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Ramsay Ames

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Ramsay Ames
Pin-up photo of Ramsay Ames for the April 10, 1945 issue of Brief, a United States Army Air Forces Pacific Oceans Areas (AAFPOA) magazine fully staffed by military personnel.
Ames in 1945
Born
Ramsay Phillips

(1919-03-30)March 30, 1919
Long Island, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 1998(1998-03-30) (aged 79)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, model
Years active1943–1963
Spouse
​
(divorced)​

Ramsay Ames (born Ramsay Phillips,[1] March 30, 1919 – March 30, 1998) was a leading 1940s American B movie actress,[2][3] model, dancer,[4] pin-up girl and television hostess. As a dancer, she was billed as Ramsay D'el Rico.

She is also credited as Ramsey Ames.[5]

Career

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Pin-up photo of Ames for Yank, the Army Weekly in 1945

Of Spanish/English descent,[1] Ames was born on Long Island.[6] Athletic in high school, she excelled as a swimmer. Ames first was recognized as a dancer/singer before moving into sultry-eyed 1940s film roles.[7][8]

Ames became part of a dance team under the name Ramsay D'el Rico[1] and appeared as a model at the Eastman Kodak-sponsored fashion show at the 1939 New York World's Fair. An injury forced her to alter her dance career plans. She took up singing and became the vocalist with a top rhumba band.[9]

During a trip to California to visit her mother, Ramsay had a chance meeting at the airport with Columbia Pictures President Harry Cohn. The meeting resulted in a screen test and then her movie debut in Two Señoritas from Chicago (1943).[9] I

From there, she moved to Universal Pictures,[10] where she was featured in such films as Calling Dr. Death and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.[11] In 1944, she appeared in the film The Mummy's Ghost, where she played a young woman possessed by the soul of an Egyptian princess. She later appeared in a Monogram Pictures drama, Below the Deadline (1946), and in Republic serials including The Black Widow (1947) and G-Men Never Forget (1948).[9]

After her career subsided in the 1940s, Ames and her husband lived in Spain, where she had her own television interview show and occasionally took on support roles in films produced in Europe.[12]

According to director William Witney, some of Republic Pictures' stuntmen suffered more injuries running on rooftops to get a better look at Ramsay Ames walking across the backlot than were hurt performing dangerous action sequences in the studio's westerns.[13]

Personal life

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Ames was wed to Man of La Mancha playwright Dale Wasserman, a Tony Award-winning musical writer.,[14] and the couple later lived in a villa called "La Mancha" on the Costa del Sol.[14] She later divorced him.[15]

Selected filmography

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Soundtrack (5 credits)

Archive footage (5 credits)

Pictorials

  • Yank (USA) 24 December 1943
  • Yank (USA) 20 April 1945
  • Yank (USA) 4 May 1945

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Johnson, Erskine (December 10, 1943). "Hollywood: Pin-Up Queen's Portrait". The Ithaca Journal. New York, Ithaca. p. 12. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Ramsay Ames Heads Bond Sllers Here". Eugene Register-Guard. January 17, 1944. p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Inside Perelman". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. June 12, 1944. p. 24. Retrieved July 20, 2009. [dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Hollywood Sights and Sounds". Prescott Evening Courier. June 26, 1943. p. 3. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  5. ^ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  6. ^ Fanning, Win (February 24, 1956). "Actress Ramsay Ames Finds Her Shangri-La in Spain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 14. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Rainey, Buck (2005). Serial Film Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1912-1956. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2010-0.
  8. ^ Reeder, Thomas (October 6, 2019). Stop Yellin' - Ben Pivar and the Horror, Mystery, and Action-Adventure Films of His Universal B Unit. BearManor Media.
  9. ^ a b c "Ramsay Ames | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos". AllMovie.
  10. ^ "This Is the Story of Ramsay Ames -- Who's No Gentleman". The Des Moines Register. December 29, 1943. p. 51. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Ramsay Ames". BFI. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Kiser, Brett (October 2, 2013). The Pin-Up Girls of World War II. BearManor Media.
  13. ^ filesofjerryblake (November 16, 2013). "The Vigilante". The Files of Jerry Blake. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Dale Wasserman: Playwright who adapted 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's". The Independent. January 7, 2009.
  15. ^ "Dale Wasserman: Playwright who adapted 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's". The Independent. January 7, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2023.

Further reading

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  • Screen Sirens Scream (USA)2000, pg. 3-11, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell "Reminiscences Of The Doomed Ananka"
  • Filmfax (USA)July 1998, Iss. 67, pg. 46-49, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Bride Of The Mummy"
  • Fantastyka (France)July 1998, Iss. 16, pg. 36-38, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Souvenirs D'Ananka La Mandite"
  • Movie Collectors World (USA)28 November 1997, Iss. 539, pg. 86-88, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Reminiscences Of The Doomed Ananka"
  • Scary Monsters Magazine (USA)June 1997, Iss. 23, pg. 47-50, by: Paul Parla, "I Shall Make You Immortal"
  • Classic Images (USA)June 1996, Iss. 252, pg. 28-29, by: Paul Parla, "Ramsay Ames-Sultry Latin Beauty"
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