Biography

Vivian Austin was a brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty queen; she had been voted "Miss Hollywood" in 1943 and was signed to a contract by Universal Pictures. The studio saw that she got experience in many of the little theater groups around Los Angeles before putting her in her first film, Moonlight in Vermont (1943). She made westerns, musicals and dramas for the studio before retiring from the screen because of health problems.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Nearly died from kidney failure in the 1940s. She also had debilitating eye problems from which she suffered the rest of her life until her sight was improved by Dr. Kenneth Grow, who eventually became her second husband.

Health problems, which lead to blindness, forced Ms. Austin into early retirement from the motion picture business. A Palm Springs CA physician, Dr. Ken Grow, managed to restore her sight and later they married.

Voted "Miss Hollywood" prior to entering movies.

Once an Earl Carroll "Vanity Girl".

Received theatrical experience in "little theater" groups before making movies.

[on Don 'Red' Barry, her co-star in Adventures of Red Ryder (1940)] He had such a temper! He would walk off the set--often! Stopping production just because he disagreed with Bill Witney [director William Witney], or somebody, about some minor thing. I don't like saying negative things about the departed, but he wasn't a very nice fellow when we worked together.

[on Rod Cameron, with whom she made several westerns at Universal Pictures] Rod was the exact opposite of [Don 'Red' Barry]. Rod never lost his temper. He was very serious; very quiet. I liked him a lot.