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Updated 4/12/2008.
Bettie Page
Gorgeous pin-up queen Bettie Page (sometimes credited at "Betty Page") made a few burlesque films during her career but of course is better known for her prolific modeling, which she did from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.
Leslie Parrish
Model Leslie Parrish became an actress in the 1950s and starred in Li'l Abner (1959; with Julie Newmar) as Daisy Mae. More roles followed in the 1960s in such films as Sex and the Single Girl (1964; with Tony Curtis) and Three on a Couch (1966; with Jerry Lewis and Janet Leigh). In the late 1970s, Parrish walked away from acting to pursue other interests. Avid Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans will remember Parrish's role in The Giant Spider Invasion (1975; with Barbara Hale), which aired as episode #810.
Luana Patten
Luana Patten began acting as a child, for Walt Disney. She appeared in Song of the South (1946) and Fun and Fancy Free (1947) while under contract to Disney. When her Disney contract lapsed in the late 1940s, Patten put her career on hold. By the mid 1950s and now grown up, Luana Patten found herself starring in such low-budget films as Rock, Pretty Baby (1956; with John Saxon and Fay Wray) and Joe Dakota (1957; with Jock Mahoney and Lee Van Cleef). In 1960, Patten married actor John Smith and her career slowed. After her divorce from Smith in 1964, Patten returned to acting in films and television. She retired from acting in 1970. Patten passed away in 1996 at the age of 57.
Barbara Payton
Barbara Payton, a beautiful actress under contract to Universal in the early 1950s, made only a dozen films or so, such as Bride of the Gorilla (1951; with Raymond Burr) and Drums in the Deep South (1951; with Guy Madison and James Craig). Unfortunately, her scandalous private life overshadowed her film career. She was married to actor Franchot Tone for about a month, and then divorced him to marry actor Tom Neal, but that union lasted just a few months. All the bad press surrounding Payton effectively killed her film career by the mid 1950s. Sadly, Payton died of natural causes in May 1967 at the age of 39.
Mala Powers
Mala Powers starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including The Yellow Mountain (1954; with Lex Barker) and The Colossus of New York (1958; with Ross Martin and Robert Hutton). Following her 1970 marriage, Powers cooled her screen career and today teaches acting.
Pat Priest
The daughter of former U.S. Treasurer Ivy Baker Priest, beautiful Pat Priest took up acting in the 1950s but her career soon took a backseat to marriage and motherhood. In the early 1960s, however, Priest resurrected her career on televsion in guest spots on popular TV programs. In late 1964, she was chosen to replace Beverly Owen on CBS-TV's The Munsters (1964-1966; with Yvonne De Carlo). She also acted in the films Easy Come, Easy Go (1967; with Elvis Presley) and The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971; with Bruce Dern, from which the above left photo comes. Priest retired from acting in the 1970s to enter the real estate business.
Vera Ralston
Czech-born beauty Vera (Hruba) Ralston gained fame as an ice skater in the late 1930s. In the early 1940s, Republic Pictures head Herbert Yates signed Ralston, in the hopes that she would become the next Sonja Henie. Ralston would stay at Republic until the studio folded in 1958. Some of her films include The Lady and the Monster (1944), Lake Placid Serenade (1944), and The Man Who Died Twice (1958). Ralston married Yates in 1952, and they remained a couple until his death in 1966. Ralston's career had folded with the demise of Republic. She passed away from cancer in February 2003 at the age of 81.
Liz Renay
Knockout Liz Renay's personal life often overshadowed her film career. She became a showgirl and, later, a stripper after running away from home in the 1940s. In the 1950s, Renay made an effort toward acting, but when she was sentenced to three years in Terminal Island Prison after refusing to fink on mob activities, her hopes for screen stardom vanished. However, after her release from prision, Renay published her famous autobiography My Face for the World to See, and found work as an actress, albeit in low-budget films. Some of her work includes The Thrill Killers (1964; with Ray Dennis Steckler), The Nasty Rabbit (1965; with Arch Hall Jr.), and John Waters' Desperate Living (1977; with Mink Stole). Renay's last film was Ted V. Mikels' Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002; with Tura Satana). Sadly, Liz Renay passed away on January 22, 2007 at the age of 80. The above photo is from The Thrill Killers with Cash Flagg (aka Ray Dennis Steckler).
Tanya Roberts
Sexy Tanya Roberts broke into films in 1975, landing a starring role in her first film, the horror flick Forced Entry. By the early 1980s, Roberts had secured her place in Hollywood by becoming the last of Charlie's Angels, during the 1980-1981 season. Since then, Roberts has acted in a number of films and many television programs. Her most recent role was on That 70's Show, on which she appeared for three seasons. Roberts has been married to husband Barry Roberts since the early 1970s.
Kasey Rogers
Pretty Kasey Rogers was put under contract by Paramount in the late 1940s. Renaming her Laura Elliott, the studio cast her in a number of film noir thrillers, including Special Agent (1949; with George Reeves) and Paid in Full (1950; with Lizabeth Scott and Eve Arden), and one of her meatiest roles came in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951; with Robert Walker) in which she portrayed Farley Granger's doomed estranged wife. Yet her career did not flourish at Paramount, and Rogers left the studio in 1954. She changed her professional name back to Kasey Rogers in the mid 1950s, when she began working in television. Rogers spent many years doing guest spots until the mid 1960s, when she secured a role on ABC's Peyton Place in 1964. In 1966, she took over the role of Louise Tate on the ABC-TV series Bewitched. Soon after the series left the air in 1972, Rogers retired from the screen. She passed away in July 2006 after several bouts with cancer and a stroke. She is survived by her four children and grandchildren. The above photo is from a 1957 episode of The Millionaire.
Lori Saunders
Gorgeous Lori Saunders is best known for her role as Bobbie Joe Bradley from TV's Petticoat Junction, but Saunders made several films in the 1960s and 1970s, including The Girls on the Beach (1965; with Aron Kincaid and Lana Wood), Mara of the Wilderness (1965; with Adam West), Track of the Vampire (1966; with Bill Campbell and Sandra Knight), and So Sad About Gloria (1975; with Dean Jagger). Saunders retired from acting in the 1970s and is now an artist.
Barbara Shelley
British beauty Barbara Shelley made many low-budget films in the 1950s and 1960s, with a particular flair for horror films. Her best films include Village of the Damned (1960; with George Sanders) and Five Million Years to Earth (1967). Her film career began to lose steam in the late 1960s, and today Barbara Shelley is retired. The above photos are from the 1958 film Blood of the Vampire.
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Stella Stevens
Mississippi native Stella Stevens made her way to Hollywood in the late 1950s and more or less became an overnight success. Her first important film role came in the 1959 film L'il Abner; into the 1960s, she had roles in many films (Girls! Girls! Girls! and The Nutty Professor) and several TV series (Ben Casey). Stevens is still active today, with an occasional role on the soap General Hospital. Her son is beefcake actor Andrew Stevens.
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This page premiered August 9, 2001.
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