Dixie Wanda Hendrix[1] (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress.[2][3]
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2021) |
Wanda Hendrix | |
---|---|
Born | Dixie Wanda Hendrix (1928-11-03)November 3, 1928 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
Died | February 1, 1981(1981-02-01) (aged 52) Burbank, California, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1945–1972 |
Spouse(s) | Audie Murphy (1949–1950) Jim Stack (1954–1958) Steve LaMonte (1969–1980) |
Hendrix's father was a logging foreman,[4] and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida.[5] She was performing in a school play in Jacksonville when she was seen by a talent agent who took her to Warner Bros. Her parents moved with her to California, buying a ranch there. She graduated from University High School.[1]
She made her first film, Confidential Agent,[1] in 1945 at the age of 16, and for the first few years of her career was consistently cast in "B" pictures. By the late 1940s, she was being included in more prestigious films, such as Ride the Pink Horse (1947) and Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948). She starred with Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes (1949).
In 1946, Audie Murphy saw Hendrix on the cover of Coronet magazine and arranged to meet her. They were married on February 8, 1949, and made the film Sierra (1950) together, but the marriage was short-lived; they divorced on April 14, 1950. Hendrix later said that Murphy wanted her to give up her career; but more significantly, he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from his service in World War II, and during "flashback" episodes would turn on her, once holding her at gunpoint. In her later years, Hendrix spoke sympathetically of Murphy's condition.[citation needed]
Hendrix resumed her career but found it difficult to obtain good roles. On June 26, 1954, she married wealthy sportsman James Langford Stack, Jr., the brother of actor Robert Stack, and essentially retired from films, though she worked in live television dramatic anthology shows such as Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Plymouth Playhouse, The Ford Television Theatre, The Revlon Mirror Theater, and Schlitz Playhouse, and occasionally appeared in later series such as Bat Masterson, My Three Sons, Wagon Train and Bewitched. She and Stack divorced on November 3, 1958. She married Italian financier and oil company executive Steven LaMonte (born 14 August 1942) on June 7, 1969; they divorced on November 17, 1980.
Hendrix died on February 11, 1981, in Burbank, California from double pneumonia, aged 52, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery.[5]
General | |
---|---|
National libraries | |
Biographical dictionaries | |
Other |