Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor was an actress known for her femme fatale characters in the classic film noir features Force of Evil and The Narrow Margin. Windsor's height created problems for her in scenes with all but the tallest actors. She was the female lead in so many B movies that she became dubbed the "Queen" of the genre.
Early years
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lane Bertelsen, Windsor was born in 1919 in Marysvale, Utah. She graduated from Marysvale High School in 1934, doing a "musical reading" as part of the graduation exercises. She attended Brigham Young University, where she participated in dramatic productions. She was described in a 1939 newspaper article as "an accomplished athlete... expert as a dancer, swimmer, horsewoman, and plays golf, tennis and skis."In 1939, Windsor was chosen from a group of 81 contestants to be queen of Covered Wagon Days in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was unofficially appointed "Miss Utah of 1939" by her hometown Chamber of Commerce, and trained for the stage under famed Hollywood actress and coach Maria Ouspenskaya. Voluptuous and leggy, but unusually tall for a starlet of her generation, Windsor felt that she was handicapped when playing opposite actors of average stature. As she later recalled, a production with Forrest Tucker as co-star made her happy with finally getting male lead who was her 'own size'.
In later years, thanks to her early screen success, Windsor was able to pursue her studies more extensively, primarily with Stella Adler and also at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
Windsor worked in radio in Salt Lake City before moving to California. In California, she worked as a model for glamor photographer Paul Hesse.
Stage
In 1940, after her move to Hollywood and entering Ouspenskaya's drama school, she appeared in the play Forty Thousand Smiths, her first use of the stage name "Marie Windsor". The next year she appeared in Once in a Lifetime at the Pasadena Playhouse. She also played a villain in a New York production of Follow the Girls. Years later, in the 1980s, she returned to the stage.Film
After working for several years as a telephone operator, a stage and radio actress, and a bit part and extra player in films, Windsor began playing feature parts on the big screen in 1947.Her first film contract, with Warner Bros. in 1942, resulted from her writing jokes and submitting them to Jack Benny. Windsor said she submitted the gags under the name M.E. Windsor "because I was afraid he might be prejudiced against a woman gag writer". When Benny finally met Windsor, "he was stunned by her good looks" and had a producer sign her to a contract. After a tenure with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which the studio "signed her, put her in two small roles and then promptly forgot her", she signed a seven-year contract in 1948 with The Enterprise Studios.
The actress' first memorable role in 1948 was with John Garfield in Force of Evil playing seductress Edna Tucker. She had roles in numerous 1950s film noirs, notably The Sniper, The Narrow Margin, City That Never Sleeps, and the Stanley Kubrick heist film, The Killing, in which she played Elisha Cook, Jr.'s, scheming wife. She also made her first foray into science fiction with the release of Cat-Women of the Moon. Windsor co-starred with Randolph Scott in The Bounty Hunter.
Television
Later, Windsor moved to television. Marie appeared as "The Mutton Puncher" in season 3 of Cheyenne, in 1957. She appeared in 1954 as Belle Starr in the premiere episode of Stories of the Century. In 1962, she played Ann Jesse, a woman dying in childbirth, in the episode "The Wanted Man" of Lawman. Marie Windsor appeared in the first season of Barnaby Jones; episode titled, "Twenty Million Alibis".She appeared on programs such as Maverick, Bat Masterson, Perry Mason, Bourbon Street Beat, The Incredible Hulk, Rawhide, Mannix , General Hospital, Salem's Lot, and Murder, She Wrote. Windsor worked consistently through the 1960s and 1980s, and remained on screen once or so annually up to the 1990s, playing her final role and going into retirement in 1991 at the age of 72.
Recognition
Windsor has a star in at 1549 N. Vine Street in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated January 19, 1983. She was among the 500 stars nominated for selection as one of the 50 greatest American screen legends, as part of the American Film Institute's 100 years.In 1987, Windsor received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for best actress for her work in The Bar Off Melrose. She also received the Ralph Morgan Award from the Screen Actors Guild for her service on the organization's board of directors.
Personal life
Windsor was married briefly to bandleader Ted Steele. They were wed April 21, 1946, in Marysville, Utah. They divorced that same year.In July 1950, newspaper columnist Louella Parsons reported, "Marie Windsor has set her marriage to Alex Lunciman, a Beverly Hills stock broker, for October".
She married realtor Jack Hupp, a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball team. Hupp had his own family connection with show business; he was the son of actor Earle Rodney. Hupp, with whom Windsor had a son, was inducted posthumously into the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Windsor was politically conservative, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
A Republican, she supported Dwight Eisenhower's campaign in the 1952 presidential election.
After her acting career ended, Windsor became a painter and sculptor. Windsor was also a lifelong Mormon.
Death
Windsor died of congestive heart failure on December 10, 2000—one day before her 81st birthday. She is interred with Hupp in her native Marysvale, Utah at Mountain View Cemetery.Filmography
- Unexpected Uncle as Passerby on Sidewalk
- Weekend for Three as Extra
- All-American Co-Ed as Carrot Queen
- Playmates as Nightclub Patron
- Joan of Paris as French Girl in Cafe
- Four Jacks and a Jill as Girl Applying Makeup
- Call Out the Marines as Pretty Brunette on Tour
- The Lady or the Tiger? as The Princess
- Flying with Music as Native Girl
- Parachute Nurse as Company 'C' Girl
- Smart Alecks as Nurse
- The Big Street as Florida Nightclub Patron
- Eyes in the Night as Actress at Rehearsal
- George Washington Slept Here as Woman at Train Station
- Chatterbox as Hostess
- Three Hearts for Julia as Violinist
- Pilot No. 5 as Mrs. Claven
- Let's Face It as Chorus Girl
- The Iron Major as Young Woman at Dock
- Follow the Leader as Native Girl in Dream
- I Love My Wife, But! as Saleswoman
- Living in a Big Way as Jane, Junior League Girl
- The Hucksters as Girl on Train
- The Romance of Rosy Ridge as Baggett Daughter
- Song of the Thin Man as Helen Amboy
- The Unfinished Dance as Saleslady
- On an Island with You as Jane
- The Pirate as Madame Lucia
- The Three Musketeers as Lady-in-Waiting
- Force of Evil as Edna Tucker
- Outpost in Morocco as Cara
- The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend as LaBelle Bergere
- Hellfire as Mary Carson / Doll Brown
- The Fighting Kentuckian as Ann Logan
- Dakota Lil as Dakota Lil
- The Showdown as Adelaide
- Double Deal as Terry Miller
- Frenchie as Diane Gorman
- Little Big Horn as Celie Donlin
- Hurricane Island as Jan Bolton
- Two Dollar Bettor as Mary Slate
- Japanese War Bride as Fran Sterling
- The Sniper as Jean Darr
- The Narrow Margin as Mrs. Frankie Neall
- Outlaw Women as Iron Mae McLeod
- The Jungle as Princess Mari
- The Tall Texan as Laura Thompson
- Trouble Along the Way as Anne Williams McCormick
- City That Never Sleeps as Lydia Biddel
- So This Is Love as Marilyn Montgomery
- Cat-Women of the Moon as Helen Salinger
- The Eddie Cantor Story as Cleo Abbott
- Hell's Half Acre as Rose
- The Bounty Hunter as Alice Williams
- The Silver Star as Karen Childress
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy as Madame Rontru
- No Man's Woman as Carolyn Ellenson Grant
- Two-Gun Lady as Bess
- Swamp Women as Josie Nardo
- The Killing as Sherry Peatty
- The Unholy Wife as Gwen
- The Parson and the Outlaw as Tonya
- The Girl in Black Stockings as Julia Parry
- The Story of Mankind as Josephine Bonaparte
- Day of the Badman as Cora Johnson
- Island Women as Elizabeth
- Paradise Alley as Linda Belita
- This is Not a Test as Mrs. Karen Barnes
- The Day Mars Invaded Earth as Claire Fielding
- Critic's Choice as Sally Orr
- Mail Order Bride as Hanna
- Bedtime Story as Mrs. Sutton
- Chamber of Horrors as Madame Corona
- The Good Guys and the Bad Guys as Polly
- One More Train to Rob as Louella
- Support Your Local Gunfighter as Goldie
- Cahill U.S. Marshal as Mrs. Green
- The Outfit as Madge Coyle
- Hearts of the West as Woman in Nevada
- Freaky Friday as Mrs. Murphy
- Salem's Lot as Eva Miller
- Lovely But Deadly as Aunt May
- Commando Squad as Casey
Television
- The Public Defender as Melody Scanlon in "The Ring"
- Stories of the Century as Belle Starr in the series premiere episode
- Science Fiction Theater as Nell Brown in the episode "Time is Just a Place"
- Cheyenne as Leda Brandt in "Decision at Gunsight" and as Thora Flagg in "The Mutton Puncher"
- The Californians as Dolly Dawson in "The Regulators"
- Maverick in the episodes "The Quick and the Dead" with James Garner and "Epitaph for a Gambler" with Jack Kelly
- Bat Masterson as saloon owner Polly Landers in "The Fighter"
- Perry Mason in four episodes:
- * as Linda Griffith in "The Case of the Daring Decoy"
- * as Flavia Pierce in "The Case of the Madcap Modiste"
- * as Edith "Edie" Morrow in "The Case of the Tarnished Trademark"
- * as Mrs. Helen Reed in "The Case of the Wednesday Woman"
- Yancy Derringer in episode 03, "Ticket to Natchez"
- Rawhide in three episodes:
- * "Incident on the Edge of Madness"
- * "Incident of the Painted Lady"
- * "Incident of the Rusty Shotgun" as Amie Claybank
- The Alaskans as Maria Julien in the episode "Winter Song"
- Bourbon Street Beat as Veda Troup in "The 10% Blues" and Mara in "Teresa"
- The Rebel as Emma Longdon in "Glory"
- Lassie as Mimi in "Little Cabbage"
- Hawaiian Eye in four episodes:
- * "The Comics"
- * "The Final Score"
- * "Location Shooting"
- * "Day in the Sun"
- Bonanza as Elizabeth Lassiter in the episode "Five Sundowns to Sunup"
- Batman in the episodes "Green Ice" and "Deep Freeze"
- Wild Women
- Gunsmoke in the episode "Trafton"
- Alias Smith and Jones as Helen Archer in the episode "High Lonesome Country"
- Adam-12, as Jenny in "The Chaser"
- Manhunter
- Salem's Lot
- Charlie's Angels in the episode "Angels at the Altar"
- Lou Grant
- The Incredible Hulk as Belle Star in the episode "Sideshow"
- The Perfect Woman
- Simon & Simon in three episodes:
- * "Murder Between the Lines"
- * "The Dark Side of the Street"
- * "For Old Crime's Sake"
- J.O.E. and the Colonel
- Tales from the Darkside as Madam Angler in the episode "A New Lease on Life"
- Commando Squad
- Supercarrier
- The New Adam-12
- Murder, She Wrote