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Billie Seward
Real name: Rita Ann Seward
1912 or 1914 - 1982


Billie Seward was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a Ziegfeld girl in the early 1930s.

Her Hollywood career lasted about ten years, from the mid 1930s through the mid 1940s.

As a contract player at Columbia, she was featured with Tim McCoy in five westerns and one non-western. She also was the leading lady in one of the Kermit Maynard 'mountie' films, TRAILS OF THE WILD (Ambassador-Conn, 1935).

In 1935, she married William Wilkerson, owner of the Trocadero (Los Angeles) and Ciro's night clubs. Wilkerson was also the owner and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter trade publication. They divorced in 1938. There was a later marriage to a Frank Devlin.

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from left to right are Bob Allen, Billie Seward, and Tim McCoy in a still from McCoy's LAW BEYOND THE RANGE (Columbia, 1935). Seward also teamed up with McCoy and Allen in THE REVENGE RIDER (Columbia, 1935) - see lobby card below.


  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Billie Seward: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0786538/

Find A Grave notes that Billie Seward Devlin is interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147887114/billie-devlin

One of Seward's last roles was as "Cousin Delightful" in LI'L ABNER (RKO, 1940): http://www.polarblairsden.com/movieslilabner40gdelightful.html

Death and funeral notice for Billie Seward Devlin in the March 23, 1982 Los Angeles Times: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109627251/obituary-for-billie-seward-devlin-she/




(Courtesy of Bruce Hickey)

Billie Seward and Tim McCoy in a lobby card from THE REVENGE RIDER (Columbia, 1935).





 


(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Joyce Compton
Full name: Olivia Joyce Compton
1907 - 1997


In the photo above are pretty blonde Joyce Compton and Tim McCoy in FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE (Columbia, 1932). Kentucky born Joyce Compton had a smooth and sweet Southern drawl and wound up specializing in playing ditzy blondes and second female leads, often stealing the scene from the stars of the film. One of my favorite Compton films is CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (Warners, 1945), which starred Barbara Stanwyck, with Joyce playing the lovesick nurse tending to Dennis Morgan. A 1926 WAMPAS Baby Star, her career began at Fox in the mid 1920s, and she was still doing films in the late 1950s. Among her credits were a few westerns.

She was single for most of her life - except for a very brief marriage that lasted a few months in the mid 1950s. In later life, she involved herself with music, painting, and a long stint as a nurse or nurse's aid.

She passed away October 13, 1997 at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Matt Hinrichs' Joyce Compton Shrine website has a variety of photos of Joyce: http://joycecompton.blogspot.com/

Find A Grave website has a photo of the grave marker for Joyce Compton at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Hollywood Hills:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20029/joyce-compton

Death notice for Joyce Compton in the October 16, 1997 Los Angeles Times: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109627916/death-notice-for-actress-joyce-compton/

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Joyce Compton: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0174049/





 

Virginia Vale
Real name: Dorothy Howe
1920 - 2006


Virginia Vale was born in Dallas, Texas in 1920.  Vale's career spanned from the mid 1930s through World War II, and she was the main heroine to George O'Brien in his westerns for RKO as well as the western musical shorts starring Ray Whitley.  After retiring from the screen, Vale worked 30+ years for Lockheed and was also an ice skating judge.

Dale Crawford and Jim Sorensen e-mailed with additional info on Virginia. She passed away on September 14, 2006 in Burbank, California at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center from congestive heart failure and is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.


  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Virginia Vale: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883922/

Find A Grave has a photo of the grave marker for Virginia Vale at Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55662142/virginia-vale

(From Old Corral collection)



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from left to right are Howard Hickman, Virginia Vale, George O'Brien and Charles 'Slim' Whitaker in a still from BULLET CODE (RKO, 1940).



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