Barbara Lawrence | |
---|---|
Born |
Barbara Jo Lawrence February 24, 1930 Carnegie, Oklahoma, U.S. |
Died | November 13, 2013 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 83)
Cause of death | Kidney failure |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1945–1962 |
Spouse(s) |
|
Children | Melinda (b.1962) Michael S (b. 1957) |
Barbara Jo Lawrence (February 24, 1930 – November 13, 2013) was an American model, actress, and real estate agent.
Born to Morris Lawrence and Berniece (or Bernice) Eaton Lawrence in Carnegie, Oklahoma, Barbara Jo moved with her mother to Kansas City, Missouri as an adolescent. Lawrence's career began as a child photographer's model. She appeared in her first film, Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe (1945), as a night-club patron. A year later, she made a strong impression in her second film at 20th Century-Fox, Margie, in which she played outgoing flapper Maryville.
She was featured in the swashbuckler Captain from Castile (1947) with Tyrone Power. While finishing her studies at UCLA, she attracted the attention of talent scouts, and Lawrence was soon featured in a number of additional 20th Century-Fox movies, including You Were Meant for Me, Give My Regards to Broadway, A Letter to Three Wives, The Street with No Name, and Thieves' Highway. At Universal in the early 1950s were Peggy and Here Come the Nelsons. She also was one of the stars of Columbia's romantic comedy, Paris Model, in 1953.
Upon moving to MGM, Lawrence appeared with Gig Young in the 3D movie Arena (1953) and in Her Twelve Men with Greer Garson. She played the role of Gertie Cummings in the film version of Oklahoma!, in which she gets into a knockdown catfight with Gloria Grahame ("Ado Annie"). In 1957, she starred in Kronos with Jeff Morrow. Although the science-fiction film was not praised by critics at the time, it eventually attracted a cult following for its imaginative storyline and special effects.