Pretty Christine Maple was a character. Moving to Los Angeles from her native rural Kansas, the vivacious blonde began appearing in local beauty pageants. Her film debut in 1930 led to a coveted spot in the Ziegfeld Follies. During a performance, she surprised her fellow cast members, the audience and Ziegfeld himself, when she appeared on stage fully nude. Christine gained a reputation for wearing daring low-cut dresses and spouting outrageous lies about her life. She once claimed that her father was a British Duke.

Her public behavior became more flamboyant and shocking. She was arrested on a train in Switzerland for causing a disturbance. She got into a fight with a cab driver for her refusal to pay a fare. She was accused by several women of being a bit “too friendly” with their spouses. Christine’s mother became worried about her daughter’s scandalous behavior. She had Christine sent to a sanitarium for a period of time.

After her release, Christine signed a contract with Republic Pictures and appeared in a number of Westerns. She then headed to Australia for a part in the play The Women. She had to leave the production early due to illness. When she returned to the United States, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. Once discharged, she left show business and moved to a suburb of Philadelphia, taking an unlikely job in a department store.

In January 1947, Christine hanged herself. She left no note. She was 34 years old.

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Katalin Karády was a pretty big star in her native Hungary, with a career that mirrored her Hollywood counterparts of the time. She gained the persona of “diva” and “sex symbol” after her 1939 debut in the film Halálos Tavasz (“Deadly Spring”). Katalin was also a popular vocalist. Her songs were heard frequently on Hungarian radio. She became a cultural icon, with thousands of female fans mimicking her fashion style, her hairstyle and her attitude. Katalin was a constant topic of gossip in the press, with regular speculation regarding her sexual orientation.

After the 1944 German invasion of Hungary, Katalin’s films and songs were banned. The film on which she was working, Gazdátlan asszony (“Orphan Woman“), had its production shut down. Katalin was arrested by the Gestapo as an alleged spy and put in prison for three years. During her prison term, Katalin was subjected to torture and beatings that nearly ended her life. She was rescued by associates of a high-ranking military officer with whom Katalin once had a romantic relationship. Once out of prison, she assisted in the rescue and hiding of Hungarian Jews, including saving a group of 20 Jewish children from being murdered on the banks of the Danube during the Arrow Cross reign of terror.

Katalin attempted to restart her acting career, but the Communist-run film industry was not interested. To avoid further mistreatment and beatings, she fled Hungary, making her way to Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and eventually the United States, with the assistance of Ted and Robert Kennedy. She moved to New York City, opened a hat store and stayed out of the public eye. She refused to talk about film career and her heroic post-film career. The government of Hungary sent her an invitation to return to her home country for her 70th birthday. She replied by sending a single hat, baffling government officials.

Katalin passed away in February 1990 at the age of 79. In 2004, she was posthumously honored with the Righteous Among the Nations recognition, given to non-Jews by the State of Israel who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis.

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For the better part of six years, Joanna Lee struggled through an unfulfilling acting career, landing few roles of little significance. She appeared uncredited in the Frank Sinatra film The Joker is Wild, as well as Ed Wood’s notorious sci-fi schlockfest Plan 9 from Outer Space. A serious car accident sidelined Joanna’s acting career, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Joanna explored her previously untapped talent as a writer. She secured some writing assignments for the popular sitcom My Three Sons, three years into its successful 12 season run. Joanna jumped right in to the world of episodic television, writing scripts or teleplays for such shows as Bewitched, Gidget, Petticoat Junction and many others. She penned 22 episodes of the animated series The Flintstones, including the sixth season episode that introduced the character “The Great Gazoo.”

Joanna’s story output was phenomenal. She wrote scripts for multiple episodes of Gilligan’s Island, Nanny & the Professor, Room 222, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, even branching out into dramas, like Marcus Welby M.D. and The Waltons. The latter earned her an Emmy Award in 1972. Joanna wrote the memorable “Adios Johnny Bravo” episode of The Brady Bunch.

As the 70s approached, Joanna scripted several made-for-television movies and afterschool specials. In the 80s, she served as producer for more television films, in addition to 152 installments of the soap opera Search for Tomorrow.

The 1990s saw her career slow down, but not before releasing her autobiography in 1999. Joanna developed bone cancer and passed away in 2003 at the age of 72.

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