Tragic Blonde Bombshell Carole Landis Vintage One Million B. C. Pin - Up Photograph
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:737787 | Size: 7.5" x 9.5" |
| Original/Reproduction: Original | Modified Item: No |
| Subject: Carole Landis | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
| Film: One Million B.C. (1940) |
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ITEM: This is a vintage and original Hal Roach / United Artists production still photograph of tragic, beautiful starlet Carole Landis. This breezy poolside portrait captures Landis as a leggy, barefoot bathing beauty in a classic pin-up view. This is part of the publicity campaign for the 1940 fantasy film One Million B.C.
Known as "The Blonde Bomber, " Landis's outrageously attractive beauty made her a shoo-in for decorative roles in films. Unfortunately, she could never break out and get meatier roles that didn't rely so heavily on her good looks. After a constant struggle for roles and four failed marriages Landis ended her own life at the age of 29.
The press snipe reads, "Carole Landis, star of the Hal Roach spectacle of prehistoric man, '1, 000, 000 B.C., ' which Roach is directing. The cast features Victor Mature, Lon Chaney Jr., Carole Landis and John Hubbard. A United Artists release."
Measures a trimmed 7.5" x 9.5" on a glossy single weight paper stock.
Studio paper caption, REF. DEPT. ink stamp, and handwritten notations on verso.
CONDITION: Fine condition with likely trimmed edges, some light hand retouching that was done for publication, and light general storage/handling wear. Please use the included images as a conditional guide.
Guaranteed to be 100% vintage and original from Grapefruit Moon Gallery.
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Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin, as Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her father, a railroad mechanic, was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father walked out, leaving Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister to fend for themselves.
After graduating from high school, she married Irving Wheeler, but the union lasted a month (the marriage was annulled because Carole was only 15 at the time). The couple remarried in August 1934, and the two headed to California to start a new life. For a while she worked as a dancer and singer, but before long the glitter of show business drew her to Los Angeles.
She won a studio contract with Warner Brothers but was a bit player for the most part in such films as A Star Is Born (1937), A Day at the Races (1937), and The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937). The following year started out much the same way, with more bit roles. By 1939, she was getting a few speaking roles, although mostly one-liners, and that year ended much as had the previous two years, with more bit roles; also, she and Wheeler were divorced.
In 1940 she was cast as Loana in the Hal Roach production of One Million B.C. (1940); she finally got noticed (the skimpy outfit helped), and her career began moving. She began getting parts in B pictures but didn't star in big productions -- although she had talent, the really good roles were given to the established stars of the day.
Her busiest year was 1942, with roles in Manila Calling (1942), The Powers Girl (1943), A Gentleman at Heart (1942), and three other movies. Unfortunately, critics took little notice of her films, and and when they did, reviewers tended to focus on her breathtaking beauty. By the middle 1940s, Carole's career was beginning to short-circuit. Her contract with 20th Century-Fox had been canceled, her marriages to Willis Hunt Jr. and Thomas Wallace had failed, and her current marriage to Horace Schmidlapp was on the skids; all of that plus health problems spelled disaster for her professionally and personally.
Her final two films, Brass Monkey (1948) and The Silk Noose (1948) were released in 1948. On July 5, 1948, Carole committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal in her Brentwood Heights, California, home. She was only 29 and had made 49 pictures, most of which were, unfortunately, forgettable. If Hollywood moguls had given Carole a chance, she could have been one of the brightest stars in its history.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson
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