Back to prior page



Welcome to the section on the fabulous B western heroines, many of whom also did yeoman duties in cliffhangers.  Will add more as time permits.

I also ask any of the website visitors that have more info on these great ladies to send me an e-mail, and I'll be glad to include that in the mini-biographies.  Comments or questions --- click HERE to send an e-mail to Chuck Anderson, the Old Corral Webmaster.

Be aware that several of our heroines/leading ladies had multiple names during their careers - examples include Rita Cansino who became Rita Hayworth and Lynn/Lynne Roberts who in her early westerns was billed as Mary Hart. And there was Sheila Mannors who was also Sheila Bromley, Sheila LeGay and Sheila Manners.


Below - photos of some of the leading ladies

 The Heroines (in alphabetical order by last name). Click Below:


Lynne Carver


Julie Bishop / Jacqueline Wells / Diane DuVal


Betty Miles


Nora Lane


Jean Carmen/Julia Thayer


Mary Hart/Lynn Roberts


Lynn Merrick


Reno Blair / Reno Browne


Fay McKenzie


Dorothy Short


Jennifer Holt


Blanche Mehaffey / Janet Morgan


Joan Woodbury


Evelyn Finley


Verna Hillie


Lorraine Miller


Virginia Belmont


Harlene/Harley Wood - Jill Martin


Gale Storm


Beth Marion


June Storey


Dale Evans


Helen Talbot


Lois January


Phyllis Coates


Sheila Ryan


Cecilia Parker


Shirley Patterson


Caryl Lincoln


Jeanne Martel (Tom Tyler's wife)


Iris Meredith


Ruth Findlay


Gertrude Messinger


Nell O'Day


Ruth Terry


Peggy Stewart


Anne Jeffreys


Lorna Gray / Adrian Booth


Pat Starling


Claudia Dell


Luana Walters


Louise Currie


Victoria Vinton


Mary Lee (Wooters)


Marion Shilling


Joan Barclay (Geraine Greear)


Virginia Vale


Pauline Moore

Joan Barclay/Geraine Greear

Virginia Belmont

Pamela Blake/Adele Pearce

Julie Bishop/Jacqueline Wells/Diane DuVal

Sally Blane

Adrian Booth/Lorna Gray

Veda Ann Borg

Sheila Bromley/LeGay/Manners/Mannors

Lucile Browne

Reno Browne/Reno Blair

Jean Carmen/Julia Thayer

Lynne Carver

Phyllis Coates 

Lois Collier

Joyce Compton

Louise Currie

Sheila Darcy/Rebecca Wassem

Gail Davis

Claudia Dell

Dorothy Dix

Penny Edwards

Dale Evans

Muriel Evans

Dorothy Fay (Tex Ritter's wife)

Virginia Brown Faire

Ruth Findlay (in the bio for Lou Yaconelli)

Evelyn Finley

Carmelita Geraghty

Dorothy Gulliver

Lois Hall

Rita Cansino/Rita Hayworth

Virginia Herrick

Verna Hillie

Jennifer Holt

Carol Hughes

Lois January

Anne Jeffreys

Phyllis Isley/Jennifer Jones

Evalyn Knapp

Iris Lancaster

Carole Landis

Nora Lane

Caryl Lincoln

Adele Mara

Beth Marion

Jeanne Martel (Tom Tyler's wife)

Donna Martell

Mary Lee (Wooters)

Christine McIntyre

Fay McKenzie

Blanche Mehaffey/Janet Morgan

Iris Meredith

Lynn Merrick

Gertrude Messinger

Betty Miles

Lorraine Miller

Ruth Mix

Constance Moore

Pauline Moore

Nell O'Day

Dorothy Page, "The Singing Cowgirl"

Cecilia Parker

Shirley Patterson/Shawn Smith

Marjorie Reynolds

Elaine Riley

Lynne Roberts/Mary Hart

Claire Rochelle

Sheila Ryan

Billie Seward

Marion Shilling

Dorothy Short (in the bio of Dave O'Brien)

Louise Stanley

Pat Starling

Eleanor Stewart

Peggy Stewart

Linda Stirling

June Storey

Gale Storm

Helen Talbot

Ruth Terry

Virginia Vale

Victoria Vinton

Luana Walters

Barbara Weeks

Harley-Harlene Wood/Jill Martin

Joan Woodbury

Polly Ann Young

WAMPAS Baby Stars ... the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers created the 'WAMPAS Baby Stars', and the annual award began in the 1920s and continued into the mid 1930s. Some of the winners included familiar B western heroines such as Carmelita Geraghty, Virginia Brown Faire, Dorothy Revier, Joyce Compton, more. Hans J. Wollstein provides info on the WAMPAS, including a list of the winners.




Some Additional "Links On The Ladies"

Boyd Magers' Western Clippings website has a bunch of interviews with our western and serial leading ladies. When you get to Boyd's website, look for "An Interview With ..." in the leftside menu: http://www.westernclippings.com/

Hans Wollstein has a "Meanwhile ... Back At The Ranch" blog about westerns and serials ... and there's a lot of info and photos on leading ladies: http://hjwollstein.blogspot.com/

Daniel Neyer's "The Files of Jerry Blake" serial website has a section on the leading ladies of serials: http://filesofjerryblake.com/serial-heroines/

A few of these leading ladies worked with the Three Stooges at Columbia: http://www.threestooges.net/cast

Jerry Murbach's Doctor Macro website has many large, high quality photo scans of actresses (and actors): http://www.doctormacro.com

The official website for singer/yodeler Carolina Cotton is at: http://www.carolinacotton.org/

Website for Myrna Dell is at: http://myrna_dell.tripod.com/

Website for Helen Mack, who did a couple of B-westerns, but is more remembered for her role in SON OF KONG: http://helenmack.us/

The Miss America website has a history section including information on past winners: https://www.missamerica.org/titleholders/

Wikipedia has a listing of Miss America winners. At the bottom of this Wikipedia webpage, there is a block containing years - click on a particular year and you'll find info on the winner and runner-ups. Go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America_award_winners

The Miss California website has an archive containing photos of winners since the 1920s:
https://www.misscalifornia.org/forever-miss-california

There's a variety of starlets and actresses listed at the Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen website: http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/start.html

Steven Hill has photo pages on many actresses who did westerns and serials, including Jean Rogers, Jane Adams, Julie Adams, more: http://www.shillpages.com/actress/actress/actress.htm



Back to prior page