biography
Born Norma Roman in Lynn, Massachusetts on December 22, 1922, Ruth Roman was the youngest of three daughters born to an immigrant carnival barker and his wife.
Roman's father died when she was a child, so her mother supported the family taking odd jobs. Her mother changed young Norma's name to Ruth after being told by
a fortune teller that the name Norma brought bad luck. In the late 1930s, she finished her high school studies and began an interest in acting,
leaving Boston for New York City to break into Broadway. When her stage ambitions didn't pan out, she relocated to Hollywood and began picking up small parts in
films in the early 1940s, with her first credited appearance coming in the poverty-row western Harmony Trail (1944; with Ken Maynard and Glenn
Strange). During the following year, Roman was cast as the title character Lothel, the Jungle Queen in Universal's 13-chapter adventure serial Jungle Queen
(1945; with Edward Norris). The serial was not a success, and Roman went back to bit parts for a couple of years. Her next important
role came in the western Belle Starr's Daughter (1948; with George Montgomery) and afterward Roman would appear frequently
in westerns and dramas. Upon signing with Warner Bros. in 1948, Roman appeared in several 'A' pictures including the film noir thrillers Beyond the Forest
(1949; with Bette Davis and Joseph Cotten) and Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951; with Robert Walker and Farley Granger).  Early 1950s Warner Bros. cheesecake photos of Ruth Roman After a very brief first marriage as a teenager, Roman married Mortimer Hall in 1950, and the couple welcomed a son, Richard. She left Warner Bros. following the birth of her son and eventually signed with Universal-International in 1953. While she made good films at Universal, including the adventure Tanganyika (1954; with Van Helflin, Howard Duff, and Jeff Morrow), these didn't perform overly well at the box office. By 1955, Roman was cut loose by Universal, as that studio began to shed its contract players in the mid 1950s with the death of the studio system. |
the films of ruth romanBarricade (1950)Colt .45 (1950)
With Lloyd Bridges and Zachary Scott in the Warner Bros. western Colt .45Dallas (1950)
From the Warner Bros. western Dallas with Gary CooperThree Secrets (1950)
With Eleanor Parker in the Warner Bros. drama Three SecretsStrangers on a Train (1951)
From Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Strangers on a Train, released by Warner Bros. Pictured are Patricia Hitchcock, Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Leo G. CarrollTomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
With Steve Cochran in the Warner Bros. noir thriller Tomorrow Is Another DayYoung Man with Ideas (1952)
From the MGM comedy/drama Young Man with Ideas with Nina FochMara Maru (1952)
With Errol Flynn in the Warner Bros. adventure Mara MaruThe Far Country (1954)
As Ronda Castle in the Universal-International western The Far CountryTanganyika (1954)
From the Universal-International adventure flick TanganyikaJoe MacBeth (1955) 
From Columbia's Joe MacBeth, a film that gives the film noir treatment to William Shakespeare's MacBeth. The right photo includes Paul Douglas as the title characterThe Bottom of the Bottle (1956)
With Van Johnson in the 20th Century Fox release The Bottom of the BottleThe Sinner (1957) 
From the Italian romance The Sinner. This film was released in the U.S. in 1959 under the title Desert Desperados. The right photo includes Akim TamiroffLook in Any Window (1961)
Paul Anka portrays Ruth Roman's son in the Allied Artists drama Look in Any WindowLove Has Many Faces (1965)
With Hugh O'Brian in Columbia's scandalous potboiler Love Has Many FacesThe F.B.I. (1965-1974 ABC TV Series)
From a January 1967 episode of The F.B.I. titled The Courier. Also pictured is Cherylene LeeDay of the Animals (1977)
From the low budget horror flick Day of the Animals with Lynda Day George and Andrew Stevenslater yearsWithout the support of a large studio, Ruth Roman's film appearances became sporadic in the late 1950s. She made just three films in the 1960s, including Milagro a los cobardes (1962), a Spanish production never released in the U.S. However, she appeared frequently on popular television programs including Burke's Law, The Outer Limits, and The Name of the Game through the late 1980s. In the early 1970s, she starred in several effective horror shockers, including The Killing Kind (1973; with Ann Sothern) and The Baby (1973; with Anjanette Comer and Marianna Hill). Her last film was the low-budget indie horror flick Echoes (1983 with Gale Sondergaard and Mercedes McCambridge). She finished her career on television with a recurring role on Knots Landing in 1986 and in a few guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote in the late 1980s. Sadly, Ruth Roman passed away in her sleep at her Laguna Beach home on September 9, 1999, at the age of 76. She was survived by her son, Richard. |
filmographyFILM
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This page premiered August 8, 2003.
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