Wanda Hendrix

Wanda Hendrix
in Wagon Train, 1958
Born
Dixie Wanda Hendrix

(1928-11-03)November 3, 1928
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
DiedFebruary 1, 1981(1981-02-01) (aged 52)
Burbank, California, U.S.
Burial placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1945–1972
Spouse(s)Audie Murphy (1949–1951)
Jim Stack (1954–1958)
Steve LaMonte (1969–1980)

Dixie Wanda Hendrix[1] (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress.[2][3]

Early life

Hendrix's father was a logging foreman,[4] and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida.[5] She was performing in a school play in Jacksonville when she was seen by a talent agent who took her to Warner Bros. Her parents moved with her to California, buying a ranch there. She graduated from University High School.[1]

Career and marriages

Hendrix made her first film, Confidential Agent,[1] in 1945 at the age of 16, and for the first few years of her career was consistently cast in B movies. By the late 1940s, she was being included in more prestigious films, such as Ride the Pink Horse (1947) and Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948). She starred with Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes (1949).

From 1946 she dated Audie Murphy[6] and her agent got him an early small film role.[7] They married in 1949[8] but divorced in 1951.[9]

On June 26, 1954, Hendrix married wealthy sportsman James Langford Stack Jr., the brother of actor Robert Stack, and essentially retired from films, though she worked in live television dramatic anthology shows such as Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Plymouth Playhouse, The Ford Television Theatre, The Revlon Mirror Theater, and Schlitz Playhouse, and occasionally appeared in later series such as Bat Masterson, My Three Sons, Wagon Train and Bewitched. She and Stack divorced on November 3, 1958.[10]

She married Italian financier and oil company executive Steven LaMonte on June 7, 1969; they divorced on November 17, 1980.[10]

Death

Hendrix died on February 1, 1981, in Burbank, California from double pneumonia, aged 52, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery.[5]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c Parsons, Louella (October 26, 1947). "Little Wanda Hendrix Gets Big Break". The Knoxville Journal. International News Service. p. 5-D. Retrieved October 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Obituary Variety, February 11, 1981.
  3. ^ "Wanda Hendrix, Actress Of 40's and 50's, Dead". The New York Times. February 12, 1981.
  4. ^ Heyn, Howard C. (August 23, 1948). "Little Wanda Finds Love s Thrilling as Movie Fame". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Associated Press. p. 14. Retrieved October 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Ellenberger, Allan R. (1 May 2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0-7864-5019-0. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  6. ^ Graham, Don (1989). No Name on the Bullet. Viking. pp. 142, 174. ISBN 978-0-670-81511-1.
  7. ^ Graham 1989, pp. 145–46.
  8. ^ Graham 1989, p. 174.
  9. ^ "Divorces". The Billboard. Nielsen Business Media: 48. 28 April 1951.
  10. ^ a b "Wanda Hendrix". Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen.