Lucille La Marr(1916-2002)

Lucille Edith Knoerr spent her childhood in Portland, Oregon where she attended Commerce High School and while there became an expert swimmer and ballerina, but relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live with her father and did chorus work at the Akdar Theater of which he was the manager. If the theater hadn't gone bankrupt, Lucille likely wouldn't have flown to Hollywood for work. That's what she did though and was quickly hired at a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard where she worked evenings. An agent saw her waiting tables and offered her a role in The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) with Folies Bergère (1935), College Holiday (1936), and You're a Sweetheart (1937) following. She wasn't getting enough work though, and as a divorcee with a son needed to earn a living. It was with that Lucille and her son went to New York where she got a job at the St. Regis Roof until Warner Bros offered her a contract that gave her a bevy of roles in movies like Old Acquaintance (1943), Mr. Skeffington (1944), The Jolson Story (1946), The Petty Girl (1950), and of course The French Line (1954). She changed her name to Lucille Bryon because she felt that 'La Marr' caused confusion between her and the legendary entertainer Hedy Lamarr.

The 1950s were difficult for Lucille, and as she got fewer offers in Hollywood she went to Las Vegas entertaining at the El Rancho Hotel at $95.20 a week. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1962) was her last onscreen work where you'll see her doubling for Edie Adams in various scenes. She lived modestly in an apartment on Keystone Avenue doing secretarial work until getting her pension with the Screen Actors Guild.