Jarma Lewis
Jarma Toy Lewis (born June 5, 1931 in Tuscaloosa , Alabama , † November 12, 1985 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress .
Life
Jarma Lewis, who came from a family of Anglo-Irish ancestors, attended Los Angeles City College. She initially took part in school theater performances and received her acting training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School in New York . At the theater, where she also worked temporarily as a stage manager , she began as an understudy and a substitute for experienced older colleagues.
In the early 50s she played her first film roles. Lewis, who worked as a receptionist in a dentist's office in Beverly Hills , was discovered by the director Henry Hathaway , who cast her as Queen Guinevere in his knightly film Prince Ironheart . She was then used as a starlet and emerging actress with 20th Century Fox (1954) and MGM (1955-57). Together with Taina Elg and Luana Lee , she was one of the youngest actresses to be under contract with MGM at the time. She initially shot with directors such as Curt Siodmak , Otto Preminger , Stanley Donen , Richard Thorpe , and later with Vincente Minnelli and Edward Dmytryk , and has appeared in different genres such as comedies, thrillers, crime novels, dramas and period films.
In the western Surrounded (1955) she played the role of the settler woman Hannah Ferber at the side of Dan Duryea . Her last film role was as Barbara Drake in the family drama The Land of the Rain Tree (1957), set against the backdrop of the American Civil War .
Lewis has also had episode roles in a number of TV series and guest appearances on TV shows.
In November 1955 she married the industrialist Benjamin Edward Bensinger III., Whose family had made a million dollar fortune by selling and installing skittle and bowling alleys . The couple went on their honeymoon in South America and then settled in Los Angeles. The marriage, which was divorced in October 1984, had three sons.
Lewis turned to writing in the 1970s and served on the board of UCLA Art Council for fifteen years . Jarma Lewis died at her Beverly Hills home in November 1985, aged 54.
Filmography (selection)
- 1952: The WAC from Walla Walla
- 1953: April in Paris
- 1953: The Magnetic Monster
- 1954: Prince Eisenherz (Prince Valiant)
- 1954: River of No Return (River of No Return)
- 1954: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)
- 1955: Temple of Temptation (The Prodigal)
- 1955: Revolt in the Woman's Prison
- 1955: Surrounded (The Marauders)
- 1955: The Lost (The Cobweb)
- 1955: The Tender Trap
- 1957: The Land of the Rain Tree (Raintree Country)
Web links
- Jarma Lewis in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Jarma Lewis - biography
Individual evidence
- ^ Piet Hein Honig, Hanns-Georg Rodek : 100001. The show business encyclopedia of the 20th century . Showbiz-Data-Verlag, Villingen-Schwenningen 1992, page 567 ISBN 3-929009-01-5
- ↑ a b c d e Jarma Lewis . Biography. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ↑ Jarma Lewis as Hannah Ferber with Dan Duryea as Avery in The Marauders (1955) . Photo. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ↑ Surrounded . Plot and cast. Official website Das Erste . Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ↑ RAINTREE COUNTY (1957) Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift . Photo. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ↑ a b c JARMA LEWIS BENSINGER, 54, FORMER ACTRESS . Death report. In: Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1985. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ↑ Jarma Lewis . Short biography at RottenTomatoes.com. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lewis, Jarma |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lewis, Jarma Toy (maiden name); Lewis Bensinger, Jarma (married name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-american actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 5, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tuscaloosa , Alabama |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 1985 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |