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Shawn Smith Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Shirley Patterson) |
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| 22 December 22 | is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| c. 36 | starts modeling at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City at the age of 15 |
| 40 | is junior archery champ of Southern California |
| ? | a big picture of her with bow and arrow in the Los Angeles Times makes some studios call, but her mother refuses offers because she’s too young and has to finish school before pursuing a career |
| ? | wins 15 beauty contests |
| 40 | is crowned "Miss California" |
| 42 | starts her career at Columbia |
| March 42 | she, Evelyn Keyes, and Jinx Falkenburg are among the final candidates selected to portray Klondike Kate in a movie. Klondike Kate’s herself is in Hollywood to show the girls how to roll a cigarette. |
| September 42 | is gifted with some glittery chop-suey by Jay Gould III. It’s a 60-carat aquamarine, set off by 20 diamonds and 18 rubies. |
| March 43 | promotes wartime gas rationing by rope-skipping in Hollywood |
| War Years | together with Charles Starrett, she tours service camps in the States |
| May 44 | she and Captain Don Gallery, son of actress Zazu Pitts, are a woomance |
| December 44 | is the girl who Robert Walker, estranged husband of Jennifer Jones, sees the most |
| 45 | experiences Laraine Day to be a pain in the neck and Lana Turner sweet and nice while filming Keep Your Powder Dry |
| Early January 45 | columnist Erskine Johnson reports that she and Walker think it’s spring |
| January 45 | her romance with Walker has iced. She now gives her attention to Reese Milner, a wealthy rancher. |
| February 45 | is discovered by actor Van Johnson. She takes rhumba lessons with the hip-swinging Van. He’s the Number 1 one-two-three bump expert of movieville’s supper club set. |
| 46 | her fiancé, developer Alfred Smith, talks her into leaving the movie business |
| April 47 | oilman Bob Oliver’s toting a big torch for her |
| May 47 | she and Oliver reconcile and are again marriage-minded |
| ? | marries socially prominent Alfred F. Smith, Jr., and retires from the screen |
| Late 40s / Early 50s | does some charity work for Jane Russell’s WAIFS organization and works as a guide at the John Tracy Clinic |
| April 50 | as Mrs. Alfred F. Smith of Borrego Springs, California, the press hails her “the west coast’s most beautiful society girl” with many bow and arrow titles |
| July 50 | the press covers her: “Society Matron Mrs. Alfred F. Smith of Beverly Hills, California, wears a new bathing suit. Made of black satin, it fastens up the front with huge pearl buttons and as an added innovation, features pockets. She will model suit at a bazaar and fashion show given by the Women’s Republican Committee of California.” |
| 9 May 51 | her son, Alfred Franklin, "Toro," is born in Los Angeles |
| June 53 | snags a lead in the "Mark Hellinger" TV series |
| c. 54 | while playing tennis with producer Eddie Grainger, he talks her into acting again. Her first film is The French Line. |
| is back in the movies under the name of Shawn Smith |
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| 54 | becomes good friends and plays a lot of tennis with Anthony Quinn while filming The Long Wait |
| June 54 | is guest of honor at a private archery exhibition staged by the Sherwood Forest Club of Dormont |
| 56 | together with actresses Dolores Donlon and Peggie Castle, she’s caught dining at Toots Shor |
| shoots World Without End at the Corrigan Ranch in the San Fernando Valley |
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| 57 | is said to be the girlfriend of somebody in the front office at Universal, so she gets the female lead in The Land Unknown |
| shows her six- / seven-year old boy all the dinosaurs on the set of The Land Unknown |
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| c. 58 | shortly after completing It! The Terror From Beyond Space, she suffers a terrible skiing accident at the Big Bear resort, winding up with eight breaks in her leg. Afterwards she retires from the movies for good. |
| ? | she and her husband grow apart |
| June 68 | as Mrs. Alfred F. Smith, she’s co-chairman of a black-tie dinner given at the Beverly Hilton Grand Ballroom by Christians and Jews for Law and Morality |
| ? | helps to raise money for the cancer fund |
| February 71 | divorces Smith in Los Angeles |
| 29 April 79 | marries John L. Bodette in Los Angeles. He's 57; she's 56. |
| ? | appears at a film festival in Charlotte, North Carolina |
| ? | resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| 4 April 95 | as Shirley Patterson Bodette, she dies at age 72 in Florida from cancer |
| Sources: "Shawn Smith" by Thomas Wiseman in Filmfax, William Alland in Monsters, Mutants and Heavenly Creatures by Tom Weaver, The Evening Capital, The Lima News, The Ruthven Free-Press, The Zanesville Signal, Edwardsville Intelligencer, Nevada State Journal, The Lowell Sun, The Frederick Post, The Port Arthur News, Pottswtown Mercury, The Charleroi Mail, Showgirls, www.IMDb.com, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: Westerns Women by Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald | |
| Links: Filmography Shwan Smith at Spooky's Nightmare Mansion | |