Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor (December 11, 1919 – December 10, 2000)^[1] Born as Emily Marie Bertelsen in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many B-movies^[2] and film noirs.^[3]

Early years

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lane Bertelsen,^[4] 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.^[5] She attended Brigham Young University, where she participated in dramatic productions.^[6][7] She was described in a 1939 newspaper article as "an accomplished athlete ... expert as a dancer, swimmer, horsewoman, and plays golf, tennis and skis."^[8]

In 1939, Windsor was chosen from a group of 81 contestants^[9] to be queen of Covered Wagon Days in Salt Lake City, Utah.^[8] She was unofficially appointed "Miss Utah of 1939" by her hometown Chamber of Commerce,^[10] and trained for the stage under famed Hollywood actress and coach Maria Ouspenskaya.^{[11][lower-alpha 1]}

Windsor worked in radio in Salt Lake City before she moved to California.^[13] After moving to California, she worked as a model for glamor photographer Paul Hesse.^[14]

Stage

In 1940, after moving 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.^[11] The next year she appeared in Once in a Lifetime at the Pasadena Playhouse.^[15] She also was seen as a villainess in a New York production of Follow the Girls.^[16] She returned to the stage in the 1980s.^[17]

Film

After working for several years as a telephone operator, a stage and radio actress, and a bit and extra player in films, Windsor began playing feature parts on the big screen in 1947.^[18]

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."^[13] When Benny finally met Windsor, "he was stunned by her good looks" and had a producer sign her to a contract.^[13] 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 with The Enterprise Studios in 1948.^[14]

The 5'9" actress's first memorable role was in 1948 opposite 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 Stanley Kubrick's heist movie, The Killing, in which she played Elisha Cook Jr.'s scheming wife. She also made a foray into science fiction with the 1953 release of Cat-Women of the Moon.^[19] Windsor co-starred with Randolph Scott in The Bounty Hunter (1954).

Television

Later, Windsor moved to television. 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.^[20] She appeared on such programs as Maverick, Bat Masterson, Perry Mason, Bourbon Street Beat, The Incredible Hulk, Rawhide, General Hospital, Salem's Lot (TV miniseries), and Murder, She Wrote.

Windsor worked consistently through the '60s and '70s, and remained on screen once or so annually clear up to the 1990s, playing her final role at 72 in 1991.

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.^[21] 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.^[17] She also received the Ralph Morgan Award from the Screen Actors Guild for her service on the organization's board of directors.^[17]

Personal life

Marie Windsor 1942

Windsor was married briefly to bandleader Ted Steele.^[16] They were wed April 21, 1946, in Marysville, Utah.^[22] After they divorced^[17] (An item in a 1953 newspaper column says that the marriage ended in annulment -- not divorce.),^[23] she married Realtor^[2]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.^[2]

Hupp, with whom Windsor had a son, was posthumously inducted into the University of Southern California (USC) Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.^[24]

In July 1950, newspaper columnist Louella Parsons reported, "Marie Windsor has set her marriage to Alex Lunciman, Beverly Hills stock broker, for October."^[25]

Windsor was politically conservative, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and supportive of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.^[26]

After her acting career was over, Windsor became a painter and sculptor.

Death

Windsor died of congestive heart failure on December 10, 2000 -- one day before her 81st birthday.^[17] She is interred with Hupp in her native Marysvale, Utah.^[27]

Survivors included her husband, a son, a brother, and a sister.^[17]

Filmography

Source:^[28]

Television

• The Public Defender, as Melody Scanlon in "The Ring" (1954)
• Stories of the Century, as Belle Starr in the series premiere episode (1954)
• Cheyenne, as Leda Brandt in "Decision at Gunsight" and as Thora Flagg in "The Mutton Puncher" (both 1957)
• The Californians as Dolly Dawson in "The Regulators" (1957)
• Maverick, in the episodes "The Quick and the Dead" (1957) and "Epitaph for a Gambler" (1962)
• Bat Masterson, as saloon owner Polly Landers in "The Fighter" (1958)
• Perry Mason, in 4 episodes:
  • as Linda Griffith in "The Case of the Daring Decoy" (1958)
  • as Flavia Pierce in "The Case of the Madcap Modiste" (1960)
  • as Edith "Edie" Morrow in "The Case of the Tarnished Trademark" (1962)
  • as Mrs. Helen Reed in "The Case of the Wednesday Woman" (1964)
• Yancy Derringer, in episode 03, "Ticket to Natchez" (1958)
• Rawhide, in 3 episodes:
  • "Incident on the Edge of Madness" (1959)
  • "Incident of the Painted Lady" (1961)
  • "Incident of the Rusty Shotgun" (1964)
• The Alaskans, as Maria Julien in the episode "Winter Song" (1959)
• Bourbon Street Beat, as Veda Troup in "The 10% Blues" and Mara in "Teresa" (both 1960)
• The Rebel, as Emma Longdon in "Glory" (1960)
• Lassie, as Mimi in "Little Cabbage" S 7: Ep 12 11/27/1960
• Hawaiian Eye, in 4 episodes:
  • "The Comics" (1961)
  • "The Final Score" (1961)
  • "Location Shooting" (1962)
  • "Day in the Sun" (1962)
• Bonanza, in the episode "Five Sundowns to Sunup" (1965)
• Batman, in the episodes "Green Ice" and "Deep Freeze" (1966)
• Wild Women (1970) (TV)
• Gunsmoke, in the episode "Trafton" (1971)
• Alias Smith and Jones, as Helen Archer in the episode "High Lonesome Country" (1971) (TV)
• Adam-12, Season 5, Episode 10 "The Chaser", as Jenny (waitress) (1972) (TV)
• Manhunter (1974) (TV)
• Salem's Lot (1979) (TV)
• Charlie's Angels, in the episode "Angels at the Altar" (1979)
• Lou Grant (2 episodes, 1979 and 1980) (TV)
• The Incredible Hulk, as Belle Star in the episode "Sideshow" (1980)(TV)
• The Perfect Woman (1981) (TV)
• Simon & Simon, in 3 episodes:
  • "Murder Between the Lines" (1983)
  • "The Dark Side of the Street" (1984)
  • "For Old Crime's Sake" (1987)
• J.O.E. and the Colonel (1985) (TV)
• Tales from the Darkside, as Madam Angler in the episode "A New Lease on Life" (1986) (TV)
• Commando Squad (1987) (TV)
• Supercarrier (1988) (TV)
• The New Adam-12 (1990) (TV)
• Murder, She Wrote (2 episodes, 1987 and 1991) (TV)

References

Explanatory notes

Citations

Further reading

• Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 1-59393-320-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marie Windsor.

• Marie Windsor at the Internet Movie Database
• Marie Windsor at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Marie Windsor at AllMovie
• Marie Windsor interview with The Perfect Vision magazine at Modern Times Classic Film Pages
• Marie Windsor at Find a Grave
• Literature on Marie Windsor
• Marie Windsor Papers. MSS 2301; 20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.