Trudy Wroe (May 25, 1931 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress.

Early years

Born in Los Angeles, Wroe majored in art at

Manual Arts High School Manual Arts High School is a secondary public school in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high scho ...

, as she planned a career as a commercial artist.

Career

In the early 1950s, Wroe worked as a model for the Mary Webb Davis agency. She was selected for designations including Queen of the Exhibition of West Coast Advertising Art, Queen of Holiday on Wings, Fireworks Queen, and Queen of the National Los Angeles Home Show. Also in the early 1950s, Wroe teamed with Tommy Irish to make television commercials for

Paper Mate Paper Mate is a registered division of Sanford L.P., a Newell Brands company that produces writing instruments. Paper Mate's offices are located in Oak Brook, Illinois, along with those of Newell Rubbermaid's other office products divisions. Its ...

pens. By 1954, they had appeared in more than 5,000 radio and TV commercials for the company and had been signed to a five-year contract to continue their work. They were named "outstanding personalities in television commercials" in 1953 and received more than 300 letters a week from fans. On television, Wroe portrayed Lorelei Kilbourne on ''

Big Town ''Big Town'' is a popular long-running radio drama featuring a corruption-fighting newspaper editor initially played from 1937 to 1942 by Edward G. Robinson in his first radio role, with echoes of the conscience-stricken tabloid editor he had ...

'' (1954). She survived two months of competition from more than 100 actresses to become the fourth woman to play that role. Wroe worked as a chorus girl in Las Vegas, and in 1954, she was a contract actress with

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. She retired from acting after her 1959 marriage.

Personal life

In 1959, Wroe married actor

Don Durant Don Durant (born Donald Allison Durae; November 20, 1932 – March 15, 2005) was an American actor and singer, best known for his role as the gunslinger-turned-sheriff in the CBS Western series ''Johnny Ringo'', which ran on Thursdays from Octobe ...

. They had two children and were still married when he died in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wroe, Trudy 1931 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American actresses American television actresses Actresses from Los Angeles 21st-century American women