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Sara Shane Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Elaine Sterling) |
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| 18 May 28 | is born in Kirkwood, Missouri, of English-Irish-German descent |
| ? | starts modeling during her school years in St. Louis, cutting classes if necessary |
| ? | goes to New York and becomes a Powers model at age 17 |
| ? | four months later, she is put under contract by MGM and brought to Hollywood / her husband-to-be, Hollywood millionaire Bill Hollingsworth, introduces her to a friend, who introduces her to MGM |
| ? | on her first night in Hollywood, she has a blind date with wealthy real estate man William Hollingsworth |
| 48 | under the name of Elaine Sterling, she has her screen debut in Easter Parade |
| 49 | has her first talking part in Neptune's Daughter |
| ? | is dropped by MGM after six months |
| Late 49 | marries socialite William Irving Hollingsworth, Jr., ex-husband of Ruth Piper and Jane Hamilton. His late father, William I. Hollingsworth, came to Los Angeles in 1887 and later became president of the Los Angeles Realty Board and the California Real Estate Association. He's about 43; she's 21. |
| ? | her husband's wish that she just be Mrs. Hollingsworth stops her from continuing her career |
| ? | lives with Hollingsworth in their impressive Hidden Valley home, which has a tennis court, huge swimming pool, and a long view of the Santa Monica Mountains |
| ? | travels a lot with Hollingsworth during their first year of marriage, and then she becomes pregnant |
| ? | meets actress Hedy Lamarr through "Teddy" Stauffer. The two become friends. |
| 51 | her son, James, "Jamie," is born |
| 11 June 51 | she and Hollingsworth attend the marriage of actress Hedy Lamarr to Acapulco nightclub owner Ernest "Teddy" Stauffer in Santa Monica |
| ? | is up for a part in a Walter Wanger picture when the producer advises her to hire flamboyant press agent Russell Birdwell to build a name for herself |
| July 53 | Russell Birdwell puts her in a special campaign, doing a two-part ad in two movie trade papers. He has her sawed in half; putting the upper part in the Hollywood Reporter and the lower part in Variety. To get a complete picture of her, one has to buy both papers. Due to the box office hit Shane, Birdwell tags her with it and renames her Sara Shane. |
| August 53 | upon the requests of actor John Wayne and producer Robert Fellows, Bill Wellman tests her for The High and the Mighty. Columnist Hedda Hopper reports that when she sees her at a party, she always whispers, "You're beautiful - you ought to be in pictures!" |
| 30 August 53 | has offers from several studios but signs with Universal-International because it offers the best training for young hopefuls |
| September 53 | is crowned one of Hollywood's new deb stars by Hollywood hair stylists. The others are Kathleen Hughes, Marilyn (Kim) Novak, Pat Crowley, Anne Francis, Joan Weldon, Marjie Millar, Doe Avedon, Elaine Stewart, Barbara Darrow, and, from TV, Joan O'Brien and Dona Cole. |
| is quoted as saying: "Do you know that chances of making the grade in Hollywood today are only one in 300,000 - so they tell me." |
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| November 53 | is named "The most perfectly boned female in the Americas" by the National Illustrators league. The organization picked the winner from photographs submitted from United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and other Latin-American countries. She boasts a 37-inch bustline, 23-inch waist, and 34 inches around the hips. "Her bone perfection expresses great health and vitality," declares Fritz Willis, president of the organization. |
| ? | columnist Erskine Johnson heralds that Hedy Lamarr, currently in Italy making a film, has given Hollywood a blonde dazzler to take her place. Because of Hedy's constant "You-belong-in-pictures" line, Sara, her closest female friend in recent years, tested for The High and the Mighty. Sara confirms "She pushed me into a career again and put me out of my laziness." |
| 25 March 54 | at the Academy Awards, she and fellow newcomer Marjie Millar model the costumes nominated for Oscars |
| July 54 | the press pictures her, writing that she prefers a Hollywood film career to the life of a wealthy young matron and social butterfly |
| November 54 | after a year at Universal-International, her career fizzles, and she is dropped. "Now I realize my mistake." she says. "I did the whole thing backwards. I should have gotten a firm foundation as an actress, and then gone after the publicity buildup. The Birdwell stunt developed my name to the point where I should have been doing star roles. But I wasn't ready for them." Asked how she likes being Sara Shane she replies: "Not much; it sounds a little homely," she admits, but she's stuck with it now. Concerning reports that her husband isn't happy with her yen to be a star, she denies. "He's on my side. After seeing me work all week on lessons, he says, 'anyone who will work that hard deserves success'." |
| 55 | is "Azalea Queen" at the Azalea Festival of Wilmington, North Carolina |
| February 55 | she and Hollingsworth attend the opening of the Persian Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel |
| July 56 | during the filming of The King and Four Queens, she is hit so hard by Jo Van Fleet that she's knocked off her feet |
| February 57 | says that she and Hollingsworth have separated after a seven-and-a-half-year marriage. "There's not much I can say about it at this time," she says, "I just told Bill that I wanted a divorce." She and Hollingsworth have a 5-year-old son, Jamie. |
| End February 57 | for divorce from Hollingsworth charging him with cruelty and adultery and asks the court to set aside a pre-nuptial agreement. Hollingsworth's attorney, Jerry Giesler, says he will file a cross-complaint and fight her action to have the pre-nuptial agreement set aside. |
| March 57 | at a temporary support hearing in Santa Monica, California, it's ruled that she and Hollingsworth will share the same home. He is also ordered to pay her $1,000 a month pending the divorce trial. Hollingsworth, wealthy member of the Southlands Blue Book, appears in court with his arm in a sling as a result of a water skiing accident. |
| ? | divorces Hollingsworth. He will hit the news again in 1969 when divorcing his fifth wife, 24-year-old Maria Hollingsworth, and claiming that she kept him awake nights with demands for cars, bigger allowances and fur coats. Hollingsworth will die at age 85 in 1992 in Los Angeles. |
| August 57 | Orin Lehman takes her to the Dunes in Las Vegas to see The Pajama Game |
| March 58 | Harry Karl, actress Marie McDonald's estranged husband, seems happy with her |
| is a frequent guest at Philip Ahn's Moongate Restaurant in Panorama City |
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| ? | moves into real estate, buying old houses, remodeling them, and then selling them at a nice profit |
| ? | packs her bags and moves to Europe, where she lives successively in London, Paris, and Rome, then moving on to Africa |
| 64 | returns to Los Angeles and the real estate business. She undertakes a boat remodeling job for a friend, who in turn loans it to her for a trip of her choosing. She chooses the Caribbean, sails for some months and winds up in Haiti. |
| ? | stays in Haiti for three years |
| October 70 | is the partner of actress Yvette Mimieux in Partners in Paradise. The Los Angeles based company sells fashions made by poor Haitian women, who work in a villa owned by Sara and Yvette in Petionville, a tiny mountain village 15 minutes from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Some of the profits are poured back into Haiti for the benefits of under-privileged children. |
| 71 | returns to Los Angeles |
| Early 70s | helps a male friend who is arrested in Mexico for marijuana possession and thrown into the La Mesa prison, outside of Tijuana |
| ? | publishes her first book, Zulma, at Warner Paperback Library. It's about an 18-year-old transsexual, whom she met in La Mesa prison. |
| c. 74 | publishes her second book, Ain't Life Cold-Blooded!, the story of Scooter Aitkins, one of the leaders of the Involvement Corps |
| 80 | moves to Australia |
| 00 | as Elaine Hollingsworth, she is research director of Hippocrates Health Centre on Queensland's Gold Coast. She lectures on health issues and continues her research into natural ways of maintaining health. |
| ? | publishes her book Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry |
| 31 July 22 | dies in Gold Coast, Australia, at the age of 94 |
| Sources: The New York Times, The Portsmouth Herald, Oakland Tribune, The Sheboygan Press, Mansfield News-Journal, Valley Morning Star, The Independent Record, Reno Evening Gazette, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Newark Advocate, The Hammond Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Tri-City Herald, The Coshocton Tribune, Van Nuys News, The Sunday Gleaner, Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen, Photoplay, People Today, Picture Show Annual, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: Fifties Blondes by Richard Koper | |
| Links: Filmography Obituary | |