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Gale Robbins Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Betty Gale Robbins) |
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| 7 May 21 | is born in Mitchell, Indiana, to Mr. and Mrs. Robbins, nee Murphy |
| ? | works as a commercial model when still a high school girl in Chicago |
| 38 | is crowned "Miss Chicago" |
| ? | sings with the orchestras of Jan Garber, Art Jarrett, and Ben Bernie |
| ? | sings at Ernie Byfield’s Pump Room |
| ? | appears on the Ben Bernie radio shows |
| 23 January 42 | opens with Al Jarrett at the Casa Loma in St. Louis |
| February 42 | sings with Phil Levant and his broadcasting orchestra in McKeesport, Pennsylvania |
| November 42 | columnist Walter Winchell reports that "the best part of Bernie's act, Gale Robbins, the thrush, has been signed by Fox Studios..." |
| May 43 | columnist Louella Parsons thinks that Gale and "Alex D'Arcy are finding lots to talk about these May evenings..." |
| is seen at the Hollywood Casino with Alec D'Arcy |
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| July 43 | is called back to Chicago by the death of her father |
| August 43 | suffers from a slight brain concussion received after falling from a springboard and hitting a tile rail of the swimming pool |
| September 43 | is reported the hottest contender for one of the Dolly girls in The Dolly Sisters at 20th Century-Fox |
| Early November 43 | gets a month's vacation from 20th Century-Fox to go back to Kansas. "Betts are she will marry Lieutenant Bob Olson while there..." |
| ? | marries her high school sweetheart, Lieutenant Robert E. Olson. He will become an architect and engineer. |
| Mid-December 43 | a week after her marriage to Olson, she is cast in I Married a Soldier |
| January 44 | her mother accompanies her to the set of I Married a Soldier |
| February 44 | is heralded to be the special guest of the Bob Crosby-Les Tremayne combination at the training base of the US Marines at El Toro, California, over WOW |
| her husband of two months, Bob Olson, is stationed at the Walker Air Base in Victoria, Kansas. The press reports she faces competition from 300 pretty civilian girls in his department. "I've got reservations for Kansas the minute I get through with my picture," she says. |
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| March 44 | 20th Century-Fox expects her, Jeanne Crain, Mary Anderson, and June Haver to hit the top within the next two years |
| 21 April 44 | is on the cover of Yank, The Army Weekly |
| December 44 | is reported bowing out of her 20th Century-Fox contract by mutual consent in order to be with her husband in Nebraska before he goes overseas |
| 45 | is the top attraction on Bob Hope’s tour of oversea bases |
| May 47 | opens the Reno Sky Ranch air show with film and radio comedian Jerry Colonna |
| June 47 | will have a leading role in the upcoming Ever the Beginning |
| October 47 | columnist Jimmy Fidler suggests to “blue-pencil” those rumors of romance between George Raft and her; she’s happily married to a veteran now attending college in Los Angeles |
| November 47 | is a twosome with George Raft at the Biltmore Bowl |
| December 47 | columnist Edith Gwynn tells: "People who keep jumping to cozy conclusions about George Raft and Gail Robbins, should be advised that she's happily married to an ex-GI who is now a student at UCLA. She's his most recent leading lady - but only on the screen..." |
| December 48 | columnist Erskine Johnson writes: "Round and round goes the wheel of fortune and where it stops nobody knows - particularly in Hollywood. Five years ago Gail Robbins was under contract to 20th Century-Fox and the studio let her go in favor of Martha Stewart. Other day Martha Stewart was dropped by Fox because she didn't like her role in Oh, You Beautiful Doll. So the studio looked around for someone to replace her and finally came up with a girl they firmly believe will become a top star. Her name, of course, is Gale Robbins." |
| she and her husband "are lucky to be alive after two gas explosions destroyed the home of Gale's parents, where the couple was spending the night. To escape the fire, Gale and her husband had to jump out a window." |
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| November 49 | will be replaced by Adele Jergens in the cast of regulars on "Pantomime Quiz Time" over KTTV |
| 25 October 50 | her daughter Victoria Lee is born at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles |
| March 51 | hit by the flu so hard that she has to cancel her last three days at the Roxy in New York and return to Hollywood under the care of a doctor |
| August 51 | attends the fifth annual “out-of-the-world-series” baseball game sponsored by the Hollywood junior chamber of commerce. Other “bat girls” include Dorothy Malone, Mona Freeman, Shelley Winters, Dorothy Lamour, and Jane Russell. |
| columnist Walter Winchell tells that she cancelled a tour with the Ritz Brothers to portray "a hussy in Technicolor with Tony 'Valentine' Dexter in The Brigand. Her performance got past the celluloid-trimmers, but I don't know how..." |
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| October 51 | flies to Mexico to film 13 TV shows for Matty Kemp and Bill Brighton |
| November 51 | performs in the Sky Room of the Hotel Mapes with Bobby Van and Eddie Fitzpatrick |
| December 51 | she doesn't need to lose any weight for her dance scenes with Tony Dexter while filming The Brigand |
| planes to Mexico City to film 13 TV shows for Marty Kemp and Bill Brighton |
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| January 52 | her husband buys two Encino lots from Mickey Rooney and will build $50,000 houses on them |
| February 52 | writes from Mexico that she had several pieces of jewelry stolen, including an $800 watch, and many of her gowns burned in a studio dressing-room fire |
| is expected to bring a little Spanish girl to the States for adoption if the Mexican government gives its okay. The child’s parents already have agreed. |
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| April 52 | is on TV in the "Bob Hope All-Star Revue," originated from the Presidio in San Francisco. Fred McMurray, the Bell Sisters, and Al Apaka are among the guests. |
| May 52 | supports the I Like Ike campaign. Other Eisenhower Volunteers of Hollywood are Jack Warner, Dana Andrews, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Red Skelton, Mike Romanoff, Virginia Mayo, Frank Lovejoy, Darryl Zanuck, Sam Goldwyn, and Clark Cable. |
| July 52 | her friends are concerned about her continued illness. "The malady forced her to give up a role in the Broadway musical, Top Banana, and still has medics puzzled." |
| August 52 | due to a virus attack she has to give up the lead in New York's Top Banana |
| September 52 | is on the "Opinion Please" panel on KTTV |
| October 52 | says about her see-right-through-the-skin dress she wears in The Brigand: "I admit I was transparent. The censors came around every day while I was wearing it. They could see my whole body through the material, but they couldn't do a thing about it. How about that?" |
| May 53 | is the singing star of the current Riverside show featuring Dick Shawn and the Biginos, with Bill Clifford and his Orchestra, and Betty Holt |
| July 53 | while she's on tour, the tenants in her house drain the swimming pool and it cracks. She has to spend $2,000 to repair it. |
| November 53 | she and Olson attend a gala press party held at the Cocky Cactus on Ventura Boulevard, Van Nuys, California |
| 13 December 53 | her Encino home is robbed |
| Late January 54 | the police recover all but a few stolen articles. Seven kids are said to have taken part in the robbery. |
| June 55 | the press herald that she and Olson will adopt a child |
| July 55 | her "one big, unique, unusual hobby is her chinchilla farm with its 70 furry denizens" |
| 23 February 56 | her daughter Cynthia Lee is born in Burbank, California |
| ? | resides in Sherman Oaks, California |
| June 56 | columnist Jimmy Fidler reports her resuming her singing after the birth of her daughter Cynthia Lee. She has a four-picture deal with Screen Gems. |
| July 56 | opens at the Mocambo singing Come Rain or Come Shine. Spike Jones and Frank Veloz are among the first-nighters. |
| is reported "making a big hit these days with Los Angeles audiences" |
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| September 56 | a Fresno nightclub manager is reported vetoing the leopard-skin bathing suit she used in her act. "Too sexy for this town," he ruled. |
| October 56 | she and Peter Potter are scheduled for "The Red Skelton Show" |
| May 57 | Era Records describes her next disc as "a vocal striptease" |
| September 57 | pays $120,000 for the late Warren William's four-acre estate in the San Fernando Valley. Actor William bought it for $22,000 back in the '30s. |
| is rushed to a Hollywood hospital after a black widow bit her cheek / after a polio scare, but it was Asiatic flu |
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| December 57 | is signed to co-star with Neville Brand and Barry Sullivan in Murder Doll, which will be filmed at 20th Century-Fox’s London studios next month |
| 58 | issues her record album "I'm a Dreamer" with the Vik label |
| May 58 | appears in the Terrace Grill of the Hotel Muehlebach in Kansas City |
| 26 July 58 | a Polynesian Luau is held at her estate at 4657 Encino Avenue, Encino |
| September 58 | the Olsons agree on a trial separation after 14 years of marriage |
| November 58 | columnist Harrison Carroll reports: "Instead of coming home after her singing engagement in Juarez, singer Gale Robbins flew to Acapulco, where she was said to be seeing the town on the arm of bullfighter Luis Trocuna. She planned to go to Mexico City and I hear he also will be her escort there." |
| December 58 | will fly to Chicago and date Al Anthony after she finishes her New York engagement |
| Mid-February 59 | columnist Harrison Carroll thinks it looks like reconciliation hopes are fading for her and her husband. She puts their valley home up for sale. |
| March 59 | columnist Walter Winchell reports she "and Robert Olson are a new Dipsyduo..." |
| 8 April 59 | hosts a champagne party for the Valley Women's Key Gifts division of the United Jewish Welfare Fund at her Encino estate |
| April 59 | a bevy of beauties, including her, Peggy King, Linda Danson, and Diana Darrin, head to Palm Springs for the Mardi Gras party at the Palm Springs Ranch Club |
| May 59 | she and her husband hope their reconciliation try will work |
| her date for the luau at the Palm Springs Ranch Club will be estranged husband Bob Olson |
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| July 59 | is George Jessel’s date for the City of Hope’s All Star night |
| August 59 | she and Olson try their best to salvage their 14-year-old marriage, but there’s no reconciliation yet |
| is signed for Warner’s upcoming “Bourbon Street Beat” television series. The role calls for her to have a Hungarian accent. |
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| she and Olson sell their home, the former Warren Williams show place, and move with their two daughters into a new house in Encino. Olson had been very ill, and it was feared he was suffering from leukemia. The malady turned out to be a bad case of mononucleosis, and he’s much improved. |
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| July 60 | she and Olson try it again |
| May 61 | appears at the fifth annual Reseda Jubilee in Reseda, California |
| June 61 | sings at the Encino, California, school of her daughters Vicki and Cindy |
| 63 | the Olsons reside at 4816 Gloria Avenue, Encino, California |
| 23 February 63 | her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Edward Murphy, are reported taking time out from the Santa Anita races to help celebrate Cindy Olson's seventh birthday |
| February 65 | is on hand at the annual awards dinner of the Southern California chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society |
| March 65 | rallies for the Third District candidate for Los Angeles City Council, Ben W. Morris |
| September 65 | is considered for a part in ABC-TV's new series, "The Long Hot Summer." Her role eventually goes to Ruth Roman. |
| October 65 | performs with the Kings IV at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco |
| c. 67 | she and Neal Hefti are seen at Mulholland Junior High School's Battle of the Bands |
| 4 February 67 | becomes the widow of Olson, who is found dead at age 57 in an Encino parking lot, killed in a construction-site accident. The press notes later that he fell off a wall. |
| January 70 | is a notable guest at the Ruddy Duck Restaurant in Sherman Oaks |
| November 71 | is among the guests at the Fashionette's benefit luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ballroom |
| ? | her daughters - Victoria, 18, and Cynthia, 16 - work with her in her act. Victoria will "become disillusioned with show business, after she discovered some lying and double-dealing in the allied profession, modeling, in which she was active. But the youngest is stuck with show business." |
| February 72 | will start her own radio show in March |
| April 72 | is reported having returned to Los Angeles and confessing about coping with Olson's death: "It was traumatic for me. I just couldn't stay here. So I left and I traveled. I took my daughters with me, and we went all over the world. I did some work in Japan and the rest of the Orient." |
| May 72 | is honored with a surprise birthday buffet dinner by Priscilla "Kip" Lehmann |
| attends a dinner honoring her long-time friend, banker Rickard Norlander |
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| June 72 | attends the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce session held at the Hilton Hotel |
| January 73 | is honorary councilwoman for the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce |
| May 73 | attends the luncheon at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City honoring Councilman Donald D. Lorenzen |
| is honorary deputy mayor of Sherman Oaks |
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| April 74 | as a member of Screen Smart Set, she attends a luncheon benefiting the Motion Picture and Television Fund at Sportsman's Lodge |
| November 75 | illness prevents her from singing the National Anthem at a San Fernando Valley fete honoring Albert Zoraster |
| 18 February 80 | as Betty Gale Olson, she dies at age 58 of lung cancer in Los Angeles. Two daughters survive. |
| is interred at the Vale of Peace, lot 5488, space 3, Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California |
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| Sources: The News, Reno Evening Gazette, The Monessen Daily Independent, Indiana Evening Gazette, The Newark Advocate, The Independent, The Lima News, The Sheboygan Press, Nevada State Journal, Van Nuys News, News Journal - Mansfield, The New York Times, Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen, Screenland, Screen World, Edwardsville Intelligencer, Panama City News-Herald, The Fresno Bee, The News, Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star, The Coshocton Tribune, The Lowell Sun, Pottstown Mercury, The Burlington Daily Times-News, The Era, Long Beach Press-Telegram, The Modesto Bee, Council Bluffs Iowa Nonpareil, The Sunday Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, The Daily Gleaner, Oakland Tribune, San Fernando Valley Living, www.Ancestry.com | |
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| Links: Filmography Find A Grave | |