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Pamela Blake

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Pamela Blake
Blake in The Utah Trail (1938)
Born
Adele Pearce

(1915-08-06)August 6, 1915
DiedOctober 6, 2009(2009-10-06) (aged 94)
OccupationActress
Years active1934–1954
Spouses
Malcolm 'Bud' McTaggart
(m. 1936; div. 1940)
Mike Stokey
(m. 1943; div. 1948)
John Canavan
(m. 1983; died 1996)
Children2

Pamela Blake (August 6, 1915 – October 6, 2009)[1] was an American film actress who acted in almost 50 films. She is known primarily for her roles in Western films and serials.[2]

Early years

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Blake was born in Oakland, California as Adele Pearce,[3] and performed under that name until 1942.[4] Following her mother's death when Blake was 3 years old, she went to live with an uncle and aunt,[2] William Bojorques and Gertrude Biddle-Bojorques in Petaluma, California. Her secondary education came at schools in Petaluma and San Francisco.[5]

She went to Hollywood at age 17 after she won a beauty contest.[1]

Film

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Blake's film career lasted for around 20 years, with her starring mostly in B-movies. Her first film role was uncredited, playing a bit part in the 1934 film Eight Girls on a Boat. However, in 1938 she starred in the Western The Utah Trail[4] alongside Tex Ritter. ("It was terrible!" she said in later years. "I never saw it and never wanted to.")[2] She also starred opposite John Wayne in the 1939 film Wyoming Outlaw. This helped her to secure several other Western acting roles, many times as the lead heroine.[6] A major break came when she was cast as the second female lead in This Gun for Hire (1942).[7]

In 1939 she starred in five films, one of which was a crime drama, one a mystery, and one a Western. In total she had roles in some 54 films, as well as a number of starring roles in certain television series. In 1946 she starred in Chick Carter, Detective. Toward the end of her career, she mostly played parts in Western genre films and television episodes, such as The Range Rider.

Waco (1952) was Blake's last feature film, and her last role was in the 1954 television pilot, The Adventures of the Texas Kid: Border Ambush, which was later released as a film.[4]

Personal life and death

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In 1935, Blake was injured in an automobile wreck that might have ended her career. A newspaper article in The Petaluma Argus-Courier in 1940 described her as having emerged from the wrecked car "with a neck badly torn and both eyes and cheeks badly mutilated."[5] Plastic surgery helped her to return to acting.[5]

Blake married three times. In 1936, she eloped to Yuma, Arizona, with actor Malcolm "Bud" Taggert. They divorced in 1940.[8] Her second marriage, in 1943, was to actor, television producer and writer Mike Stokey; it ended in divorce in 1948.[2] They had one son, Mike Stokey II, and a daughter, Barbara. Their son served as a 1st Marine Division combat correspondent during the Vietnam War, and who then began working in the film industry as a military technical advisor, having worked with, among others, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

In 1953, Blake moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to retire and raise her two children.[9] She married John Canavan, an Air Force master sergeant, in 1983.[1] Blake died of natural causes in a Las Vegas, Nevada care facility in 2009, at age 94.[1]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1934 Eight Girls in a Boat School Girl Uncredited
1934 Autumn Crocus Lenchen
1936 One in a Million Dancer Uncredited
1937 Stage Door Actress Uncredited
1938 Island in the Sky Hatcheck Girl Uncredited
1938 The Utah Trail Sally Jeffers
1939 Sorority House Merle Scott
1939 Wyoming Outlaw Irene Parker
1939 Girl from Rio Annette Templeton
1939 Full Confession Laura Mahoney
1939 Three Sons Mamie Donaldson
1940 Married and in Love Minor Role (scenes deleted)
1940 Millionaire Playboy Eleanor
1940 Pop Always Pays Edna Brewster
1940 One Crowded Night Ruth
1940 Men Against the Sky Nurse Uncredited
1940 Too Many Girls Coed Uncredited
1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Lily
1941 No Greater Sin Betty James later Betty Thorne
1942 This Gun for Hire Annie
1942 Maisie Gets Her Man Elsie
1942 The Omaha Trail Julie Santley
1942 Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant Jimmy James Uncredited
1943 Kid Dynamite Ivy McGinnis
1943 Slightly Dangerous Mitzi
1943 Swing Shift Maisie Billie
1943 The Unknown Guest Julie
1943 Swing Fever Lois
1945 Three's a Crowd Diane Whipple
1945 Why Girls Leave Home Diana Leslie
1945 Captain Tugboat Annie Marion Graves
1946 Live Wires Mary Mahoney
1946 Partners in Time Elizabeth Meadows
1946 Mysterious Intruder Elora Lund
1946 The Runaround Coffee Shop Waitress Uncredited
1946 Chick Carter, Detective Ellen Dale Serial
1946 The Mysterious Mr. M Shirley Clinton
1946 Rolling Home Pamela Crawford
1947 The Sea Hound Ann Whitney Serial
1947 The Hat Box Mystery Susan Hart
1948 Stage Struck Janet Winters
1948 Son of God's Country Cathy Thornton
1948 Highway 13 Doris Lacy
1949 Ghost of Zorro Rita White
1949 Sky Liner Carol, TWA Stewardess
1950 Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey Anne Howe Palooka
1950 The Daltons' Women Joan Talbot
1950 Federal Man Mrs. Judith Palmer
1950 Gunfire Cynthy
1950 Border Rangers Ellen Reed
1951 Danger Zone Vicki Jason (2nd episode)
1952 Waco Kathy Clark
1954 Adventures of the Texas Kid: Border Ambush Betty Johnson

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "PASSINGS: Pamela Blake, Ben Ali". Chicago Tribune. October 10, 2009. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (2004). Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. McFarland. pp. 40–45. ISBN 9780786420285. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  3. ^ "Pamela Blake". telegraph.co.uk. London, UK. October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  4. ^ a b c Mayer, Geoff (2017). Encyclopedia of American Film Serials. McFarland. p. 53. ISBN 9781476627199. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Adele Pearce, Petaluma Girl, Appears In "Pop Always Pays" At Calif. Theatre This Week". The Petaluma Argus-Courier. California, Petaluma. August 13, 1940. p. 5. Retrieved July 10, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ Magers, Boyd; Fitzgerald, Michael G. (July 15, 2004). Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. McFarland. pp. 40–45. ISBN 978-0-7864-2028-5.
  7. ^ Mayer, Geoff (February 7, 2017). Encyclopedia of American Film Serials. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2719-9.
  8. ^ "Actress Sues Screen Lover". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. Utah, Ogden. International News Service. August 15, 1940. p. 14. Retrieved July 10, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ Lentz, Harris M. III (2010). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2009: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. ISBN 9780786456451. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
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