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Carole Landis
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Carole Landis (January 1, 1919 – July 5, 1948) was an American film actress. Carole Landis at Armed Forces Radio Studio c.1940sBorn Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin to a Norwegian father and Polish mother, her early life was a struggle as her father abandoned the family and left them to fend for themselves. By the age of 15, Landis had married and left high school, but this marriage was annulled and she set herself on a path towards a career in show business. She worked as a nightclub singer and hula dancer before her 1937 film debut as an extra in A Star Is Born. She continued appearing in uncredited bit parts until being signed to a contract in 1940. Her first starring role as a cave girl in One Million B.C. attracted a lot of attention and made her a celebrity if not a star.
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Carole Landis was born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin to a Norwegian father, Alfred Ridste, and Polish mother, Clara Stentek Ridste. Her father abandoned the family before Carole was born. It would later be revealed by author E. J. Fleming that Alfred Ridste may not have been Carole's biological father. Her real father was most likely Charles Fenner, Clara Ridste's second husband. Carole was the youngest of five children, though two of her brothers died in childhood (Jerome was burned by scalding water and Lewis was accidentally shot). She had an unhappy childhood filled with poverty and sexual abuse.
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A perpetually bickering married couple, Tim (John Hubbard) and Sally Willows (Carole Landis), are both convinced the other partner has the easier life and make a wish one night to change places. The driven, athletic Tim would like to slow down and catch his breath and housebound, lady-of-leisure Sally could use an escape from her domestic routine. An ancient Indian bronze bust in their bedroom hears them discuss the longed-for switch and grants the couple’s wish in the screwball comedy Turnabout (1940).
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From All Movie Guide: Of Polish and Norwegian descent, Carole Landis moved with her mother and siblings from Wisconsin to California, where at age seven she made her inauspicious stage debut in an amateur talent show. Within five years, Carole began winning beauty contests. In high school, she was only interested in athletics, organizing a girl's football team which was dissolved by the principal on the grounds that it was "unladylike." Married at 15 and separated a few weeks later, Carole dropped out of school to pursue an acting career. She was principal singer and star hula dancer at the Royal Hawaiian club in San Francisco. Entering films in 1937 as a bit actress, Carole played a thankless leading role in the 1939 serial Daredevils of the Red Circle.
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The beauty and charm of Carole Landis leap off the screen in her role as Helene. However, her bright comic performance is a contrast to the dark turn her life took just three years after the film¿s release. After a promising start with steady work in B movies, Landis found her career waning in the mid-1940s. The 29-year-old actress had two failed marriages behind her, and her third marriage was on the brink of divorce. Her married lover, actor Rex Harrison, was ... reportedly on the verge of ending their adulterous relationship. To make things worse, Landis had suffered serious health problems for years brought on by malaria and pneumonia she had picked up while working overseas.
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Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin under the name of Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her childhood was, for the most part, normal. Her father was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father, a railroad mechanic, left the family and Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister were left to fend for themselves.
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Carole Landis