Queens of the Bs
by karljhickey14 | created - 21 May 2017 | updated - 23 May 2017 | Public
1. Mary Beth Hughes
Actress | The Great Flamarion
Mary Beth Hughes' parents separated while she was still a baby. She was brought up by a grandmother whose dearest wish was to make her an actress. As a result, she started her career at an early age while still a high school student. She starred in the stage version of "Alice in Wonderland" then ...
Probably my favourite - appeared in 2 Cisco Kids , a Charlie Chan , 3 Michael Shaynes , a Joe Palooka , westerns , noirs , and with the Three Stooges .
2. Ann Savage
Actress | Detour
For one tough cookie who achieved major cult stardom with her hard-bitten blonde looks and "Perfect Vixen" tag, Ann Savage in real life was a lovely, spirited, gentle-looking lady. She may have peaked only briefly in 1940s Hollywood low-budgeters, but she made the most of it during that fairly ...
star of Detour and other noirs , a Boston Blackie , a Lone Wolf , a Blondie , a Jungle Jim , comedies , and a western - Renegade Girl .
3. Jean Parker
Actress | Little Women
Jean Parker was born Lois Mae Green in 1915. Her father was Lewis Green, a gunsmith and hunter, and her mother was Pearl Melvina Burch (later known professionally as Mildred Brenner), one of 18 children of a pioneer family that came to Montana from Missouri and Iowa. Jean's maternal grandfather was...
started in relatively major films in the thirties , starred in lots of Pine Thomas b movies , the Kitty O'Day series , Bluebeard , Dead Man's Eyes in the Inner Sanctum series , The Gunfighter , No Hands On The Clock
4. Ida Lupino
Actress | High Sierra
Ida was born in London to a show business family. In 1932, her mother took Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was Her First Affaire (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, went to Hollywood in 1934 playing small, insignificant parts. Peter Ibbetson (1935) was ...
Started off in Bs , she was in the first Sherlock Holmes , the first Lone Wolf , and the great The Lady And The Mob .
5. Joan Woodbury
Actress | Forty Naughty Girls
Tall, provocative actress Joan Woodbury (aka Nana Martinez) was born Joanne Elmer Woodbury in Los Angeles, California, on December 17, 1915. Of Danish, English and Indian heritage, she was educated for seven years in a convent school. Trained in dance, she was already performing in her mid-teens by...
Queen of Poverty Row , lots of Monogram films , in 2 Charlie Chans , a Cisco Kid , King Of The Zombies , 2 Boston Blackies , Dr Broadway , the first Whistler , Brenda Starr , and as Bubbles LaRue in Here Comes Trouble...
6. Sheila Ryan
Actress | Deadline for Murder
Sheila Ryan was born on June 8, 1921 in Topeka, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Deadline for Murder (1946), The Lone Wolf in Mexico (1947) and Song of Texas (1943). She was married to Pat Buttram, Edward Norris and Allan Lane. She died on November 4, 1975 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, ...
a Cisco Kid , a Charlie Chan , a Michael Shayne , a Philo Vance , a Joe Palooka , 2 Laurel and Hardy's , a Lone Wolf , westerns , Getting Gertie's Garter , and noirs - including Railroaded .
7. Margaret Lindsay
Actress | Scarlet Street
Picture-pretty brunette Margaret Lindsay was one of a number of pleasant, sweet-natured ingénues who could do no wrong in a score of 1930s stylish Hollywood pictures. Such altruistic love interests were often overlooked in pictures that were carried by the flashy histrionics of a jaunty James Cagney...
a Perry Mason , the first Crime Doctor and as Nikki Porter in 7 Ellery Queen films .
8. Wendy Barrie
Actress | The Gay Falcon
Wendy Barrie was born in Hong Kong to an English-Irish father and a Russian Jewish mother. Her dad was the distinguished King's Counsel F.C. Jenkins which ensured that the family was well off. Wendy received her education at a convent school in England and a finishing school in Switzerland. After ...
in 3 Saint films , then 2 Falcons , The Hound Of The Baskervilles , the classic Five Came Back , Eyes Of The Underworld .
9. Faye Emerson
Actress | Between Two Worlds
Synonymous with chic, the ever-fashionable Faye Emerson certainly qualified as one of the "first ladies" of TV glamour. Bedecked in sweeping, rather low-cut gowns and expensive, dangling jewelry, she was a highly poised and stylish presence on the small screen during its exciting "Golden Age". An ...
Warner Bros B movies , including the classic Lady Gangster , Crime By Night , and noirs like Danger Signal
10. Ann Rutherford
Actress | Gone with the Wind
Ann Rutherford was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The daughter of a former Metropolitan Opera singer, John Rutherford, and her actress mother, Lillian Mansfield, was destined for show business.
Not long after her birth, her family moved to California, where she made her stage debut in ...
in the Andy Hardy series , the 3 Whistling... films with Red Skelton , Bermuda Mystery , Two O'Clock Courage , The Madonna's Secret
11. Marie Windsor
Actress | The Killing
Marie Windsor (born Emily Marie Bertelsen) was born in Marysvale, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University. She trained for the stage under Maria Ouspenskaya before she began playing leading roles in B pictures in the late 1940s. So many B films in fact, that she garnered the title of 'Queen of ...
one of the great femme fatales - Narrow Margin , The Killing , The Sniper , also westerns - Hellfire , Outlaw Women , a Thin Man , Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy , Cat Women Of The Moon , Swamp Women etc
12. Allison Hayes
Actress | Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Anyone who loves B-movies of the 1950s appreciates this lovely actress Allison Hayes. She was born Mary Jane Hayes on March 6, 1930 in Charleston, West Virginia. The auburn-haired beauty was the 1949 Washington, D.C. entry into the Miss America pageant. Shortly afterwards, Mary Jane adopted the ...
noirs like Double Jeopardy , Chicago Syndicate , Hong Kong Confidential , westerns like Gunslinger , A Lust To Kill - but it's the proper 50s Bs - The Unearthly , The Undead , Zombies Of Mora Tau , The Hypnotic Eye - and of course , Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman...
13. Jean Rogers
Actress | Flash Gordon
Massachusetts-born Jean Rogers had hoped to study art in New York and Europe upon graduation from high school, but her plans changed when she won a national beauty contest in 1933 and was offered a contract by a Hollywood producer. She was soon signed by Warner Bros., and a year later jumped ship ...
14. Jean Willes
Actress | Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Jean Willes is best known for her roles in a number of B-movies in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as on the small screen. Lovely and curvaceous, she usually played hard-boiled gold-diggers, party girls, gun molls, and saloon girls. She came off as a wily, smarter version of Barbara Nichols or Iris ...
15. Rita Hayworth
Actress | Gilda
Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino on October 17, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino Reina, was a dancer as was his father before him. He emigrated from Spain in 1913. Rita's American mother, Volga Margaret (Hayworth), who was of mostly ...
Before bigger things appeared in lots of B movies , especially Columbia ones , including a Charlie Chan , a Nero Wolfe , a Lone Wolfe , a Blondie , a Tex Ritter and other westerns , plus early noir Convicted 1938 , and The Renegade Ranger 1938 as a female outlaw ...
16. Rhonda Fleming
Actress | Out of the Past
A native-born Californian, Rhonda Fleming attended Beverly Hills public and private schools. Her father was Harold Cheverton Louis (1896-1951). Her mother, Effie Olivia Graham (1891-1985), was a famous model and actress in New York. She has a son (Kent Lane), two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly)...
bit parts in the 40s , then B movies galore in the 50s - westerns - Bullwhip , south seas adventures - Adventure Island , Crosswinds , pirate movies - The Golden Hawk , up the amazon in Jivaro , Queen Of Babylon , Cleopatra in Serpent Of The Nile , plus noirs - The Killer Is Loose , While The City Sleeps , Cry Danger , and sisters with Arlene Dahl in Slightly Scarlet...
17. Arlene Dahl
Actress | Journey to the Center of the Earth
Elegance and femininity are fitting descriptions for Arlene Dahl. She is considered to be one of the most beautiful actresses to have graced the screen during the postwar period. Audiences were captivated by her breathtaking beauty and the way she used to it to her advantage, progressing from ...
second choice redhead after Rhonda , film noirs - Scene Of The Crime , No Questions Asked , Slightly Scarlet , westerns - Ambush , The Outriders , adventure films like Sangaree , Diamond Queen , Caribbean , Desert Legion
18. Peggie Castle
Actress | I, the Jury
Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle was actually spotted by a talent scout while she was lunching in a Beverly Hills restaurant. In her films she was usually somebody's "woman" rather than a girlfriend, and her career was confined to mostly "B"-grade action pictures, dramas or westerns: ...
19. Lynn Bari
Actress | The Bridge of San Luis Rey
A curvaceous, dark-haired WWII pin-up beauty (aka "The Woo Woo Girl" and "The Girl with the Million Dollar Figure"), "B" film star Lynn Bari had the requisite looks and talent but few of the lucky breaks needed to penetrate the "A" rankings during her extensive Hollywood career. Nevertheless, some ...
bit parts in 2 Charlie Chans , a Mr Moto , a Cisco Kid , a Charlie Chan properly , a Michael Shayne , a Falcon , film noirs - Shock , Nocturne , The Amazing Mr X , a Francis , an Abbott and Costello...
20. Veda Ann Borg
Actress | Mildred Pierce
Born in Boston, Veda Ann Borg was a New York model in 1936 when a screen test brought her a short-lived contract at Paramount, where she made her debut film, Three Cheers for Love (1936). She fit better at Warner Brothers, where she played at least 15 roles (some of them bits) in 1937-38; but in ...
The Shadow , a Perry Mason , a Dr Christian , a voice in a Sherlock Holmes , a Falcon , a Blondie , Revenge Of The Zombies , The Unknown Guest , Detective Kitty O'Day , Scared Stiff , Blonde Savage , Big Town , film noirs like Accomplice , Wife Wanted
21. Hillary Brooke
Actress | The Man Who Knew Too Much
Hillary Brooke's image as the epitome of glacial, regal, upper-class British gentility is muted somewhat by the fact that she was born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson to a middle-class American family in Long Island, New York. She was the sister of actor Arthur Peterson, best-known as the demented...
2 Lone Riders , 3 Sherlock Holmes , Calling Dr Gillespie , a Crime Doctor , a Lone Wolf , an Abbott and Costello , the 4 Big Town films and the later TV series , noirs like Alimony , Strange Impersonation , Strange Woman , Insurance Investigator , plus The Maze , Lost Continent and Invaders From Mars...
22. Virginia Grey
Actress | Airport
Born into a show-business family--her father was a director and her mother was a film cutter--Virginia Grey made her film debut at age 10 as Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927). After a few more films as a child actress, she left the business to finish her schooling. Returning to films as an adult in ...
an Andy Hardy , a Thin Man , a Tarzan , the first Jungle Jim , Whistling In The Dark , westerns - Slaughter Trail , No Name On The Bullet , film noir - Grand Central Murder , Strangers In The Night , Highway 301 , The Threat , Naked Kiss , plus Swamp Fire , Captain Scarface
23. Coleen Gray
Actress | The Killing
Coleen Gray was born in Staplehurst, Nebraska, in 1922. After graduating from high school she studied dramatics at Hamline University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then decided to see America and traveled to California, stopping off at La Jolla where she worked as a waitress. ...
film noir - The Killing , Nightmare Alley , Sleeping City , Kansas City Confidential etc , westerns - Fury At Furnace Creek , The Vanquished , Tennessee's Partner , Town Tamer , horror - The Vampire , The Leech Woman , sci fi - The Phantom Planet...
24. Julie Adams
Actress | Creature from the Black Lagoon
Betty May Adams was the daughter of a travelling Iowa cotton buyer with a penchant for alcohol. Growing up in Arkansas, Betty expressed an early interest in acting and made her performing debut in a third grade play of "Hansel and Gretel." Beautiful, talented and determined, the freshly minted '...
westerns - Crooked River , Man From The Alamo , Stand At Apache River , Gunfight At Dodge City , noir - Hollywood Story , The Looters , Six Bridges To Cross , a Francis , Underwater City , and of course The Creature From The Black Lagoon...
25. Dorothy Malone
Actress | Written on the Wind
The blonde, sultry, dreamy-eyed beauty of Dorothy Malone, who was born Mary Maloney in Chicago on January 29, 1924, took some time before it made an impact with American film-going audiences. But once she did, she played it for all it was worth in her one chance Academy Award-winning "bad girl" ...
a Falcon , Youth Runs Wild , westerns - Colorado Territory , The Nevadan , Jack Slade , Lone Gun , Tension At Table Rock etc , noir - To The Victor , Killer That Stalked New York , Private Hell 36 , Pushover , The Fast And The Furious etc , plus Beach Party , The Last Voyage
26. Evelyn Ankers
Actress | The Wolf Man
Evelyn Ankers, a beautiful movie actress who was a staple of Universal's horror films in the 1940s, was born in Chile to English parents in 1918. Her parents repatriated the family back to England in the 1920s, and it was in Old Blighty that Ankers developed a desire to become an actress.
She began ...
Universal horrors - The Wolf Man , Ghost Of Frankenstein , Captive Wild Woman , Son Of Dracula , Invisible Man's Revenge , 2 Sherlock Holmes , 2 Inner Sanctums , a Lone Wolf , a Tarzan , westerns , noir - French Key , Parole Inc ...
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