Carol Ohmart Profile

Carol Ohmart

	(Armelia Carol Ohmart)
3 June 27	is born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to C. Thomas Ohmart, an actor-turned-dentist, and his wife Armelia “Merle” Ohmart. Her grandfather is Robert Sweeten, “who was in the first group of Mormon pioneers to reach the valley.”
?	wins a national baby contest at the age of one
30	she and her parents live in Seattle, Washington
?	is in vaudeville at age 3 in her uncle’s act at Seattle’s Orpheum Theater
?	attends Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington
May 41	stars in the stage production of Bargains in Haircuts
?	her parents separate
?	sings for local radio stations
6 September 45	is crowned “Miss Utah” at the grandstand attraction of the Utah State Fair in Salt Lake City
8 December 45	is shown participating in a South High School Pearl Harbor-victory bond assembly in Salt Lake City
January 46	crowns the captain of the finance team committee king of the award ceremonies at a Salt Lake City Junior Chamber of Commerce banquet at the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City
July 46	she and her mother reside at 653 Markea Avenue, Salt Lake City
?	studies music and dramatics
7 September 46	places fourth in the “Miss America” contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey, receiving a $1,500 scholarship to pursue voice culture. The winner is “Miss California,” Marilyn Buferd.
?	she and her mother settle at 614 East, 6th South, New York City
?	does radio and television work in New York City
June 47	is featured in Popular Photography
December 47	is roommates with Barbara Nichols, Dee Drummond, and Gregg Sherwood in New York
August 48	is scheduled to play opposite Robert Mitchum in the upcoming New York Confidential, to be filmed in New York City
17 August 49	marries Ken Grayson, a New York radio actor, in Manhattan. “The pair will leave for a honeymoon of unrevealed destination.”
July 50	is one of a three aspiring actresses on “The Bonny Maid Versatile Varieties.” The other two are Anne Francis and Beverly Phillips.
April 51	tagged an NBC TV star, she models daisies worn at the back of the head
51	her marriage to Grayson is annulled
?	is signed to Broadway’s Kismet, where she’s Joan Diner’s understudy
April 53	columnist Earl Wilson reports her a daily double with Bob Ritchie
	columnist Walter Winchell knows: “Ralph (Picnic) Meeker’s pet date is Carol Ohmart, the beaut on Jackie Gleason’s opera...”
May 53	columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes: “John Conte is stage-dooring Carol Ohmart of the Versailles show...”
June 54	leaves Kismet
?	stars as Helen of Troy in the stage production of Troilus and Cressida at the New York Center
August 54	is featured in Eye
12 January 55	is brought to Hollywood by agent Ned Marin, who spotted her in Kismet
13 January 55	on the day of her screen test she is stricken with appendicitis and rushed to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital for emergency surgery
18 January 55	is signed by Paramount
February 55	the press tells she was discovered by Carmel Myers, whose husband is Paramount executive Al Schwalberg
May 55	will be opposite Alan Ladd in The Maverick
	Paramount claims her to be a descendant of Egypt’s queen, Cleopatra, having a name of Egyptian origin
	Earl Wilson knows: “Dr. Robert Franklin, Vanessa Brown’s ex, is dating busty Carol Ohmart...”
55	along with Shirley MacLaine, she is described as Paramount’s million-guinea gamble. Her launching is the biggest since Marlene Dietrich’s Morocco.
June 55	is announced to star in Too Late My Love, directed by Michael Curtiz. Her co-star in The Maverick will be Charlton Heston.
July 55	columnist Lee Mortimer writes: “Today’s Carol Ohmart item: Actor Peter Gray...”
	the press hails her “a feminine Brando”
August 55	Lee Mortimer reports her dancing with dancer Hal Loman
	is rumored to replace ailing Arlene Dahl in War and Peace
September 55	announces that she stores her undies in the refrigerator at night
October 55	Jimmy Fidler reports: “Carmel Myers, star of the silent era, who is Mrs. Al Swalberg, was dining this week at the Beverly Hills Hotel with Carol Ohmart. Carol, I hear, is Carmel’s protégé...”
Mid-October 55	Dorothy Kilgallen returns to her: “Jack Still of Bradford, Pa., who loves the bright lights of Broadway, is flashing a 49-carat cabochon emerald that he says is destined for the finger of Hollywood’s Carol Ohmart...”
Late October 55	Walter Winchell knows: “Gene Nelson (of Girlville) hogged the Raleigh Room phone for 2 hours calling Piper Laurie and Carol Ohmart for one hour each. This lad moves...”
Early December 55	the press quotes Don Hartman, Paramount production chief: “We hope to prove that she’s a great dramatic actress in her first picture. I think we’ve got a good chance with her and with Shirley MacLaine and a new tenor we’ve named Oreste...”
December 55	goes to the movies alone, declaring: “No hits, no runs.“
	attends The Thalians’ show at Ciro’s with Tom Tryon
	is Jay Robinson’s date at the party he gives in honor of their new pic, The Wild Party
	agent Ned Marin introduces her to his newest discovery, William Strange, a handsome electronics man working on missiles at Douglas Aircraft
?	attends the premiere of The Rose Tattoo (1955)
Mid-December 55	the press writes that she has yet to ignite
February 56	cracks her rib while posing for publicity pictures for Step Down to Terror
April 56	poses for Alberto Vargas, who calls her the “New Vargas Girl”
10 April 56	travels to her hometown, Salt Lake City, for the world premiere of her The Scarlet Hour. The governor and mayor present her with the keys to the city.
May 56	columnist Louella Parsons reports her and “her new hot romance, Bill Strange, an Oyster House duo”
25 November 56	marries William Erskine Strange, a.k.a. William Preston, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco. He’s 27; she’s 29. The press gives his age as 27 and hers as 25. Strange is an electronics engineer-turned-actor from Laramie, Wyoming, who got himself a job at Douglas Aircraft’s guided missile plant in California. It’s his first marriage and her second.
26 November 56	she and Preston reveal their marriage to the press
December 56	Louella Parsons reports: “Because she doesn’t make enough money nor enough pictures, Carol Ohmart wants out of her Paramount contract..."
Early February 57	she and Paramount call it a day. “She was last year’s Paramount candidate for BIG stardom...”
?	her husband is tested by Disney
November 57	Louella Parsons notes her on the Warners lot to prepare for Born Reckless
57	Strange changes his name to Wayde Preston and becomes the star of Warner Brothers’ television western series “Colt .45”
58	Paramount’s publicist Bob Fender confesses to have “murdered” her in 1955 by exaggerated publicity
February 58	she and Preston reside at Malibu Beach
?	writer Robb White insists on casting her for his upcoming House on Haunted Hill
c. Mid-June 58	columnist Harrison Carroll tells that she and Preston “consulted attorney Simon Taub about a divorce...”
June 58	columnist Mike Connolly knows: “Wayde (“Colt .45”) Preston’s divorce didn’t make page 1 because his wife, Carol Ohmart, filed it under his real name, Bill Strange. ...”
18 July 58	gets her divorce from Preston in Santa Monica Superior Court charging mental cruelty. She claims her husband resented it when she asked if he could spend more time at home. Instead of replying, he kicked in the television set, broke some dishes and broke a mirror. He will later claim they had been married for five or six years. Preston will die in 1992 at age 62 in Nevada.
Late July 58	is noted at the “Pasadena party tossed by Augusta and Carleton Alsop for the Paris-bound Ross Urquhardts”
August 58	is expected to play opposite William Holden in The Horse Soldiers
September 58	entertains at the San Gabriel Valley Chapter of Gateways Associates for Mental Health meeting held at the Alhambra Synagogue Center
	Louella Parsons reports that the man in Carol’s life is Howard Holbrook, a Portland, Oregon, attorney. “She also gets the femme lead in John Ford’s The Horse Soldiers, and she’ll sing the title song as well as play in House on Haunted Hill...”
October 58	she and fellow passenger Lynn Michaels are pictured bestowing kisses on the cheeks of John M. Chapman, first officer of a DC6B airliner who helped bring it to a safe landing in Burbank with one of its engines feathered. The machine ran in trouble while 300 miles off the coast of California on a flight from Hawaii.
November 58	has the affection of Tony Perkins at a party hosted by Mike Connolly for Mrs. and Mr. Gene Nelson
December 58	is reported having signed to star in The Scavenger, to be made next month in Hong Kong and the Philippines
January 59	cancels plans for a Japan stopover and flies straight to the States from Hong Kong
August 59	columnist Lee Mortimer reports that she and Preston “are closer now than before their divorce”
September 59	Harrison Carroll tells: “The divorce of Carol Ohmart and Wayde Preston was final last July, but they still are friendly when they meet on the Warner Brothers lot. Carol is working on a ‘Hawaiian Eye‘ TV segment. Wayde, of course, is star of “Colt. 45'.”
December 60	Lee Mortimer returns to her: “Can’t keep up with the notices about Scott Brady who’s supposed to have gotten a bear skin rug from Carol Ohmart for his birthday...”
Late February 61	is queen of the races sponsored by the California Sports Car Club held at Riverside Raceway
	Louella Parsons reports: “At the Luau, Carol Ohmart and disc jockey Bill Bradley enjoyed the food and each other...”
April 61	Mike Connolly tells: “Gene Fowler, Jr., and comedian Gene Wesson are co-writing an updated version of Julius Caesar, to co-star Carol Ohmart and Vic Morrow, called Julius Castro. Need I add it’s about a dictator in Cuba?”
September 62	her role in Banderol, Dore Schary’s show, is sliced, but she says: “Well, at least I got the free flu shot they gave the cast...”
November 62	Earl Wilson tells that due to the jet age she “posed for pictures before flying to L. A. - and was back here before they appeared in the paper...”
June 63	says she’s writing a surefire song hit: “It’s gotta be a hit because I have taken one of Irving Berlin’s old hits and decomposed it.”
July 64	is tested for the part of Lassie’s new TV mom
70	is considered for the starring role in Hell's Bloody Devils (1970)
August 75	lives under the name of Earliere L. Melzack
78	marries William J. Traberth. He's about 56; she's about 51.
September 80	lives under the name of Kari Omar Traberth
June 87	her mother, Amelia Ohmart, from whom she was estranged for about ten years, dies at age 83 in Salt Lake City, Utah
c. 89	Gregg Barrios, former head of the Carol Ohmart Fan Club, traces her in a suburban Seattle neighborhood
	gets offers for acting roles and interviews, which she manages and declines through her cousin Claudia Atkinson.
99	moves to Hawaii as she feels like it's the safest place in case of a Y2K disaster
1 January 02	as Kariomar Sonne Traberth, she dies at age 74 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her last husband will die at age 82 in 2005 Lake City, Florida.
21 December 02	her ashes are scattered over Carter Lake in Loveland, Colorado.
07	in Film Talk: Directors at Work by Wheeler Winston Dixon, Jack Hill says regarding casting Ohmart in Spider Baby (1968), "...she was suggested as somebody who had a little bit of a sort of familiar name, who might be available because she wasn't doing anything."
31 December 22	Carol Ohmart: The Story of Hollywood's Greatest Actress by Samuel Clemens is published by Lulu Press. It includes Carol Ohmart's unpublished manuscript of poetry titled Song of Salt.

Sources: Greg Barrios, Steve Rowland, John Goddard, Lane A. Earl, Jon Whitehead, Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes by Tom Weaver, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, The Paris News, The Ogden Standard-Examiner, The Post-Standard, The Inter Lake, Montana Standard, The Winona Republican-Herald, Kingsport News, Pottstown Mercury, The Daily Review, Waterloo Daily Courier, The Pharos Tribune Program, Albuquerque Journal, Oxnard Press-Courier, Nevada State Journal, The Charleston Gazette, The San Antonio Light, Photoplay, Screen Stories, Modern Screen, Parade, Humboldt Standard, The Evening Independent, San Mateo Times, The Independent Record, Las Cruces Sun-News, Star-News, Pacific Stars & Stripes, The Vidette-Messenger, Pasadena Independent, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Independent Star-News, www.Ancestry.com, High on the Hogs: A Biker Filmography by Davis Stidworthy, That Kind of Woman: The Life and Career of Barbara Nichols by Richard Koper
Recommended Books: Actors of the Spaghetti Westerns by James Prickette Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film By Alan K. Rode Carol Ohmart: The Story of Hollywood's Greatest Actress by Samuel Clemens
Links: Filmography Internet Broadway Database Rediscovering the Last Starlet by Gregg Barrios Carol Ohmart in Born Reckless (1958) Carol Ohmart in Caxambu (1967) Carol Ohmart in The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974) Carol Ohmart at Brian's Drive-In Theater