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Carol Thurston Profile
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| (Elizabeth / Betty Lou Thurston) |
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| 27 September 20 | is born in North Dakota of Irish descent to Harvey E. Thurston and his wife Marie Thurston, nee O'Laughlin |
| 30 | she and her family reside in Forsyth, Montana |
| ? | starts acting in her father's country repertory company at age 12 |
| ? | moves with her family to Billings, Montana |
| ? | graduates from Billings High School |
| ? | is active in the Billings Civic Theater |
| ? | is employed by Hart-Albins and the FOX Theater |
| c. 42 | moves with her family to Los Angeles when her father begins work at Lockheed |
| ? | is a Bliss Hayden student when discovered by Cecil B. DeMille and cast after only a make-up test |
| June 43 | columnist Louella Parsons reports that Cecil B. DeMille found Carol for the part of Three Martini in his upcoming The Story of Dr. Wassell. "He says she has the power of Lenore Ulric and the gentleness of Maude Adams." |
| November 43 | Parsons considers her and Lew Ayres "an interesting dinner duet" |
| December 43 | lives with her parents in their small house |
| 44 | her part in The Conspirators ends up on the cutting room floor |
| December 44 | Parsons tells: "Oliver Thorndyke and Carol Thurston (Three Martini) are getting more and more serious..." |
| October 45 | is noted dating Freddie Bartholomew |
| columnist Harrison Carroll reports "pint-sized Carol Thurston and six-foot-four Lt. Col. David Thayer at Lymans..." |
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| November 45 | columnist Hedda Hopper reveals that "Carol Thurston and Col. David Thayer also are on the verge..." |
| Late November 45 | marries David S. Thayer in Yuma, Arizona. He is 27; she gives her age as 22. Thayer, who hails from Houston, is an Air Force lieutenant colonel and former University of Texas football player. |
| 24 November 45 | her studio discloses she eloped with Thayer and they will spend the night at the El Cortez Hotel in El Paso, Texas |
| 26 November 45 | the press tells that the honeymooners didn't arrive at Hotel Cortez in El Paso where reservations were made |
| December 45 | columnist Sheila Graham reveals: "Carol Thurston, wearing high heels for the first time in her five pictures, in Swamp Fire, tripped on a cable and broke a bone in her foot..." |
| March 46 | columnist Harrison Carroll reports: "Carol Thurston at Kings restaurant with her groom, David Thayer. He's a civilian now..." |
| December 46 | columnist Jimmie Fidler reports she's on the stork's list |
| May 47 | columnist Hedda Hopper writes: "Carol married David Thayer, a commercial flyer, about a year ago. They set up their home in Texas City, but it was destroyed in the recent catastrophe there..." |
| 29 February 48 | her daughter, Amanda Lycklyn, is born in Hollywood |
| resides on Hawthorne Circle in Hollywood and later on Oakshire Drive in the Hollywood Hills |
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| May 48 | columnist Edith Gwynn tells: "Carol Thurston who played the seductive native girl in The Story of Dr. Wassell when Cecil B. DeMille made the picture about four years ago, retired when she married Lt. Col. David Thayer. Now she's decided that studios are more fun than kitchens or something and is resuming her career. First assignment: a similar type of native-girl role in Rogue's Regiment which will star Dick Powell at Universal..." |
| c. March 49 | divorces Thayer, who then moves to Texas. He will become an independent oil operator / movie official and die at age 47 at his home in Houston in November 1965. |
| April 50 | Parsons returns to her: "At the Deauville Cafe Bill Eythe with Carol Thurston, television actress, happily celebrating the success of Lend an Ear in Chicago..." |
| May 50 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes: "Bill Eythe of the stage and flickers is giving the Big Rush to Carol Thurston..." |
| June 50 | Fidler knows: "Altar-bound: Carol Thurston and stage actor Ross Elliott, when her divorce becomes final next month..." |
| July 50 | Parsons adds: "Carol Thurston, who was introduced by Cecil B. DeMille in the role of Three Martini in The Story of Dr. Wassell, married shortly after and gave up her acting career. Now Carol, back in Hollywood with a divorce in her hand, plans to marry another man. She'll wed Ross Elliot, the actor who was in Woman on the Run and received such favorable notices. This time she won't give up her career, since Elliott is not averse to having an actress wife..." |
| December 50 | she and Elliott call off their marriage plans |
| June 53 | is noted helping her mother run a shopping bazaar in Hollywood |
| August 53 | guests on "Pet Exchange" on WTTV |
| Early January 54 | a converted bomber owned by Fullerton Oil Company and piloted by her ex, David Thayer, crashes and burns in a residential district of Burbank, California. Thayer escapes with cuts, bruises, and shock; a man sleeping in an apartment largely destroyed by flames suffers critical burns over most of his body. |
| February 54 | columnist Harrison Carroll writes: "David S. Thayer, pilot of the converted bomber that crashed into several Burbank homes, fatally injuring one man, is the ex-husband of actress Carol Thurston. Remember her? She played 'Three Martini,' the native girl in the Gary Cooper movie, Story of Dr. Wassell..." |
| ? | marries TV actor John D. Russo, a.k.a. John Duke. He's 4 years her junior. |
| February 59 | Carroll returns to her: "Actress Carol Thurston and her estranged husband, actor John Duke, are planning a Mexican divorce. 'We don't know when, though,' says Carol, who now dates actor Jay Douglas..." |
| January 60 | Carroll reveals: "Dolores Michaels and actor John Duke made up their quarrel, but Dolores tells me there are no marriage plans. She won't be free for nine months. Duke and his estranged wife, actress Carol Thurston, haven't even started proceedings. However, Carol, who works in the 'Wyatt Earp' TV series, says they may get a decree in Mexico. Carol's favorite date these evenings is writer Bob Williams..." |
| ? | divorces Duke, who will change his on-screen-name to Barry Russo and die at age 78 in December 2003 in Honolulu |
| 7 February 62 | marries writer Robert Creighton Williams in Los Angeles. He is 38; she gives hers as 36. |
| 31 December 69 | as Carol T. Williams, she dies at age 49 in Long Beach, California, after lapsing into a coma. Her husband, daughter, and grandson survive. Her daughter and grandson were enroute from Georgia to visit her. |
| Williams will die at age 52 in July 1976 in California |
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| Sources: The Vidette-Messenger, The Daily News, The Havre Daily News, The Billings Gazette, Waterloo Sunday Courier, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Lowell Sun, Santa Fe New Mexican, Denton Record-Chronicle, El Paso Herald-Post, Kingsport News, The Chronicle-Telegram, San Antonio Light, Portland Press Herald, The Herald, Pottstown Mercury, The Lowell Sun, Nevada State Journal, Lubbock Evening Journal, The Long Beach Independent, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, The Daily Gleaner, www.Ancestry.com, Amanda Thayer, Kirk Crivello | |
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| Links: Filmography | |