CAROLE LANDIS BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Carole Landis was born on January 1st, 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin with the birth name Frances Lillian Mary Ridste.  Her father worked as a railroad mechanic and he abandoned her family when she was a young girl leaving her mother, Clara, to fend for Carol and her two older siblings, Dorothy and Lawrence.  She originally had four siblings but two of her brothers died when they were toddlers.
 
She graduated from high school at the age of fifteen and married, Irving Wheeler but only for one month before the marriage was annulled.  However, later in 1934 they remarried and relocated to San Francisco,  California. 
 
Carol first found work as a singer and dancer and then decided to move to Los Angeles and try her chance at a film career.  She got a studio contract with Warner Brothers and began getting cast in small parts on such films as, "A Star is Born" (1937) starring Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson, Andy Devine, Edgar Kennedy, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and Lionel Stander, "A Day at the Races" (1937) starring the the Marx Brothers, with Margaret Dumont, Allan Jones, Sig Ruman, Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Middlemass and Douglass Dumbrille and "The Emperor's Candlesticks" (1937) starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, Maureen O'Sullivan, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Henry Stephenson, Charles Waldron and Douglass Dumbrille.  The next two years followed with some more small parts in films, but nothing of much significance, plus her marriage to Wheeler came to an end as well.
 
She finally gained attention from critics when she was cast in the film, "One Million B.C." (1940) co-starring Victor Mature, Conrad Nagel and Lon Chaney Jr., which was a Hal Roach film.  This role followed with a number of larger roles in 'B' rated films.  However, in 1942 she did a total of five films, "Manila Calling" starring Cornel Wilde, Lloyd Nolan, James Gleason, Ralph Byrd, Louis Jean Heydt and Elisha Cook Jr., "A Gentleman at Heart" with Cesar Romero, Milton Berle and J. Carrol Naish, "Orchestra Wives" starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, Lynn Bari, Cesar Romero, Dale Evans, Harry Morgan, Jackie Gleason and Glenn Miller and "It Happened in Flatbush" with Lloyd Nolan, Sara Allgood, William Frawley, Scotty Beckett and Robert Armstrong.  
 
Even though she was a talented actress, it was her exquisite beauty that gained more attention from critics then anything else.  She released two more films in 1948, "Brass Monkey" starring with Carroll Levis, Herbert Lom and Terry Thomas and "The Silk Noose" with Stanley Holloway, Nigel Patrick and Derek Farr.
 
Her professional career never reached the level of stardom she longed for and along with a troubled personal life and fighting poor health, she took her own life on July 5th, 1948 in Pacific Palisades, California by overdose. 
 
Carol Landis never had any children throughout her lifetime, but she did take a chance at marrying four different men.  After she divorced Wheeler in 1939, she married Willis Hunt Jr. from July 4th, 1940 through November 13th, 1940.  Her third man to marry was Capt. Thomas C. Wallace who she wed in 1943 and remained together with him for only two years.  Carol's final husband was W. Horrace Schmidlapp whom she married December 8th, 1945 and they were together until she committed suicide. 
 
Carol Landis is interred at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California.   

 
Filmography

1948 Brass Monkey
1948 The Silk Noose 
1947 Out of the Blue 
1946 It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog 
1946 A Scandal in Paris
1946 Behind Green Lights 
1945 Having Wonderful Crime 
1944 Secret Command 
1943 Wintertime 
1943 The Powers Girl 
1942 Manila Calling 
1942 Orchestra Wives 
1942 It Happened in Flatbush 
1942 My Gal Sal 
1942 A Gentleman at Heart 
1941 Cadet Girl 
1941 I Wake Up Screaming 
1941 Dance Hall 
1941 Moon Over Miami 
1941 Topper Returns
1941 Road Show 
1940 Mystery Sea Raider 
1940 Turnabout 
1940 One Million B.C. 
1939 Reno 
1939 Cowboys from Texas 
1939 Daredevils of the Red Circle 
1939 Three Texas Steers 
1938 Boy Meets Girl
1938 Four's a Crowd 
1938 Penrod's Double Trouble
1938 When Were You Born
1938 Men Are Such Fools
1938 Gold Diggers in Paris 
1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood 
1938 Women Are Like That
1938 Over the Wall
1938 Love, Honor and Behave
1938 A Slight Case of Murder
1938 Blondes at Work 
1938 The Invisible Menace 
1937 Hollywood Hotel 
1937 The Adventurous Blonde
1937 Over the Goal 
1937 Alcatraz Island
1937 Varsity Show 
1937 Broadway Melody of 1938 
1937 The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937 Fly Away Baby 
1937 A Day at the Races
1937 A Star Is Born 
1937 The King and the Chorus Girl 
1936 Gold Diggers of 1937