Posted on 06/28/2009 2:17:49 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
LOS ANGELES – Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television's biggest stars on "My Little Margie" and "The Gale Storm Show," has died at age 87.
Storm, who had been in failing health in recent years, died Saturday at a convalescent hospital, said her son, Peter Bonnell.
Before landing the starring role in "My Little Margie" in 1952, Storm starred in numerous B movies opposite such stars as Roy Rogers, Eddie Albert and Jackie Cooper. After her last TV series, "The Gale Storm Show," ended in 1960 she went on to a successful singing career while continuing to make occasional TV appearances.
Storm was a Texas high schooler named Josephine Owaissa Cottle when she entered a talent contest for a radio show called "Gateway to Hollywood" in 1940. She was brought to Los Angeles for the finals, where her wholesome vivacity won over the radio audience and she was awarded a movie contract.
The contest's male winner was a lanky would-be actor named Lee Bonnell, who would later become her husband.
Given the quirky name Gale Storm, she went from contracts with RKO to Monogram to Universal, appearing in such low-budget films as "Where Are Your Children?" with Cooper and "Tom Brown's School Days" with Freddie Bartholomew.
She was often cast in westerns as the girl the cowboy left behind, and appeared in such B-movie oaters as "The Dude Goes West" with Albert, "The Kid from Texas" with Audie Murphy and "The Texas Rangers" with George Montgomery.
"I was really scared of horses," she admitted in 2000. "I only rode them because that's what you had to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
April - Bea Arthur
May - Dom Deluise
June - David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Gail Storm
These are the true entertainers, they can never be replaced...
My Union Newsletter (AFTRA) is going to need it’s own issue just for the IN MEMORIAM section.
Remember Gale Storm too.
She used to make a funny sound when a tough problem
came up,if I remember correct.
It was another time and a vastly different culture.
Boy, it sure was, and with the decline I see in America on a daily basis, I find myself wishing to be back then again.
IMDb has a pretty extensive bio on her.
David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Gail Storm
The real question is who starts the third triad?
A meta-triad, or triad of triads, if you will...
Me too. I can still remember her as "My Little Margie," when she'd get in trouble, she'd make that funny noise in her throat. Rest in peace Miss Storm. You are a happy memory from my youth.
Ha! That’s a great song, too. I loved My Little Margie although, for the life of me, I can’t remember the plot of even one episode. I do remember, though, she had a great apartment, she lived with her dad (who was always being harassed by Mr. Honeywell) and, even though I had no idea why, her dad seemed..um..different.
There was a porn actress named Gale Force, I think, probably spelled Gail.
THen there was the equally pun-challenged Joanna Storm.
Woulda been cute to see a vid w. those two.
Don’t ask me how I know.
Lots and lotsa research.
Aw, I hate to hear this. Even though it was before my time, I used to catch “My Little Margie” in reruns. I liked it a lot. It’s a very dated series, filmed more like little b-films (as opposed to the 3-camera way that “I Love Lucy” seemed to pioneer). But I still found it a pretty delightful show. I have a number of episodes on dvd. A little company (VCI) released two collections, comprised of nice prints.
Heck, I even have a few of those “My Little Margie” comic books. The comic far out-lasted the series, oddly enough. The series ended in 1955, but the comic continued to be published all the way to 1964! RIP, Gale Storm.
Well , I was born in 52 and remember watching the re-runs of My Little Margie in the late 50’s , and of course The Gale Storm show . There are a few episodes of MLM on Youtube if you are interested .
dang, I remember both of those shows
RIP
Check out youtube !
Yeah, that funny sound was sort of like a loud gurgle
that was heard as EEErrrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhghhhhh!
I tried for years as a young kid to imitate it but couldn’t get close.
MY LITTLE MARGIE , LIFE OF RILEY, and The Joan Davis Show are my absolute EARLIEST memories from childhood of this new thing called “Television”.
I loved My Little Margie although, for the life of me, I can’t remember the plot of even one episode.
Well, the Wikipedia says that show ran from '52~'55
and I was born in '52, so my memories are extremely vague.
(Maybe I caught some reruns in the later '50s)
Anyway, I do have some very early memories of her and her songs, although I can't really pinpoint them. Maybe it was from her variety show, or all the other variety shows she was on.
My mother, long gone, sang a few times with Gale Storm in USO shows during World War II. Hadn’t thought about that in years. I have a few old newspaper clippings.
So does she get to occupy the three-bedroom apartment in the sky with Michael Jackson and Billy Mays?
Not a household name , but Bob Bogle , founding member of The Ventures passed away a week or so ago . 78 .
I’m not only old enough to remember, I’m old enough to have had a major crush on Gale Storm.
Not all the good die young...
Oh how pretty. I loved her show, too. My Little Margie and I Love Lucy were the best.
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