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IMDbPro

Ellen Drew(1914-2003)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Ellen drew in a publicity still from "Johnny O'Clock"
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:16
Stars in My Crown (1950)
4 Videos
99+ Photos
Missouri-born Ellen Drew was born Esther Loretta Ray in 1914, the daughter of an Irish-born barber. After her parents separated when she was 15 years old, she worked various jobs (accountant, salesgirl) to support her mother and younger brother. At one time she worked at Marshall Field's Department Store. She then went to Kansas City as an elevator operator at the Aladdin Hotel, earning $14 a week. After rejoining her family in Englewood, Illinois, she found yet another job at the Grant store. The manager liked her fresh-faced good looks and high-wattage smile and entered her in a beauty pageant sponsored by the Kiwanis, which she ended up winning. Encouraged to try her luck in tinseltown, she got a job at Brown's Confectionary on Hollywood Boulevard for $11.50 a week before she was discovered in somewhat typical Lana Turner fashion. While working at an ice cream parlor, customer William Demarest took notice of her and was instrumental in having her put under a $50 a week contract at Paramount Studios in 1936, aged 21.

Initially billed as Terry Ray, she was groomed in starlet bits for two years until finally given a role she could sink her teeth into in the Bing Crosby musical Sing, You Sinners (1938). Her hair was changed from brunette to auburn (sometimes blonde) and her moniker changed from Terry Ray to Ellen Drew, after briefly being known as Erin Drew. Brighter roles came her way with If I Were King (1938) (which clinched her celebrity), Women Without Names (1940) and Buck Benny Rides Again (1940), but she never quite managed to distinguish herself among the bevy of Hollywood beauties on display and so remained on the outer fringes for most her career. Despite fine roles in fine movies, notably the Preston Sturges classic, Christmas in July (1940), and the Dick Powell starrer, Johnny O'Clock (1947), her film career went into decline. In the 1950s she transferred her talents to television before retiring the following decade. Married four times, including to writer/producer Sy Bartlett, she was survived by her son and five grandchildren when she passed away in 2003, aged 89, in Palm Desert, California.
BornNovember 23, 1914
DiedDecember 3, 2003(89)
BornNovember 23, 1914
DiedDecember 3, 2003(89)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Awards

Photos163

Ellen Drew and Thomas Gomez in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew and Thomas Gomez in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew and Thomas Gomez in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew and Dick Powell in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew and Thomas Gomez in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
Ellen Drew and Thomas Gomez in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
William Holden, Glenn Ford, Edgar Buchanan, Ellen Drew, and James Millican in The Man from Colorado (1948)
William Holden and Ellen Drew in The Man from Colorado (1948)
Ellen Drew in The Man from Colorado (1948)
Glenn Ford and Ellen Drew in The Man from Colorado (1948)

Known for

Ellen Drew, Dick Powell, and June Preston in Christmas in July (1940)
Christmas in July
7.4
  • Betty Casey
  • 1940
Boris Karloff, Marc Cramer, and Ellen Drew in Isle of the Dead (1945)
Isle of the Dead
6.5
  • Thea
  • 1945
Ellen Drew and Charles Gemora in The Monster and the Girl (1941)
The Monster and the Girl
6.0
  • Susan Webster
  • 1941
Vincent Price, Beulah Bondi, Ellen Drew, Tina Pine, and Vladimir Sokoloff in The Baron of Arizona (1950)
The Baron of Arizona
7.0
  • Sofia de Peralta-Reavis 'The Baroness'
  • 1950

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Barbara Stanwyck in The Barbara Stanwyck Show (1960)
    The Barbara Stanwyck Show
  • Perry Mason (1957)
    Perry Mason
  • Frank McHugh and Marvin Miller in The Millionaire (1955)
    The Millionaire
  • Dane Clark, Ben Cooper, and Lori Nelson in Outlaw's Son (1957)
    Outlaw's Son
  • Celebrity Playhouse (1955)
    Celebrity Playhouse
  • The Ford Television Theatre (1952)
    The Ford Television Theatre
    • ...
  • Science Fiction Theatre (1955)
    Science Fiction Theatre
  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950)
    Lux Video Theatre
  • America for Me
  • Randolph Scott, Ellen Drew, Joan Leslie, and Richard Rober in Man in the Saddle (1951)
    Man in the Saddle
  • The Bigelow Theatre (1950)
    The Bigelow Theatre
  • Macdonald Carey, Wendell Corey, and Ellen Drew in The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
    The Great Missouri Raid
  • Broderick Crawford, Ellen Drew, and John Ireland in Cargo to Capetown (1950)
    Cargo to Capetown
  • Dean Stockwell, Ellen Drew, and Joel McCrea in Stars in My Crown (1950)
    Stars in My Crown

Soundtrack

  • Ellen Drew, Charles Ruggles, Joseph Schildkraut, and Phillip Terry in The Parson of Panamint (1941)
    The Parson of Panamint
    • (uncredited)
  • Ellen Drew, Dick Powell, and June Preston in Christmas in July (1940)
    Christmas in July
  • Jack Benny, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Andy Devine, and Ellen Drew in Buck Benny Rides Again (1940)
    Buck Benny Rides Again
    • (uncredited)

Videos4

Trailer
Trailer 2:11
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:22
Official Trailer
Stars in My Crown
Trailer 2:16
Stars in My Crown
Johnny OClock
Trailer 1:38
Johnny OClock

Personal details

Edit
    • November 23, 1914
    • Kansas City, Missouri, USA
    • December 3, 2003
    • Palm Desert, California, USA(liver ailment)
    • December 29, 1970 - March 1974 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Radio: "Suspense", Episode 48 "Uncle Henry's Rosebush"
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Developed an alternative to the traditional hot fudge sundae called the "Cinderella". Made with peach, strawberries, pineapple, roasted almonds, lemon sherbet, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, it is still served today.
    • French Without Tears
      (1940)
      $1,000 per week

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