Gale Storm
| Gale Storm | |
|---|---|
Storm in My Little Margie in 1953.
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| Born |
Josephine Owaissa Cottle April 5, 1922 Bloomington, Texas |
| Died | June 27, 2009 (aged 87) Danville, California |
| Occupation |
Traditional pop singer Actress |
| Years active | 1940-1989 |
| Spouse(s) | Lee Bonnell (1941–1986, his death) 4 children Paul Masterson (1988–1996, his death) |
| Website | galestorm.tv |
Gale Storm (born Josephine Owaissa Cottle, April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009) was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.
Storm was born in Bloomington in Victoria County in south Texas. The youngest of five children, she had two brothers and two sisters. Her father, William Walter Cottle, died after a year-long illness when she was just seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to rear the children alone.
Her elder sister Lois gave her baby sister the middle name "Owaissa", a Norridgewock Native American word meaning "bluebird". Her mother took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas, which failed, and finally moved her family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.
When she was seventeen years old, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. First prize was a one-year contract with a movie studio. She won and was immediately given the stage name Gale Storm. Her performing partner (and future husband), Lee Bonnell from South Bend, Indiana, became known as Terry Belmont.
Storm had a role in the radio version of Big Town. After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures. Her first was Tom Brown's School Days, playing opposite Jimmy Lydon and Freddie Bartholomew. She worked steadily in low-budget films released during this period. In 1941, she sang in several Soundies, three-minute musicals produced for "movie jukeboxes".
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