Gloria Maude Talbott (February 7, 1931 – September 19, 2000) was an American film and television actress.
Contents
Early life and career
Gloria Talbott was born in Glendale, California. Her great-grandfather Benjamin F. Patterson arrived from Ohio in 1882 and bought some acreage in the area. He later assisted with the platting of the city.
She began her career as a child actress in such films as Maytime (1937), Sweet and Low-Down (1944), and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1945). She attended Glendale High School. In 1947, she was chosen as the winner of the "Miss Glendale" beauty pageant. In November 1948, Talbott was in the cast of One Fine Day, a comedy presented on stage at the Biltmore Theater in Los Angeles.
Her sister, Lori Talbott, also became an actress.
Film roles
Talbott worked in film regularly during the 1950s. In 1952, she had the role of Rose Rodriguez in The Rodriguez Story featurette. She appeared in Crashout (1955), the Humphrey Bogart comedy We're No Angels (1955), Lucy Gallant (1955), and All That Heaven Allows (1955).
In 1959, she appeared as an Indian, first in The Oregon Trail with Fred MacMurray as Shona and then in Alias Jesse James with Bob Hope as Princess Irawanee.
She later became known as a "scream queen", after appearing in a number of horror films, including The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957), The Cyclops (1957), I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), and The Leech Woman (1960).
Her final film role was as Bri Quince, the love interest in the 1966 Western film An Eye for an Eye.
Television roles
In 1953, Talbott appeared in "The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard" and "High Seas" on Favorite Story, starred in "The Dear Departed" on Chevron Theatre and played Herelda in "Gypsy Wagon," an episode of The Gene Autry Show.
In 1955, she appeared in TV Reader's Digest episode "America's First Great Lady" as Pocahontas and was the first guest star with roles in both of the 1955 season's new adult Westerns, Gunsmoke, episode "Home Surgery" and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, episode 2 "Mr. Earp Meets a Lady".
On November 27, 1956, she starred as Maureen in a science-fiction episode of the television anthology series Conflict entitled "Man From 1997" featuring Charlie Ruggles and James Garner. She guest-starred in the premiere episode of Mr. Adams and Eve, "The Young Actress", which was broadcast on January 4, 1957. On October 1, 1957, she appeared as Linda Brazwell in the episode "Reluctant Hero" of the ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series Sugarfoot.
Talbott's multiple television credits also include the syndicated Adventures of Superman, The Range Rider, The Cisco Kid, the NBC Western anthology series Frontier (1955), and the syndicated Western-themed crime drama, Sheriff of Cochise with John Bromfield. She appeared in the 1956 episode "The Singing Preacher" of the religious anthology series, Crossroads.
In a broadcast on NBC on January 27, 1958, Talbott played Valya in star/producer John Payne's The Restless Gun, season one, episode 19, "Hang and Be Damned". She was cast in the syndicated American Civil War drama Gray Ghost, the 1958 episode "Fatal Memory" on CBS's Wanted: Dead or Alive (returning for the 1960 episode "Tolliver Bender"), the 1959 episode "Have Sword, Will Duel" of the NBC Western Cimarron City, and in the 1961 NBC Western Whispering Smith in the role of Cora Gates.
She guest-starred as Jenny in the 1958 episode "A Cup of Black Coffee" of the CBS crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen, with whom she appeared in the 1955 film All That Heaven Allows. She also guest-starred in several episodes of ABC's Zorro.
Personal life
Talbott was married four times and had two children.
Death
On September 19, 2000, Talbott died of kidney failure while hospitalized in Glendale, California, age 69.
