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Cleouna Moore (October 31, 1929[1][2] – October 25, 1973) was an American actress, usually featured in the role of a blonde bombshell in Hollywood films of the 1950s, including seven films with Hugo Haas. She also became a well-known pin-up girl.
Cleo Moore | |
|---|---|
 Moore at the peak of her career, c. 1953 | |
| Born | Cleouna Moore October 31, 1929 Galvez, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 1973 (aged 43) Inglewood, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Inglewood Park Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1948–1957 |
| Spouses | Palmer Long
(m. 1944; div. 1944)Herbert Heftler (m. 1961) |
Early life
editCleouna Moore was born in 1929[1][2] in Galvez, Louisiana,[3] and raised in nearby Gonzales. Her father ran a grocery store. She was educated in Gonzales public schools and took a secretarial course at Pope's Commercial College in Baton Rouge.[4]
She married Palmer Long, the youngest child of Huey Long, the former governor of Louisiana who was assassinated while a Senator for Louisiana, but the marriage ended in six weeks.[3]
Career
editShe made her film debut in 1948 in Embraceable You.[7] She also played the leading lady in the film serial Congo Bill[8] and worked for Warner Brothers briefly in 1950. She worked for RKO Radio Pictures from 1950 to 1952, making such films as Hunt the Man Down and Gambling House.
She signed with Columbia Pictures in 1952. The studio had plans to mold Moore as its next film star, hoping she would bring Columbia the success that 20th Century-Fox was having with Marilyn Monroe. In order to compete with Monroe, Moore had to bleach her hair platinum blonde. Columbia dubbed her "The Next Big Thing" and "The Blonde Rita Hayworth". She first gained attention as a doomed gun moll in Nicholas Ray's film noir On Dangerous Ground in 1952.[citation needed]
Moore began starring in films in 1952. In 1953, she made One Girl's Confession, opposite Hugo Haas, who directed and appeared with her in several other films. She co-starred in Thy Neighbor's Wife (1953) and Bait (1954), both directed by Haas, the latter co-starring John Agar.
In 1954, she starred in The Other Woman, playing a B-movie bit player who strikes at her movie director for revenge when he declines the offer for her to be in his picture. Upon completing a supporting role in Women's Prison (1955), Moore signed a brief deal with Universal Pictures to play a suicidal prostitute in the low-budget thriller Hold Back Tomorrow (1955), again opposite Agar.
In 1956, she starred as a predatory career girl in Over-Exposed, co-starring Richard Crenna. The following year, Moore made her final film appearance in Hit and Run (1957). After the release of the film, Moore retired from acting.
During this period of 1950s Hollywood, Moore was one of several buxom blondes to achieve notability following Marilyn Monroe's major breakthrough; the others included Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Diana Dors, Sheree North, Anita Ekberg, Barbara Lang, Barbara Nichols, Joi Lansing, Carol Ohmart, Pat Sheehan, and Greta Thyssen.
Post Hollywood
editMoore found success as a businesswoman in real estate after her screen career ended.[9]
Personal life
editAfter her six-week marriage to Palmer Long, Moore remained single through the 1940s and 1950s. In 1961, Moore married multi-millionaire real estate developer Herbert Heftler,[10] and lived on an estate on Coldwater Canyon in Beverly Hills for the remaining 12 years of her life.[citation needed]
Death
editMoore died in 1973. She was either 44[10] or 49[1] years old. Her remains are buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery.[2]
Partial filmography
edit- Embraceable You (1948) - Sylvia (uncredited)
- Congo Bill (1948, Serial) - Lureen / Ruth Culver
- Dynamite Pass (1950) - Lulu
- Bright Leaf (1950) - Louise - Cousn (uncredited)
- 711 Ocean Drive (1950) - Mal's Date (uncredited)
- The Great Jewel Robber (1950) - Vivacious Blonde at Airport (uncredited)
- Rio Grande Patrol (1950) - Peppie
- Hunt the Man Down (1950) - Pat Sheldon
- Gambling House (1950) - Sally
- On Dangerous Ground (1951) - Myrna Bowers
- The Pace That Thrills (1952) - Ruby
- Strange Fascination (1952) - Margo
- One Girl's Confession (1953) - Mary Adams
- Thy Neighbor's Wife (1953) - Lita Vojnar
- Bait (1954) - Peggy
- The Other Woman (1954) - Sherry Steward
- Women's Prison (1955) - Mae
- Hold Back Tomorrow (1955) - Dora
- Over-Exposed (1956) - Lila Crane
- Hit and Run (1957) - Julie Hilmer (final film role)
References
edit- ^ a b c "Moore, Cleo 1924-1973". WorldCat.
- ^ a b c "The Private Life and Times of Cleo Moore". GlamorGirlsoftheSilverScreen.com.
- ^ a b Bacon, James (September 17, 1953). "Curvaceous Cleo Moore Intends To Produce Movie In Near Future". The Plain Speaker. Pennsylvania, Hazleton. Associated Press. p. 7. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Alexander, Pericles (September 14, 1952). "Rita's Studio Gives Us Film Siren From Louisiana". The Times. Louisiana, Shreveport. p. 14a. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Piper Cub Round-the-World Flyers Return". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri, St. Louis. November 28, 1947. p. 55. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Hartfields Store". The Van Nuys News. California, Van Nuys. December 13, 1948. p. 2. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Southern Drawl Vital, After All". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. June 12, 1949. p. Part IV - 1. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Serial Queen". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Ohio, Cincinnati. January 16, 1949. p. 84. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Richard Koper (2023). “One Girl’s Confession” — The Life and Career of Cleo Moore. BearManor Media. p. 248. ISBN 9798887710563.
- ^ a b "La.-Born Actress, Cleo Moore, Dead". The Town Talk. Louisiana, Alexandria. United Press International. October 28, 1973. p. 4. Retrieved August 3, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.