{{Short description|American actress (1921–2024)}} {{for|the English lawn bowler|Barbara Fuller}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}} {{infobox person | name = Barbra Fuller | image = | birth_name = Barbara Deane Fuller | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|07|31}} | birth_place = Nahant, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|05|14|1921|07|31}} | death_place = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1930s–1973 | spouse = {{marriage|Lash LaRue|1951|1952|end=div}} }}
'''Barbra Fuller''' (born '''Barbara Deane Fuller'''; July 31, 1921 – May 14, 2024) was an American actress.
==Career== Fuller signed a contract with Republic Pictures in 1949.<ref name="rp">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5190256/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle|title=Republic Pact for Radio's Barbara Fuller|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=May 7, 1949|location=Brooklyn, NY|page=14|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=May 7, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> Her father Ralph Fuller died when she was three years old. She had worked in radio shows since the 1930s.<ref name="WesternBook">{{cite book|last1=Fitzgerald|first1=Michael G.|last2=Magers|first2=Boyd|title=Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s|date=February 2, 2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786426560|pages=51–57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_RTCgAAQBAJ&dq=barbra+fuller+interview&pg=PA51|accessdate=October 30, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> She appeared frequently in B-movies and television series in the 1950s. She changed her hair color frequently for film roles. Its hue varied from platinum to brunette in her four movies released by Republic Pictures in 1950. She returned to blonde as Laurel Vernon in ''Lonely Heart Bandits'' (1950).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5190191/the_times|title=Life in Hollywood|work=The Times|date=September 21, 1949|author=Heyn, Howard C.|location=California, San Mateo, CA|page=16|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=May 7, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> Her first screen credit is for ''The Red Menace'' (1949). This was followed by roles in ''Flame of Youth'' (1949) and ''Crosswinds'' (1951). In ''The Red Menace'' she played "Mollie O'Flaherty", a character used by the Communist Party as bait. In ''City of Bad Men'' (1953), a Western adventure, she played a minor character. Afterward, she was mostly involved in television work. Her last parts as a movie actress came in ''How Sweet It Is!'' (1968) and ''The Roommates'' (1973).
==Radio== Fuller acted in a number of soap operas.<ref name="sies">Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-5149-4}}. P. 245.</ref> She played Claudia in ''One Man's Family'', winner of the prestigious Peabody Award<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radioarchives.com/product_p/ra001.htm|title=One Man's Family, Volume 1|website=RadioArchives.com}}</ref> and arguably the first soap opera having begun in 1932 and running three decades.<ref name="lp">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/21953677/?terms=%22Barbra%2BFuller%22|title=Picture Halts London Trip|work=The Galveston Daily News|date=May 7, 1949|agency=INS|author=Parsons, Louella O.|location=Texas, Galveston|page=2|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=May 7, 2016}} {{Closed access}}</ref> She did her first radio work in Chicago between the ages of 9 and 11.<ref name=v/> By age 18 she had appeared in 25 radio serials.<ref name=lp/> Fuller was heard in ''Whispering Streets'', ''The Guiding Light'', ''Ma Perkins'', ''Today's Children'',<ref name=sies/> ''Scattergood Baines'', ''Madame Courageous'', ''Road of Life'', and ''Stepmother''.<ref name=v/>
==Television== Fuller's television performances are numerous, beginning with a 1953 episode of ''Adventures of Superman''. Other series in which she participated include ''Four Star Playhouse'' (1955–1956), ''Ford Television Theater'' (1957), ''Trackdown'' (1958), ''State Trooper'' (1958), ''Colgate Theatre'' (1958), ''My Three Sons'' (1960), ''Perry Mason'' (1960, 1964), and ''Daniel Boone'' (1970).
==Personal life== Barbara Deane Fuller was born in Nahant, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1921.<ref name=rs>DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960'', pg. 100, McFarland & Company, Inc.; {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2834-2}}.</ref><ref name=v>{{cite book|editor-last1=Grunwald|editor-first1=Edgar A. |title=Variety Radio Directory 1940-1941|date=1940|publisher=Variety, Inc|location=New York, New York|page=940|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Annuals/Archive-Radio-Annual-IDX/40s/1940/Variety-Radio-Directory-1940-1941-OCR-Page-0943.pdf|access-date=May 7, 2016}}</ref> She married Western motion picture star Lash LaRue on February 23, 1951, in Yuma, Arizona. They had a godson, child actor J.P. Sloane<ref>The Nashville Banner(US) June 1, 1991, pg. Front Page Sec B, by: Leon Alligood Senior Staff Writer, "Special 'Uncles' Provide Star-studded Childhood</ref> and later author, television commentator, and Dr. J.P. Sloane. The couple divorced on June 2, 1952.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5190348/the_salt_lake_tribune|title=Wife, 26, Divorces Movie Cowboy|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=June 3, 1952|agency=United Press|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|page=40|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=May 7, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Fuller died on the morning of May 14, 2024, at the age of 102.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/barbra-fuller-dead-republic-pictures-one-mans-family-1235903503/|title=Barbra Fuller, Star of Republic Pictures and 'One Man's Family' on the Radio, Dies at 102|first=Mike|last=Barnes|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=18 May 2024|access-date=18 May 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Broadway Comedienne Joins Hope Picture|date=June 3, 1949|page=B7}} *{{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title='Red Menace' Deals Strong Blow To Communistic Idea|date=June 10, 1949|page=B6}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0298175}}.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Barbra}} Category:1921 births Category:2024 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Essex County, Massachusetts Category:American women centenarians Category:American film actresses Category:American radio actresses Category:American soap opera actresses Category:American television actresses Category:People from Nahant, Massachusetts Category:Western (genre) film actresses