Lynne Carver

Lynne Carver (born Virginia Reid Sampson,[1] September 13, 1916 – August 12, 1955) was an American film actress. She appeared in 42 films between 1934 and 1953.

Lynne Carver
Carver in the trailer for Madame X
Born	Virginia Reid Sampson (1916-09-13)September 13, 1916 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	August 12, 1955(1955-08-12) (aged 38) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1934–1948
Spouse(s)	Nicholas Nayfack (1937-1942, divorce) William Mullaney (1948–1955)

Early years

Carver was born in Lexington, Kentucky.[2][3] Her father, Reid Johnson Sampson, was a mining engineer in Arizona and New Mexico for several years preceding World War I, and he and his family were briefly detained by Pancho Villa during one of the Mexican general's raids across the border into the Southwestern US, when Carver was an infant.

The Sampson family were prominent Kentuckians for several generations, where her grandfather, William Sampson, had served as Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court during the American Civil War.

Her older sister, Marjorie Lee Sampson, followed Virginia to Hollywood and landed a few small parts, but never achieved the status of her sister, and soon moved on.

Career

Carver went to Hollywood at a young age to pursue a career in acting after winning a beauty pageant. Early on she was billed as Virginia Reid with RKO Pictures and can be seen in several musicals as one of the "Goldwyn Girls". She dated Howard Hughes, briefly, in the 1930s, before moving on to MGM as Lynne Carver where she became a regular in their stable of actresses. In a 1938 interview, she explained her name change by saying, "I wanted to keep some sort of family name ... Finally my father suggested two, Lynn and Craven. I added the 'e' to the first and changed the last one to Carver because we didn't like Craven much."[3]

First playing minor bit parts, Carver eventually moved up to the level of ingenue in a few of her later roles. As her career advanced, she appeared in several films with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and was probably best known for her role as Alice Raymond in the early Dr. Kildare films. She was Barbara in the magical musical production Maytime in 1937 along with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald and also appeared with them in Bitter Sweet, a 1940 attempt to recapture the success of Maytime. Two of her better known MGM performances are as Sylvia Bellaire in the 1938 musical comedy film, Everybody Sing starring Allan Jones and Judy Garland, and as Bess, Scrooge's nephew's fiancée, in A Christmas Carol starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge. Both films were released in 1938. Her last film for MGM was Tennessee Johnson which starred Van Heflin as the 17th President of the United States. Carver played Martha, the daughter of Andrew Johnson.

The slowdown of work in Hollywood due to World War II caused her career to stall. During and after the war, she played mostly in Republic westerns with Roy Rogers and Johnny Mack Brown and other more obscure films, but never achieved the level of success she had known earlier.

Personal life

On March 31, 1935, Carver married dentist Ralph McClung in Selma, Alabama.[4] They had divorced by mid-December 1936.[5] She married Nicholas Nayfack in 1937 and they divorced in 1942.[6] She was married to theatrical agent William Mullaney,[7] lived in New York, and had a busy stage and TV career until 1954.

Death

Carver died at Memorial Hospital in New York City after a year-long battle with cancer, on August 12, 1955, aged 38.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Starring	Notes
1934	Down to Their Last Yacht	Singer in Quartet		Uncredited
1934	Kid Millions	Goldwyn Girl		Uncredited
1935	Murder on a Honeymoon	Actress Holding Parrot		Uncredited
1935	Roberta	Fashion Model		Uncredited
1935	Strangers All	Blonde Actress in Film		Uncredited
1935	Old Man Rhythm	Jane - with College Boy		Uncredited
1935	Old Man Rhythm	College Girl		Uncredited
1935	To Beat the Band	Minor Role
1937	Maytime	Barbara Roberts	Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
1937	Madame X	Helene
1937	The Bride Wore Red	Maddelena Monti
1938	Everybody Sing	Sylvia Bellaire
1938	Young Dr. Kildare	Alice Raymond
1938	A Christmas Carol	Bess
1939	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	Mary Jane
1939	Within the Law	June
1939	Calling Dr. Kildare	Alice Raymond
1940	Broadway Melody of 1940	Emmy Lou Lee
1940	Sporting Blood	Joan Lockwood
1940	Dulcy	Angela Forbes
1940	Bitter Sweet	Dolly
1941	Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case	Joyce Belmont
1942	Man from Cheyenne	Marian Hardy
1942	Yokel Boy	Vera Valaize
1942	Sunset on the Desert	Ann Kirby
1942	Tennessee Johnson	Martha Lincoln
1943	The Human Comedy	Daughter Beaufrere		Uncredited
1943	Presenting Lily Mars	Bonnie - Showgirl		Uncredited
1944	Law of the Valley	Ann Jennings
1945	Flame of the West	Abbie Compton
1946	Drifting Along	Pat McBride
1948	Crossed Trails	Maggie Flynn

References

1. Room, Adrian (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. p. 96. ISBN 9780786457632. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
2. "Records Here Show Film Actress Bride Of Alabama Dentist". The Selma Times-Journal. Alabama, Selma. May 5, 1935. p. 2. Retrieved September 19, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Neville, Lucie (April 3, 1938). "But she will talk about her husband". Arizona Republic. Arizona, Phoenix. Every Week Magazine. p. 39. Retrieved September 19, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Records Here Show Film Actress Bride Of Alabama Dentist". The Selma Times-Journal. Alabama, Selma. May 5, 1935. p. 1. Retrieved September 19, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
5. Rawles, Obera H. (December 14, 1936). "Intimate Facts about New Hollywood Stars: Lynne Carver". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Texas, Corpus Christi. Central Press. p. 5. Retrieved September 19, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Actress Petitions For Name Change". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. February 27, 1948. p. 21. Retrieved September 19, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. (2 volume set). McFarland. p. 123. ISBN 9780786479924. Retrieved April 16, 2017.

External links

• Lynne Carver on IMDb