Noreen Nash
Noreen Nash | |
|---|---|
 Nash in 1947 | |
| Born | Norabelle Jean Roth April 4, 1924 Wenatchee, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 2023 (aged 99) |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, model, writer |
| Years active | 1943–1962 (actress), 1980–2015 (writer) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, including Lee Siegel Jr. |
Noreen Nash (born Norabelle Jean Roth; April 4, 1924 – June 6, 2023) was an American film and television actress, who after working as a model, had a two-decade long career during the Classical Hollywood Cinema era. In the beginning of her career, she had uncredited parts at MGM. In 1945, she appeared in The Southerner, after which she had mostly leading roles in B movies of the late 1940s and 1950s, such as The Red Stallion (1947), The Checkered Coat (1948), and Phantom from Space (1953). After leaving the acting profession in 1962, she attended college and became a writer, publishing several books.
Early life
[edit]Nash was born Norabelle Jean Roth on April 4, 1924, in Wenatchee, Washington. Her parents were Albert, who was in the beverage industry, and Gail Roth, a teacher.[1] Gail died in 1998, at the age of 99.[2]
Early Hollywood career
[edit]Nash's career started in 1942 when she was crowned ”Apple Blossom Queen” in her home town.[3] With help from Louis Shurr, Bob Hope’s agent, she entered showbusiness and eventually got a contract with MGM as a showgirl.[4] She had initially declined, since she had planned to attend Stanford University. She had previously tested for Warner Brothers, but wasn't signed.[5] In 1942, she worked as a model alongside Marilyn Monroe.[6] Her screen debut came in the 1943 musical film Girl Crazy, which starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Her MGM contract lapsed in 1944, having had mostly bit parts and appearing as a showgirl.[1]
A 1945 newspaper article reported Nash being helped by actress Paulette Goddard. Goddard, the article said, was "sponsoring the career of shapely, brunette, blue-eyed and very beautiful Noreen Nash." The article added that her screen tests at Paramount Pictures were "arranged through the instigation of Paulette. As a result, Noreen was signed to a term contract.[7]
Uncredited in her first movies, Nash eventually landed a role in director Jean Renoir's 1945 film The Southerner as farmer Henry's daughter Becky Devers. The film was nominated in three categories at the 18th Academy Awards in 1946.[8] During this time, she changed her screen surname to Nash, inspired by her father in the film, J. Carroll Naish. She and Renoir remained friends for the rest of his life.[9]
Leading roles in B-movies
[edit]In 1947, Nash started having significant roles in poverty row films. She played Judge Roger Tanner's daughter Sue in the Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) low-budget street racing cautionary tale The Devil on Wheels, which starred Darryl Hickman. She and Terry Moore are believed to be the first actresses to wear bikini tops on screen.[citation needed] Later that year, she had one of the leading roles in The Big Fix (1947) as Ann Taylor, about gamblers trying to rig a basketball game. It featured Sheila Ryan and James Brown, and was director James Flood's penultimate film before his death in 1953. She was the leading lady in the Eagle-Lion Films Western Cinecolor film The Red Stallion (1947). She played horse trainer Ellen Reynolds, with Ted Donaldson and Robert Paige as the other top-billed actors.
Nash played the role of Linda in the 20th Century Fox Joe E. Brown drama The Tender Years (1948). It was set in the 19th century. She played Zanetta in the American-Mexican Eagle-Lion historical adventure film Adventures of Casanova (1948). It also featured Arturo de Córdova, Lucille Bremer, and Turhan Bey. She was cast as the leading lady in the Eagle-Lion film noir Assigned to Danger (1948), where she played criminal Nip's sister Bonnie Powers, opposite Gene Raymond.
Although the film was described by writer Robert Nott as one of Budd Boetticher's worst, Nash considered him to be "the best director [she] ever worked with", praising the way he worked with the actors on set.[10] She was the leading lady in the 20th Century Fox drama The Checkered Coat (1948), playing psychiatrist Dr. Michael Madden's (played by Tom Conway) wife Betty.
Nash played ranch owner Chris Marvin in the RKO Pictures Western Storm Over Wyoming (1950). The film also starred Tim Holt and Richard Martin. She worked with both of them a couple of years later in the same genre in Road Agent (1952). She played Cora Drew, daughter of rancher George Drew. She played scientist Barbara Randall in the 1953 independent science fiction Phantom from Space. One of her most noted films was one about a ranch owner, Giant (1956), in which she played the film star Lona Lane.[9]
Television career
[edit]Some of the television series in which Nash appeared include Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger,The Abbott and Costello Show and 77 Sunset Strip.
Post-acting career
[edit]Nash retired from acting in 1962, having been encouraged to do so by her youngest son.[6] She attended UCLA, majoring in history, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1971.[1]
Publishing
[edit]She published the novel By Love Fulfilled in 1980, which was about a doctor in the 16th century.[5] It was partly based on the Flemish anatomist and physician Vesalius. In 2013, she published another book, titled Agnes Sorèl, Mistress of Beauty. In 2015, she and Jeanne Rejaunier published Titans of The Muses: When Henry Miller Met Jean Renoir; she had worked with Renoir on The Southerner, and she was also friends with the American novelist Henry Miller.[6]
Personal life
[edit]Nash married Dr. Lee Siegel on December 12, 1942, in Las Vegas, after only having known each other for little over a month.[5][11] They had two sons, Lee Siegel Jr.,[12] a novelist and religion professor, and Robert James Siegel, a cardiologist.[11][13] Dr. Siegel worked as a medical director at the film studio 20th Century Fox. He died on May 7, 1990.[14] In 2001, she married actor James Whitmore, who died in 2009.[4] Nash was Jewish and was a frequent visitor at the Jewish Home for the Aged in Boyle Heights, California.[15]
Nash's brother Albert was married to actress Susan Hart's sister. According to Hart, it was Nash's beauty that inspired her to become an actress as well.[16] She supported the campaign of Democrat Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.[17]
Death
[edit]Nash died at her home in Beverly Hills, California, on June 6, 2023, at the age of 99.[18]
Filmography
[edit]Television credits
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Fireside Theatre | "Going Home" | |
| 1952 | Hopalong Cassidy | Noreen Thomas | "Don Colorado" |
| 1952–1955 | Four Star Playhouse | Kathy/Leonora/Salesgirl | 3 episodes |
| 1953 | Your Favorite Story | "The Gold Bug" | |
| The Lone Ranger | Marianne Mornay | "A Stage for Mademoiselle" | |
| My Hero | Peggy Buchanan | "Cinderella's Revenge" | |
| Big Town | "The Big Cheat" | ||
| Ramar of the Jungle | Nancy Barton | "The Unknown Terror" | |
| City Detective | Louise | "The Rebel" | |
| 1954 | The Abbott and Costello Show | June Thomas | "Fall Guy" |
| 1955 | My Little Margie | Countess Louise DuBois | "Countess Margie" |
| 1955–1957 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Mary Gerski | "Pattern for Death" "Ambitious Cop" |
| 1956 | Dragnet | "The Big Slug" | |
| It's a Great Life | Thelma Adams | "The Yachting Party" | |
| The Charles Farrell Show | Doris Mayfield | 6 episodes | |
| 1956–1958 | The Lineup | "The Vanishing Writer Case" "The Madcap McGee Case" | |
| 1957 | State Trooper | Cynthia Hayes | "The Dancing Dowager" |
| 1958–1959 | Yancy Derringer | Agatha Colton | "Fire on the Frontier" "The Belle from Boston" |
| 1959 | 77 Sunset Strip | Lisa Reynolds | "In Memoriam" |
| 1960 | General Electric Theater | Carol | "R.S.V.P" |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Show | Woman #1 | "Crazy Sunday" |
Works
[edit]- By Love Fulfilled (1980)
- Agnès Sorel, Mistress of Beauty (2013)
- The Paris Diet (2015)
- Titans of the Muses: When Henry Miller Met Jean Renoir (2015)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Once A Queen: "Noreen Nash" Remembers Queen Norabelle". Wenatchee World. May 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ "Roth, Gayle U". The Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Times. February 4, 1998. p. 245. Retrieved February 7, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Movies Beckon Apple Queen". The Capital Journal. Daily Capital Journal. March 17, 1943. p. 12. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Noreen Nash". Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Parla, Paul; Mitchell, Charles P. (October 11, 2009). Screen Sirens Sceam!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s. McFarland. pp. 175–187. ISBN 978-0786445875. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
- ^ a b c "A Look Back: Noreen Nash". Sydney's Buzz. June 6, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ^ "Goddard Protege Gets A Break". The Brownsville Herald. The Brownsville Herald. July 1, 1945. p. 6. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The 18th Academy Awards|1946", "Winners & Nominees" presented at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, California, March 7, 1946. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Beverly Hills, California. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
- ^ a b "Noreen Nash Interview". Western Clippings. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
- ^ Nott, Robert (September 18, 2018). The Films of Budd Boetticher. McFarland. pp. 37–40. ISBN 978-1476667072. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
- ^ a b Manners, Dorothy (December 15, 1970). "George C. Scott Gives Hint On Academy Award Feeling". Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 9. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "(Photo caption)". Southern Illinoisan. Southern Illinoisan. September 19, 1949. p. 4. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Stork Has Banner Year in Filmland - Stingy with Twins". The Daily Times. cdt. December 24, 1945. p. 2. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Lee E. Siegel; Beverly Hills Internist". The Los Angeles Times. May 10, 1990. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ "Jewish Histories in Multiethnic Boyle Heights: Booth and Nash at the Jewish Home for the Aged (Ca. 1942)".
- ^ Weaver, Tom (February 19, 2003). Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews. McFarland. p. 128. ISBN 978-0786413669. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
- ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
- ^ Barnes, Mike (8 June 2023). "Noreen Nash, Actress in 'Giant' and 'The Southerner,' Dies at 99". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
- ^ AFI Catalog-Noreen Nash
External links
[edit]
- Noreen Nash at IMDb
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1924 births
- 2023 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American women
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- American writers
- People from Wenatchee, Washington
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
- California Democrats
- Washington (state) Democrats
- Paramount Pictures contract players
- Jewish American actresses