MARIE WINDSOR

Marie Windsor (1919-2000), often called "Queen of the B’s" studied acting under Russian stage and screen luminary Maria Ouspenskaya (Maleva, the gypsy woman, in THE WOLF MAN), supporting herself as a telephone operator between performing gigs. After several years of radio appearances and movie bits, she was moved up to feature-film roles in SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947). She was groomed to be a leading lady, but her height precluded her co-starring with many of Hollywood's sensitive, slightly built leading men. Persevering, Windsor found steady work in second-lead roles as dance hall queens, gun molls, floozies and exotic villainesses. Some of her films included THE SNIPER, THE NARROW MARGIN and CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, and perhaps most memorably, she played Elisha Cook's cold-blooded, castrating wife in THE KILLING (1956). Curtailing her screen work in the late '80s, Windsor began devoting the greater portion of her time to her sizeable family. Because of her many appearances in Westerns (she was an expert horsewoman), Windsor has become a welcome and highly sought-after presence on the nostalgia convention circuit, and appeared often on TV.