Vicky Lane (born Grace Patricia Rose Coghlan (April 23, 1926 – August 1, 1983) was an Irish-American film

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

who also worked as a singer.

Life and work

Lane first went to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with her family, then to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. As a teenager, her first

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

role was in 1942. She became known for her role as the Ape Woman Paula Dupree in the horror film ''

The Jungle Captive ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1945, directed by Harold Young), a role she took over from

Acquanetta Acquanetta (born Mildred Davenport; July 17, 1921 – August 16, 2004), nicknamed "The Venezuelan Volcano", was an American B-movie actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Acquanetta was most known for her "exotic" beauty. Early years The facts o ...

, who had played the character in two previous instalments of Universal's Ape Woman film series. It was followed by supporting roles in films such as ''

The Cisco Kid Returns ''The Cisco Kid Returns'' is a 1945 American Western (genre), Western film. Released on April 3, 1945, it was the first of three Cisco Kid films made that year with Duncan Renaldo as Cisco and Martin Garralaga as Pancho. In this release, Cisco's ...

'' (1945) and later appearances in TV series such as ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'', in 'The Day the Balloon went Up', (1969), as the girl on the tandem. After a brief marriage to film actor

Tom Neal Thomas Carroll Neal Jr. (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor and successful amateur boxer best known for his costarring role in the critically lauded film ''Detour'', for having a widely publicized affair with actress Ba ...

(1948–49), Lane married jazz musician and bandleader

Pete Candoli Pete Candoli (born Walter Joseph Candoli; June 28, 1923 – January 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played with the big bands of Woody Herman and Stan Kenton and worked in the studios of the recording and television industries. Car ...

in 1953, with whom she had a daughter. Around 1953, she recorded several songs for the

Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

label with Candoli,

Jimmy Rowles James George Hunter (August 19, 1918 – May 28, 1996), known professionally as Jimmy Rowles (sometimes spelled Jimmie Rowles), was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, and composer. As a bandleader and accompanist, he explored multiple styles in ...

Joe Mondragon Joe Mondragon (February 2, 1920 – July 1987) was an American jazz bassist. Early life Mondragon was born in Antonito, Colorado, and raised in the Española Valley region of New Mexico. Mondragon was of Apache and Hispanic origin. Career ...

and

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...

such as ''

'S Wonderful "S Wonderful" is a 1927 popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics written by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced in the Broadway musical ''Funny Face'' (1927) by Adele Astaire and Allen Kearns. The song is considered a standard and has b ...

'' and ''I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues''. Candoli also arranged the songs for her only solo album, which she recorded with the Candoli Orchestra in 1959 for

Time Records Time Records is an Italian record company and label from Brescia founded by Giacomo Maiolini in the fall of 1984, teaming up with the duo Farina-Crivellente as the art producers. Except for a few of the early releases, it became a label distribut ...

, ''I Swing for You''. Then she performed songs in the jazz-oriented style like ''Love Is Not Born'', ''My Romance'', ''The Song Is You'' and ''

The Trolley Song "The Trolley Song" is a song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. In a 1989 NPR interview, Blane said the song was inspired by a picture of a trolleycar in a turn-of-t ...

''. In 1958, the couple divorced. Lane left Hollywood in 1963 and lived in Florida.

Filmography

*''Inflation'' (short) (1942) *''

Presenting Lily Mars ''Presenting Lily Mars'' is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog, produced by Joe Pasternak, starring Judy Garland and Van Heflin, and based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. The film is often cited as Garland's first film ...

'' (1943) *''

Hitler's Madman ''Hitler's Madman'' is a 1943 World War II drama directed by Douglas Sirk. It is a highly fictionalized account of the 1942 assassination of Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich and the resulting Lidice massacre, which the Germans committed as reveng ...

'' (uncredited) (1943) *''

Bathing Beauty ''Bathing Beauty'' is a 1944 musical film starring Red Skelton, Basil Rathbone, and Esther Williams, and directed by George Sidney. Although this was not Williams' screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The film was initially to b ...

'' (uncredited) (1944) *''

'' (1945) *''

Ethel Barrymore Theatre The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theater at 241 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1928, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the Elizabethan, Mediterranean, and Adam styles ...

'' (TV series) 1 Episode (1956)

References

External links

* * * 20th-century Irish actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers Expatriate actresses in the United States 1926 births 1983 deaths Actors from County Dublin {{Ireland-actor-stub