Biography

A staple for many years at the El Ray Berlesk theatre in Oakland, Tempest Storm had a name suiting her past. She had run away from her home in Eastman, Georgia, after surviving abuse as a child and a rape by a local gang. Ariving in Studio City, Tempest got along well, managing not only on her naturally pronounced bosom, but on her genuine personality, intelligence and sharp sense of humor. When asked if she was ever embarrassed about her ample endowments, she answered, "They don't make 'em too big for this business." Tempest performed for years on stage, and appeared in a few burlesque films during the 1950s, as well as some wonderfully bad C-grade productions around the same time. She retired at the age of sixty.
- IMDb mini biography by: Kieran Kenney

From restaurant waitress in low-cut uniforms in the late 1940s (in Lafayette and Orinda, CA) she became an exotic dancer and stripper at the El Rey Burlesk at San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA. Peter A. DeCenzie presented her as Tempest Storm, from Paris. Still photographer Russ Meyer met her there, and contributed to her popularity with a number of photo-packs and 16mm Kodachrome films, shown as "French Peep Show". Her retirement as a stripper was announced in the 1960s but, according to an Associated Press release dated July 11, 2008, she was still stripping on stage in Las Vegas, and was not considering retirement.

According to Russ Meyer, with whom she had an on-and-off relationship in 1947-48, her name was Annie Locke and she was from Daytona Beach, FL.

Profiled in "The Bare Truth: Stars of Burlesque From the '40s and '50s" by Len Rothe.

Featured in "New York Burlesque: Photographs by Roy Kemp" by Roy Kemp.