Lois Wilde

{{Short description|American actress (1907–1995)}}{{Infobox person | name = Lois Wilde | image = | imagesize = | caption = Lois Wilde (right) with Pearl Eaton (left) in 1923 | birth_name = Edithea Lois Wild | birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|8|14|mf=y}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|2|16|1907|8|14|mf=y}} | death_place = North Attleboro, Massachusetts, U.S. | years_active = 1936–1984 | spouse = Leslie Major Sherriff (1925–1937) (divorced) (1 child)<br>William Henry Snow (1938–1940) (divorced)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21567751/lois-wilde/|title = Lois Wilde|newspaper = St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date = June 1938|page = 4}}</ref><br>Gilbert Denton Buck (1954–1986) (his death) | children = 1<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mercadantefuneral.com/obituary/dr-marjorie-rohde-phd|title = Dr. Marjorie (Sherriff) Rohde, PHD Obituary|date = April 2021}}</ref> }} '''Edithia Lois Wilde'''<ref>{{cite news |title=(photo caption) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21597360/lois_wilde/ |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |agency=International Newsreel |date=March 29, 1925 |location=Hawaii, Honolulu |page=36|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> (August 14, 1907 – February 16, 1995) was an American actress, model, dancer, and beauty contest winner.<ref>{{cite news |title=Actress Lois Wilde to Be Wed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21567751/lois_wilde/ |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=June 1, 1938 |location=Missouri, St. Louis |page=4|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 4, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> She was most famous for appearing in B-Western and Action movies, and also known for her appearance in ''Undersea Kingdom'' (1936).

==Career== By the time she was 15 years old, Wilde was working as a model and was a ballet dancer at the Metropolitan Opera House. Artists for whom she posed included Howard Chandler Christy, Arnold Genthe, and Renee Prahar.<ref name="bde">{{cite news |title=Lois Wilde, Famous Model at 15, Still Loves Dolls, but Aspires to Be a Bernhardt |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21596212/lois_wilde/ |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=December 10, 1922 |location=New York, Brooklyn |page=4|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

While dancing at the Metropolitan Opera, she was discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., who hired her to perform in the 1923 ''Ziegfeld Follies''. During this period, she "was once voted the most beautiful girl in the Follies organization."<ref>{{cite web |title=Lois Wilde |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/lois-wilde-397012 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=5 July 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705023437/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/lois-wilde-397012 |archivedate=5 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="dn">{{cite news |title=Wedding March Soon; Banjo One, for Lois Wilde |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21567898/lois_wilde/ |work=Daily News |date=March 8, 1925 |location=New York, New York City |page=18|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 4, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Student of Life |url=https://www.thesunchronicle.com/student-of-life/article_31ff0122-244a-5cfd-ab47-03d14a9a2879.html |work=The Sun Chronicle |date=November 11, 2001 |location=Attleboro, Massachusetts|accessdate = December 6, 2021}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Wilde co-starred with Ray Corrigan in ''Undersea Kingdom'' (1936) a serial from Republic Pictures.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Movie Lots Beg to Report |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21597619/lois_wilde/ |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=March 18, 1936 |location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh |page=12|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> She also co-starred with Gene Autry in 1936's ''The Singing Cowboy''.

==Personal life== On March 8, 1925, at eighteen years of age, Wilde married Leslie Major Sherriff, a banjo-player for the Paul Whiteman Band, in Brooklyn, New York. When she became pregnant with her first child, Marjorie, she left the Follies.

After moving from Atlantic City to Beverly Hills, she had a hysterectomy. While recovering in a wheelchair at a hair salon, a man approached her and asked if she had ever been in theater. This inspired her to pursue film roles.<ref>{{cite news |title=Musician Weds Follies Girl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21597199/lois_wilde/ |work=Pittsburgh Daily Post |date=March 9, 1925 |location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh |page=2|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Student of Life |url=https://www.thesunchronicle.com/student-of-life/article_31ff0122-244a-5cfd-ab47-03d14a9a2879.html |work=The Sun Chronicle |date=November 11, 2001 |location=Attleboro, Massachusetts |accessdate = December 6, 2021}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Wilde and Sherriff divorced in 1937.<ref name=":0" /> In 1938, she married William Henry Snow, who was the president of a radio recording company.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Film Actress to Take Vows |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21568306/lois_wilde/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=June 1, 1938 |location=California, Los Angeles |page=3|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 4, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

== Death == Wilde died on February 16, 1995, in Attleboro, Massachusetts at the age of 87.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lois Wilde |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba31678f2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127041130/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba31678f2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref>

== Partial filmography == * ''Step on It'' (1936) as Connie Banning * ''The Millionaire Kid'' (1936) as Kitty Malone * ''Caryl of the Mountains'' (1936) as Caryl Foray * ''The Singing Cowboy'' (1936) as Helen Blake * ''Undersea Kingdom'' (1936) as Diana Compton * ''Palm Springs'' (1936) as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited) * ''Wildcat Trooper'' (1936) as Ruth Reynolds * ''Stormy Trails'' (1936) as Connie Curlew * ''Outcast'' (1937) as Mary Hallifax (uncredited) * ''Nobody's Baby'' (1937) as Radio Station Receptionist (uncredited) * ''Pick a Star'' (1937) as Minor Role (uncredited) * ''Brothers of the West'' (1937) as Celia Chandler * ''Hopalong Rides Again'' (1937) as Laura Peters * ''Sky Racket'' (1937) as Sugar (uncredited) * ''Danger Valley'' (1937) as Mickey Temple * ''Love Nest'' (1951) as Landlady (uncredited) * ''Steel Town'' (1952) as Nurse (uncredited) * ''Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki'' (1955) as Boat Passenger (uncredited) * ''Oh, God! You Devil'' (1984) as Casino Patron (uncredited)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0928472}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Lois}} Category:1907 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Ziegfeld girls