Lady."

She died in Palm Desert, California on December 3, 2003.

Selected filmography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Drew

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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0237655/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Talented Missouri-born Ellen Drew was born Esther Loretta Ray in 1915, the daughter of an Irish barber. She worked various jobs (accountant, salesgirl) to support her family until her fresh-faced good looks and high-wattage smile earned her a couple of beauty pageant trophies. Encouraged to try her luck in Hollywood, she was discovered in somewhat typical Lana Turner fashion. While working at an ice cream parlor, customer William Demarest took notice of her and was instrumental in having her put under contract at Paramount Studios in 1936. Initially billed as Terry Ray, she was groomed in starlet bits for two years until finally given a role she could sink her teeth into in the Bing Crosby musical Sing, You Sinners (1938). Her hair was changed from brunette to auburn (sometimes blonde) and her moniker changed from Terry Ray to Ellen Drew. Brighter roles came her way with If I Were King (1938), which clinched her celebrity, Women Without Names (1940) and Buck Benny Rides Again (1940). Ellen seemed destined for top-flight stardom, but somehow it didn't happen. She never managed to distinguish herself among the bevy of Hollywood beauties on display and so remained on the outer fringes for most her career. Despite fine roles in fine movies, notably the Preston Sturges classic Christmas in July (1940) and the Dick Powell starrer Johnny O'Clock (1947), Ellen's film career went on a steep decline. In the 1950s she transferred her talents to TV before retiring the following decade. Married four times, including writer/producer Sy Bartlett, she left one son and several grandchildren when she passed away in 2003 at age 88 in Palm Desert, California.