I'd like to get a copy or two of newspaper obituaries on Allan Lane. If you have same, please shoot off an e-mail to Chuck Anderson, the Old Corral webmeister.

I received the Allan Lane Birth Certificate from the State of Indiana, Department of Health, in 1999. They provided two versions - a plain white copy of the original record (shown below), as well as a pale green official copy with the State seal and imprint. This confirms Lane's full name as HARRY LEONARD ALBERSHART, and his birthdate is September 22, 1909 ... not 1904 which is often listed in Lane biographies.

Below is the Social Security application that I received under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Comments on the application note that Lane left 20th Century Fox employ in June, 1937 before he filled out or filed the application.

Below is the top portion of the death certificate on Lane. Note the name "Harry Albershart aka Allan Lane" in the first and last name boxes. His birth date is listed as 9/22/09 and last employer is the "Mr. Ed Company". He passed away at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital, Woodland Hills, California on 10/27/73. The cause of death was myelofibrosis, a bone marrow disorder where blood cells in the bone marrow are replaced with fibrous tissue. The Mayo Clinic website has a description of this medical condition: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/myelofibrosis/DS00886

Jim Tipton's Find A Grave website has a picture of the grave marker for Harry L. Albershart (Allan Lane) at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California, and the marker shows a birth year of 1909: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3824

Thanks to Jim Sorensen and Dale Crawford for journeying out to Inglewood Park Cemetery, and taking the below snapshot of Lane's grave marker.

(Courtesy of Jim Sorensen & Dale Crawford)

I cropped Dale and Jim's image and adjusted the contrast so you can better see the name and dates on the marker:

Regardless of the above, there remain questions and controversy over Lane's birth year, and many still believe that it was 1904.

Early on, I was a bit apprehensive about the 1909 year shown in the birth and death certificates and his grave marker. I viewed several of Lane's later films such as his last, EL PASO STAMPEDE (Republic, 1953). If Lane was born in '04, he would have been about 49 years old when he did that film. That would also have made him several years older than Gene Autry, who was born in 1907. Lane doesn't look like a man who was approaching the half-century mark. I also looked again at the Lane Red Ryder TV pilot which was lensed circa 1955. If 1904 is correct, Rocky would have been about 51 when this pilot was filmed, and that's quite elderly for a cowboy hero. He doesn't look 51. Viewing Lane's later Republic films and the TV pilot convinces me that the 1909 birth year is probably correct. My guess is that he (or the studios) fudged the 1904 birth year at the start of his Tinseltown career in order to make him older, more mature. Remember that Lane's first film work occurred at Fox in 1929 when he was around 20 years of age.

Lane's parents were William Herman Albershart and Linnie Anne Dayhuff, and they were married July 11, 1903. In addition to Lane, they also had a daughter named Helen May (or Mae) Albershart. Linnie Anne Dayhuff Albershart, was born in 1887 in Mishawaka, Indiana (St. Joseph County). At the time of her death in 1974, she was living in Los Angeles, California.

All four members of the family wound up in California ... and passed away there. Go to the In Search Of ... webpage on the Old Corral and then to the California Death Records database. There you will find records for:

• Allan Lane: born Harry Leonard Albershart on 9/22/1909 in Indiana and passed away on 10/27/1973. There's a corresponding record in the Social Security Death Index, but the name listed is Allan Lane (not Harry Albershart).
• Lane's father: William Herman Albershart, born January 26, 1877 in Ohio and passed away on April 30, 1955 in the Los Angeles area. This would appear to be Allan Lane's father. There was no record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).
• Lane's sister: Helen Mae Hower, born January 26, 1907 in Indiana, Mother's maiden name of Dayhuff, Father's name of Albershart, and she passed away in the Los Angeles area on May 16, 1955. There was no record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). Notice the spelling of her middle name: Helen Mae (not May) Hower.
• Lane's mother: Linnie Anne married William Costello (1883-1979). The California Death Records has a record for: Anne L. Costello, born May 30, 1887 in Indiana and passed away April 13, 1974 in the Los Angeles area. There is a record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and the Social Security number for her is that of her husband, William Costello.

Note that Lane's father and sister passed away within a couple of weeks of each other in 1955.

Rick Albright checked the census information and found the following:

1930: Allen (spelled with an "e") Lane, actor/motion pictures, age 22, born Indiana, parents born Kentucky and Indiana. Living alone at 1825 Argyle, Los Angeles, renting at $50 a month.
1920: I had no luck finding him or his family (the only Albersharts were in Campbell, KY; connection uncertain but likely as the head of household's mom was born in Germany. This might be Allan's grandmother).
1910: Harry Leonard Albershart, born in Indiana, is living with parents, father William H., born Ohio, parents born Germany, and wife Linnie Anne, born Indiana. They are in the City of Mishawaka, Penn Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana. See image below.
1900: the only Albershart family is in Kentucky but no William H.

Below is an excerpt/crop from the 1910 Census sheet (which is huge) taken April 15, 1910. It shows the Albershart Family - father William H., mother Linnie Anne, 3 year old sister Helen, and son Harry Leonard. The 5 columns to the right of the names stand for: male/female, race, age, married/single, and years married. For babies and very young children, census takers often report their age as ?/12 which signifies months since birth - for example, 7/12 would indicate 7 months of age. The fractional age for Harry Leonard appears to be something like 7/17. That's probably a sloppily written 7/12. 7 months would be the approximate time between Lane's September 22, 1909 birth date and the April 15, 1910 census date. Regardless of what the fraction is, Harry Leonard Albershart was under a year old when this 1910 census was taken.

Having a difficult seeing 7/12? Here it 'tis enlarged:

Rotated 75 degrees to the right - you should now be able to see how the census taker wrote the number 12:

A variety of sources note that Lane was married and divorced twice - first to a Gladys Leslie and next to pretty actress Sheila Ryan. Lane had no children from either marriage. However, recent info indicates there was a third marriage and divorce for Allan Lane. Details below.

Sheila Ryan Left is actress Sheila Ryan (real name: Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin) (1921 - 1975) who was married to Lane for only a few months circa 1945 before they divorced. Her 1950 marriage to Gene Autry sidekick Pat Buttram was much more successful. There's a profile/bio on Sheila in the Leading Ladies/Heroines section on the Old Corral. Click HERE for that bio on Sheila Ryan and a separate window will open.

Gladys Leslie - the Vitagraph silent film star? Or another Gladys Leslie?

The name Gladys Leslie appears in all (most all) Lane biographies that I've read, but no info is available on exactly who she was and where/when Lane met her, married her, etc.

The first place to check was the Internet Movie Database which has a record for one actress with the name Gladys Leslie.

Gladys Leslie (1899-1976) was a silent film performer who did a lot of films at Vitagraph and was known as "The Girl with the Million Dollar Smile". Her Hollywood career ended around 1925. The IMDB link for her is: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0504109/

Could she have been Lane's wife? If so, note her 1899 birth year. With Lane born in 1909, he would have been ten years younger.

Most probably, Lane was married to a different Gladys Leslie.

There are images of Vitagraph silent film star Gladys Leslie at the University of Washington Digital Libraries Collections, the Indiana University Sheet Music Collections, and the Cleveland Public Library Image Collections:
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/sayrepublic&CISOPTR=2993&REC=9
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/sayrepublic&CISOPTR=3062&REC=10
http://cplorg.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4014coll16&CISOPTR=299&CISOBOX=1&REC=2
http://cplorg.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p4014coll16&CISOPTR=406&CISOBOX=1&REC=6
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/sheetmusic/devincent.do?&id=LL-SDV-170017&q1=LL-SDV-170017&sid=cf50b0a65d64eecef29f4de5b9c62894

Emma J. Bushnell (nee Raimondo) - screen name of 'Toni Raimondo'

In 2006, I received several e-mails referencing an Avon, Ohio obituary notice which mentions another marriage for Lane. Excerpts from that obituary follow:

"AVON - Emma J. Bushnell (nee Raimondo), 85, died Monday, April 24, 2006 ... She was born in Los Angeles, Calif., and lived in Manhattan Beach, Calif., for 50 years. She moved to Avon in November 2005. Mrs. Bushnell starred in the 1939 Ice Capades and acted in films ... She was married briefly to Allan ''Rocky'' Lane, an actor who had his own television show and comic book and was perhaps most famous as the voice of ''Mr. Ed.'' Mrs. Bushnell later moved to Hawaii, where she met her second husband, the late John Bushnell ...".

The full obituary is available at: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16542740&BRD=1699&PAG=461&dept_id=46369&rfi=6

Am unsure who authored the film listing and brief bio on at the Internet Movie Database for 'Toni Raimondo', real name of Emma J. Bushnell (nee Raimondo). It mentions the Ice Capades, lists a few film appearances, and references the marriage to Allan Lane. The IMDB link for Toni Raimondo is at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0706890/