CosmicCharlie
06-19-2022, 03:21 PM
Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes on December 22, 1915, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lillian Agnes (née McLaughlin) and Robert Collyer Combes, a police officer.[2][3] She had one elder sibling, Elizabeth.[4] Her parents divorced sometime before her fourth birthday, and her father, who later became an assistant chief of police,[2] remarried.[5] After the divorce, Billingsley's mother began working as a foreman at a knitting mill.[6
After attending Los Angeles Junior College for one year, Billingsley traveled to Broadway, when Straw Hat, a revue in which she was appearing, attracted enough attention to send it to New York City. When the show closed after five days, she took an apartment on 57th Street and went to work as a $60-a-week fashion model. In 1941, she married Glenn Billingsley Sr. She landed a contract with MGM Studios in 1945, and moved with her husband to Los Angeles in 1946. That same year, Glenn Billingsley opened a steakhouse there.[7]
Billingsley was married three times and had two children. She married Glenn Billingsley, Sr. in 1941, a restaurateur and a nephew of Sherman Billingsley, owner of the Stork Club. His businesses included Billingsley's Golden Bull, Billingsley's Bocage, the Outrigger Polynesian restaurants in Los Angeles, and a Stork Club in Key West, Florida, where they lived briefly after their wedding.[16] They had two sons and divorced in 1947.[17]
In 1953 she married British-born movie director Roy Kellino. They were married until Kellino's death in 1956.[18] Billingsley's third and final marriage was to William S. Mortensen in 1959; they remained together until his death in 1981
I was amazed to find this newspaper clipping ...
After attending Los Angeles Junior College for one year, Billingsley traveled to Broadway, when Straw Hat, a revue in which she was appearing, attracted enough attention to send it to New York City. When the show closed after five days, she took an apartment on 57th Street and went to work as a $60-a-week fashion model. In 1941, she married Glenn Billingsley Sr. She landed a contract with MGM Studios in 1945, and moved with her husband to Los Angeles in 1946. That same year, Glenn Billingsley opened a steakhouse there.[7]
Billingsley was married three times and had two children. She married Glenn Billingsley, Sr. in 1941, a restaurateur and a nephew of Sherman Billingsley, owner of the Stork Club. His businesses included Billingsley's Golden Bull, Billingsley's Bocage, the Outrigger Polynesian restaurants in Los Angeles, and a Stork Club in Key West, Florida, where they lived briefly after their wedding.[16] They had two sons and divorced in 1947.[17]
In 1953 she married British-born movie director Roy Kellino. They were married until Kellino's death in 1956.[18] Billingsley's third and final marriage was to William S. Mortensen in 1959; they remained together until his death in 1981
I was amazed to find this newspaper clipping ...