Barbra Fuller (born Barbara Deane Fuller; July 31, 1921) is an American retired film, television, and radio actress.

Career

The

Nahant, Massachusetts Nahant is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,334 at the 2020 census, which makes it the smallest municipality by population in Essex County. With just of land area, it is the smallest municipality by are ...

-born Barbara Deane FullerDeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960'', pg. 100, McFarland & Company, Inc.; . signed a contract with

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

in 1949. Her father Ralph Fuller died when she was three years old. She had worked in radio shows since the 1930s. She appeared frequently in

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

and television series in the 1950s. She changed her hair color frequently for film roles. Its hue varied from

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

to brunette in her four movies released by Republic Pictures in 1950. She returned to blonde as Laurel Vernon in ''

Lonely Heart Bandits ''Lonely Heart Bandits'' is a 1950 American drama film directed by George Blair and written by Gene Lewis. The film stars Dorothy Patrick, John Eldredge, Barbra Fuller, Robert Rockwell, Ann Doran and Richard Travis. It was released on August 29 ...

'' (1950). Her first screen credit is for '' The Red Menace'' (1949). This was followed by roles in '' Flame of Youth'' (1949) and '' Crosswinds'' (1951). In ''The Red Menace'' she played "Mollie O'Flaherty", a character used by the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

as bait. In ''

City of Bad Men ''City of Bad Men'' is a 1953 American Western film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Jeanne Crain and Dale Robertson. Plot A heavyweight championship fight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons is coming to Carson City, Nev ...

'' (1953), a Western adventure, she played a minor character. Afterward, she was mostly involved in television work. Her last parts as a movie actress came in ''

How Sweet It Is! ''How Sweet It Is!'' is a 1968 comedy film starring James Garner and Debbie Reynolds, with a supporting cast including Terry-Thomas and Paul Lynde. Garner plays a photographer who accompanies his wife and teenage son on an assignment in Paris, w ...

'' (1968) and ''

The Roommates ''The Roommates'' is a 1973 American thriller film directed by Arthur Marks, starring Pat Woodell, Marki Bey, Roberta Collins, Laurie Rose, and Christina Hart. Plot Five young women named Beth, Brea, Carla, Heather, and Heather's cousin Paula ...

'' (1973).

Radio

Fuller acted in a number of

soap operas A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

.Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 245. She played Claudia in ''One Man's Family'', winner of the prestigious Peabody Award and arguably the first soap opera having begun in 1932 and running three decades. She did her first radio work in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

between the ages of 9 and 11. By age 18 she had appeared in 25 radio serials. Fuller was heard in ''Whispering Streets'', ''

The Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'', '' Ma Perkins'', ''

Today's Children ''Today's Children'' was a name shared by two thematically related American radio soap operas created and written by Irna Phillips, the earliest of which was her first nationally networked series. 1933-1938 series The original series, which debut ...

'', ''

Scattergood Baines ''Scattergood Baines'' is a 1941 American comedy-drama film. It is based on a novel by Clarence Budington Kelland. The character of Scattergood was also popular during the days of live radio. In the film, Guy Kibbee plays the title character ...

'', ''Madame Courageous'', ''Road of Life'', and ''Stepmother''.

Television

Fuller's television performances are numerous, beginning with a 1953 episode of '' Adventures of Superman''. Other series in which she participated include ''

Four Star Playhouse ''Four Star Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956. Four Star Playhouse was owned by Four Star International. Its episodes ranged anywhere from surreal mysteries, such as "The Man on the Train", to light comedies ...

'' (1955–1956), ''Ford Television Theater'' (1957), '' Trackdown'' (1958), '' State Trooper'' (1958), ''Colgate Theater'' (1958), ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chroni ...

'' (1960), ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a c ...

'' (1960, 1964), and ''

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

'' (1970).

Personal life

Fuller married Western motion picture star

Lash LaRue Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917 – May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early life and education Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns th ...

on February 23, 1951, in

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

. They had a godson, child actor J.P. Sloane. The couple divorced on June 2, 1952.

References

Sources

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External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Barbra 1921 births Living people 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Massachusetts American film actresses American radio actresses American soap opera actresses American television actresses People from Nahant, Massachusetts Western (genre) film actresses 21st-century American women