[Deathwatch] Ellen Drew, actress, 89

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Many thanks to a loyal reader for this one - Ed.

Ellen Drew, who made film breakthrough in 1938 Bing Crosby movie, dies
at 89

December 6, 2003, EST.

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Ellen Drew, who went from working in a
Hollywood Boulevard ice-cream parlour to appearing in scores of movies
opposite many of the biggest stars of her day, died Wednesday of liver
trouble. She was 89.

Known for her girl-next-door beauty, Drew moved to Hollywood from the
U.S. Midwest after winning a local beauty contest. She had given up on
becoming an actress and was serving hot fudge sundaes at C.C. Brown's
on Hollywood Boulevard when one of her customers, character actor
William Demarest, talked her into giving the movies another try.

Drew was hired as a $50-a-week contract player at Paramount Studios and
had small parts in several movies until her breakthrough in 1938
opposite Bing Crosby in Sing You Sinners.

Her film credits included Christmas in July opposite Dick Powell; Buck
Benny Rides Again, as straight woman to Jack Benny; If I Were King,
scripted by Preston Sturges; and Reaching for the Sun, opposite Joel
McCrea.

She also appeared on such early television shows as Ford Television
Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, Perry Mason and Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.


Born Esther Loretta Ray in Kansas City, Mo., she later moved to Chicago
with her family and then to Hollywood.