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Carole Landis

Female 1919 - 1948  (29 years)    Has 2 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Carole Landis 
    Birth 1 Jan 1919  Fairchild Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Death 4-5 Jul 1948  Brentwood Heights, California, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Siblings 2 Siblings 
    Person ID I480901  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 18 Dec 2006 

    Father Alfred Ridste   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Mother Clara Stentek   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Family ID F192262  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Jacqueline Susann,   b. 20 Aug 1918, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 21 Sep 1974, New York, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years) 
    Family ID F192263  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 20 Jul 2004 

    Family 2 Irving Wheeler   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage Jan 1934 
    Family ID F192264  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Jan 2006 

    Family 3 Irving Wheeler   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage Feb 1934 
    Divorce 1939 
    Family ID F192265  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Jan 2006 

    Family 4 Willis Hunt, Jr.   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 4 Jul 1940 
    Divorce 14 Nov 1940 
    Family ID F192266  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Jan 2006 

    Family 5 Thomas C. Wallace   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 5 Jan 1943 
    Divorce 19 Jul 1945 
    Family ID F192267  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Jan 2006 

    Family 6 W. Horace Schmidlapp   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 8 Dec 1945 
    Family ID F192268  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Jan 2006 

    Family 7 Rex Harrison,   b. 5 Mar 1908, Huyton, Lancashire, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2 Jun 1990, New York, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 82 years) 
    Family ID F192269  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 18 Dec 2006 

  • Photos Photos (Log in)Photos (Log in)

  • Notes 
    • By 1939, Landis had played bit parts in several Warner Brothers movies, including some Busby Berkeley flicks. It was in 1939 that her career got chugging at Republic Pictures. She was the heroine in two Three Mesquiteers westerns, one starring John Wayne, and a serial, “Daredevils of the Red Circle.”
      Her real start came when she starred, clad in skimpy garb, in a 1940 movie which, when re-made in 1966, marked the dawn of the career of another sex star, Raquel Welch. The film was “One Million B.C.”, the Landis version staged by independent producer Hal Roach.
      It was not only her appearance that won her the role, but her agility. She could run. Indeed, in high school, her key interest was athletics, and she had formed a girls’ football team, which the school administration ordered disbanded because the sport was deemed unladylike.
      “Topper Returns” (1941), in which she played the ghost Marian Kirby who flirted with mortal Cosmo Topper, was another Roach production in which she had a starring role. Roach’s studio publicists dubbed her the “ping girl.”
      Then came her movies for Fox: “Moon Over Miami” (1942), “I Wake Up Screaming” (1942), “Cadet Girl” (1942), “Dance Hall” (1942), “It Happened in Flatbush” (1943), “My Gal Sal” (1943), “Orchestra Wives” (1943), “Manila Calling” (1943), “Wintertime” (1944), “Secret Command” (1945), and “Having a Wonderful Crime” (1945).
      In 1942, she teamed with Martha Raye, Kay Francis and Mitzi Mayfair in a UFO tour of the British isles. Her book, recounting the experience — “Four Jills in a Jeep” — was made by Fox into a 1944 movie, with Landis and her three former cohorts portraying themselves.
      Landis was a Hollywood success.
      On the Fourth of July in 1948 — on the day that she would have been celebrating a wedding anniversary, had her second marriage lasted — she had dinner with actor Rex Harrison. He was a married man with whom she was reportedly having an affair, and the end of that affair was said to be impending. And her film career was on the wane.
      The next day, Harrison discovered Landis’ dead body. She died at home.



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