Nancy Gates(1926-2019)

Nancy Gates was born February 1, 1926 in Dallas, Texas. She entered show business, at an early age, when she was signed to a contract with RKO Studios when she was 15. Her first production with that studio was in 1942's Hitler's Children (1943). Nancy was also in two more films that year, those being The Great Gildersleeve (1942) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). The young actress was equally busy the following year with appearances in Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943), Behind the Rising Sun (1943) and This Land Is Mine (1943). However, after 1949, Nancy didn't appear in another film until she was 26 years old. In 1952, Nancy appeared in five films, beginning with Target Hong Kong (1953). Up to this point, the beautiful actress appeared mostly in character roles. Two of her finest performances did come in the Fifties. In 1954, Nancy played "Ellen Benson", a woman whose home was commandeered by a would-be assassin (Frank Sinatra) of the President of the U.S., in Suddenly (1954). The other was as "Edith Barclay", the secretary to a small-town jeweler, in 1958's Some Came Running (1958). After the production of Comanche Station (1960), Nancy left film acting to be with her family but continued off and on with guest spots on television shows up to her swan song in an episode of The Mod Squad in 1969.. She had 34 films on her dossier, along with a host of television appearances.