Thelma White
Thelma White (* 4. December 1910 in Lincoln , Nebraska as Thelma Wolpa ; † 11. January 2005 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American actress .
Life
Thelma White was the daughter of showmen and was already on stage with her parents at the age of two. She started singing when she was ten.
Due to the artistic environment in her parents' house, Thelma White worked in vaudeville performances at an early age, only to make her Broadway debut a little later .
Before she was signed to Studio RKO in 1928 , she earned her living with radio broadcasts and with the Ziegfeld Follies, among other things . The young woman worked with some of the greatest comedians of her time, such as Edgar Kennedy , Milton Berle and Jack Benny . In 1935, she starred alongside Richard Talmadge in the thriller Never Too Late . Two years later she was used by her studio in the anti-drug film Tell Your Children , which was rediscovered in 1972 and became a cult film under the title Reefer Madness . Despite the bad reviews when it was first released, the role of the femme fatale , who seduces teenagers into drug use and eventually kills herself, became one of her best known. The actress was never particularly happy about reducing her career to this film.
Like many stars, Thelma White participated in the entertainment of troops in Europe during World War II . In the process, she developed a form of polio and was only able to appear in films again after a few years. After the film Mary Lou in 1948, she ended her acting career.
However, White remained loyal to the entertainment industry and represented many rising Hollywood stars as an agent in the years that followed . Her clients included Debbie Reynolds , Robert Blake and James Coburn . In addition, she occasionally worked as a producer of films and television programs.
White was married three times. In the 1930s she was with her colleague Claude Stroude. After the divorce, she remarried an actor, but also married Max Hoffman Jr. ended in divorce in 1957. In the same year she married for the third time. His marriage to costume designer Maurice Millard lasted until his death in May 1999.
Thelma White died at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills at the age of 94 .
Films (selection)
- 1930: Ride 'em Cowboy
- 1933: Hey, nanny nanny
- 1937: Reefer Madness
- 1943: Pretty Dolly
- 1948: Mary Lou
Web links
- Thelma White in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White, Thelma |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wolpa, Thelma (maiden name); Stroude, Thelma (first married name); Hoffmann, Thelma (second married name); Millard, Thelma (third married name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actress and acting agent |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th December 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lincoln , Nebraska |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 11, 2005 |
| Place of death | Woodland Hills |