Louise Currie

a B movie and serial actress of the 1940s. Born Louise Gunter in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Moving to Hollywood, Currie enrolled in Max Reinhardt's drama school. “At the time, I was not necessarily a movie fan, but once I came to California, of course, that’s what California’s all about, the movie industry.”

Attracting the interest of movie scouts while appearing in one of the school’s stage productions, Currie surprised them by expressing no desire at that point to enter movies. She wanted to wait until she graduated, and was better equipped as an actress, before she decided her next career move. When she was ready, she signed with agent Sue Carol. After she made a movie at Columbia, Harry Cohn wanted to put her under contract, but Currie would have none of it – she thought it “would maybe be more interesting to freelance.”

She stated in 1999 that that was “more fun for me because I was able to pick and choose and do what I wanted, rather than all the little contract players who had to do exactly as they were told and go into films that they didn’t want or like. So, I had my independence, and I chose to do it that way.” The not-overly-ambitious Currie worked steadily during the next few years, with small, uncredited parts in As and leads in Poverty Row flicks.