Virginia Hewitt | |
|---|---|
 Hewitt and Space Patrol co-star Ed Kemmer in the 1950s | |
| Born | November 28, 1925 Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 21, 1986 (aged 60) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1949–1972 |
| Spouse | Ernst Meer (m. 1954;divorced?? 1970) |
Virginia Hewitt was an American actress who performed in films and television during the 1940s and early 1950s. She is best known for her role as "Carol Carlisle" in the 1950s TV series Space Patrol .
Hewitt was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1925 and was raised in Paola, Kansas, where her father worked as a superintendent for the Panhandle Eastern gas line company. When she was 22, she moved to Los Angeles to live with her sister who was employed as a secretary. Hewitt's career goal was to be a writer, "...but with her striking blond looks", Hewitt then 22, soon landed modeling jobs. [1] After several talent scouts urged her to audition for movies, she decided to join a local theater group to hone her acting skills. Hewitt's first professional acting role was in the 1948 comedy My Dear Secretary . [2] Producer Mike Moser, who was planning a TV space program, saw her in My Dear Secretary and hired her for Space Patrol. [3]
Hewitt was active in film, television and radio from the late 1940s through the mid 1950s. After her divorce, she resumed her career in the early 1970s.
Hewitt is best known for her role as Carol Carlisle in the 1950-1955 television science fiction serial, Space Patrol. Initially broadcast live on KECA-TV in the Los Angeles area as a daily 15 minute serial, it was later aired nationwide on Saturday mornings by ABC in 30 minute episodes. [4] [5]
A radio version of the show ran from 1952 to 1955, using the same cast, but employing more complex story lines, as radio broadcasts were not constrained by expensive studio sets. [6] Along with Hewitt, the cast included Ed Kemmer as Commander-in-Chief Edward "Buzz" Corry, Lyn Osborn as Cadet Happy, Ken Mayer as Major Robbie Robertson, and Nina Bara as Tonga. Although Hewitt was famous for providing "blonde cheesecake appeal" [4] to her Saturday morning fans, her character was also a scientist who could assemble an atomic bomb and navigate the universe. She was also the inventor of the "Agra Ray", a device that sped up plant life on barren planets. In the absence of male crew members, who were often engaged in various pursuits away from the spaceship, Carol could ably fill in as the spaceship's pilot. Hewitt's character was regarded as a role model for young girls in the 1950s. [7]
Explaining the success of the show, Hewitt said in a 1984 interview:
"The United States had come out of a dreadful time - the Depression and then five years tied up in a war. A lot of people were suffering from the loss of relatives, from the loss of limbs. And then we came along - a daily soap opera, pure escapism, fantasy. People loved the so-called relationship between Buzz and me. We could never kiss, but I was the only one on the show who could call him "Buzz" and be familiar with him. Sometimes he would put his arm around my waist: "Careful, Carol." But that was as far as we could go. People followed the continuing story of our lives, intertwined in the future, in space. Who would have dreamed, in those days, that in a few years there would be a Sputnik, and then somebody really up on the moon?" [8]
Hewitt appeared in over a half-dozen other movies and TV shows during her career.
Hewitt dated co-star Lyn Osborn during their time on Space Patrol but broke off the relationship when she met, and subsequently married Ernst Meer, a noted Austrian designer. [16] Space Patrol was cancelled soon after her marriage, and Hewitt abandoned her acting career. Instead, she focused her efforts on operating "Courant", a business started by Meer designing crystal chandeliers. [10] The business became well-known in the Los Angeles area and allowed Hewitt to remain active in Hollywood social circles. [17] [18]
Reflecting on her time in Space Patrol, she told an interviewer in 1979, "In those days, when you were on a TV series, you really worked. The show was on six days a week, 52 weeks a year with absolutely no re-runs. And we did that for five years". [19]
A heavy smoker, Hewitt died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, on July 21, 1986, at the age of 60 from cancer, leaving a brother and sister as the closest living relatives. [3] [17] Meer, who married Italian actress Irina Meleeva following his divorce to Hewitt, died after a lengthy illness on March 17, 1987. [20]
Space Patrol is an American science fiction adventure series set in the 30th century that was originally aimed at juvenile audiences via television, radio, and comic books. It was broadcast on ABC from March 1950 to February 1955. It soon developed a sizable adult audience, and by 1954 the program consistently ranked in the top 10 shows broadcast on a Saturday.
Catherine N. Downs was an American film actress.
Paula Raymond was an American model and actress who played the leading lady in numerous movies and television series including Crisis (1950) with Cary Grant. She was the niece of American pulp-magazine editor Farnsworth Wright.
Michael George Ansara was an American actor. A Syrian-American, he was often cast in Arabic and American Indian roles. His work in both film and television spanned several genres including historical epics, Westerns, and science fiction.
Julie Adams was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams in her early career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles. She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River (1952), opposite James Stewart; and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). On television, she was known for her roles as Paula Denning on the 1980s soap opera Capitol, and Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote.
Nina Foch was an American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned 6 decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television credits. She was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Foch established herself as a dramatic actress in the late 1940s, often playing cool, aloof sophisticates.
Beverly Lucy Garland was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action and science-fiction movies; however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular television series.
Diane Brewster was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in television series of the 1950s and 1960s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in the Western Maverick with James Garner; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen Kimble in The Fugitive. Brewster was a direct descendant of William Brewster, a Pilgrim and Governor of the Plymouth Colony.
Anne Gwynne was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popular pin-ups of World War II. She is the maternal grandmother of actor Chris Pine.
Mary Janice Rule was an American actress and psychotherapist, earning her PhD while still acting, then acting occasionally while working in her new profession.
Francis Fitzgerald "Larry" Vincent was an American television horror host, famed for his character Seymour, who presented—and heckled—low-budget horror and science fiction movies on Fright Night on KHJ-TV and Seymour's Monster Rally on KTLA, both local stations in Los Angeles between 1969 and 1974. He was noted for his style of criticizing the movies he presented in an offbeat and funny manner, usually appearing in a small window which would pop up in the corner, tossing a quip, then vanishing again. Sometimes he would, using blue-screen, appear in the middle of the movie, apparently interacting with the characters in the movie.
Connie Hines was an American actress best known for co-starring on the 1960s sitcom Mister Ed.
Carol Nugent is an American actress who began her career as a child. Nugent appeared in over 20 feature films and 11 television programs during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Her 1959 marriage to actor Nick Adams ended with his death in 1968, before their divorce had been finalized.
Ed Kemmer was an American motion picture and television actor.
Claudia Barrett was an American television and film actress.
Wanda McKay was an American actress and model.
Jean Allison was an American actress. She appeared in numerous films and television series throughout the 1950s to the 1980s.
Nina Bara was an American actress who performed in films, on television, and on old-time radio. Bara is best known for her role as "Tonga" in the 1950s TV series Space Patrol.
Ken Mayer was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Major Robbie Robertson in the 1950s television series, Space Patrol.
Charlotte Lawrence was an American actress. She appeared in numerous films and TV series from the 1940s to the 1960s.