Catherine Craig

Catherine Jewel Feltus (January 18, 1915 – January 14, 2004).

There was a time when actress Catherine Craig was known in Hollywood other than for being Mrs. Robert Preston. She was born Catherine on January 18, 1915, in Santiago, Chile the daughter of a circus proprietor and cinema owner who piqued her initial interest in drama. Although she attended school in Bloomington, she spoke Spanish fluently as a result of her childhood trips with her family to South America. Graduating with honors from Indiana University in 1936, she was a speech instructor's assistant for a time while appearing on the local stage in Indiana. Eventually relocating to Los Angeles in search of a professional career, her well-modulated voice and crisp diction came in handy when radio work came her way. She met actor Preston when she was a fellow student at the Pasadena Playhouse. They married in 1940.

Catherine was soon discovered by a 20th Century Fox talent agent and promptly apprenticed in such films as Doomed to Die (1940), Murder Over New York (1940) and Manhattan Heartbeat (1940). She eventually earned a contract at her husband's studio, Paramount, but still remained obscure with a trail of decorative bit roles in such dubiously-titled "B" hokum as Las Vegas Nights (1941), West Point Widow (1941), Parachute Nurse (1942), Showboat Serenade (1944) and The Bride Wore Boots (1946).

In the post-war years the blue-eyed, chestnut-haired beauty finally began to earn more noticeable assignments such as her lifeboat survivor in Seven Were Saved (1947), her wealthy fiancé menaced by a conniving Albert Dekker in the superb "B" crime thriller The Pretender (1947), and her innocent-eyed prairie flower opposite Randolph Scott in Albuquerque (1948). Her success was short-lived. By 1950 Catherine had drifted back to minor status and retired from films after a nothing part in No Man of Her Own (1950). Following a few stage endeavors, she completely abandoned the limelight in support of her husband's career. Preston died in 1987.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Craig