June Travis | |
|---|---|
 Travis in 1935 | |
| Born | June Dorothea Grabiner August 7, 1914 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 2008 (aged 93) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Resting place | Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago |
| Other names | June Travis Friedlob |
| Years active | 1935–1965 |
| Spouse |
Fred Friedlob
(m. 1940; died 1979) |
| Children | 2 |
June Travis (born June Dorothea Grabiner; August 7, 1914 – April 14, 2008) was an American film actress.
Born June Dorothea Grabiner, she was the daughter of Harry Grabiner, vice-president of the Chicago White Sox in the 1930s.[1]
She had dark brown hair and green eyes.[1] She stood 5'4" tall. She attended Parkside Grammar School in Chicago and the Starrett School for Girls. She later studied at UCLA. When she returned to Illinois, she matriculated at the University of Chicago.[2]
On January 3, 1940, Travis married Fred Friedlob. They had two daughters, Cathy and June. Friedlob died in May 1979 in Chicago.[3]
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A Paramount Pictures vice-president noticed her in Miami, Florida, at a White Sox exhibition game. He offered Travis a screen test when she came to Pasadena, California, where the major league baseball team trained. The first time she was presented with a screen contract, she suffered from screen fright and turned it down. She returned to Chicago and school and the next winter, accepted a film studio offer in Palm Springs, California.
Travis made her screen debut in Stranded (1935),[2] a film which starred Kay Francis and George Brent. She played the role of Mary Rand. She followed this with a part in Not On Your Life (1935), with Warren William and Claire Dodd. Howard Hawks directed her in Ceiling Zero (1936), a Warner Bros. feature. In preparation for her role, Travis learned flying, navigation, and parachute jumping from Amelia Earhart. The aviator gave her instructions in September 1935, including the film stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Also in 1936, she portrayed secretary Della Street to Perry Mason as played by Ricardo Cortez in The Case of the Black Cat.
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She was Ronald Reagan's leading lady in his first movie, Love Is on the Air, in 1937.
Her most notable film role was likely in The Star (1952) starring Bette Davis.
Travis became known as the Queen of the B-movies on the Warner Bros. lot. Later, she said that if she had remained in Hollywood two more years, she would have been a star.[4] However, following three years, she came home to Chicago for Christmas with her parents. She did not return to making motion pictures. Travis stopped regularly appearing in films after 1938, though she made minor appearances in The Star and Monster a Go-Go.
Travis played Stormy Wilson Curtis in the radio soap opera Girl Alone[5] and Bernice in Arnold Grimm's Daughter, another soap opera.[6]
On April 14, 2008, Travis, age 93, died in a hospital of complications from a stroke she suffered weeks earlier. She is buried in Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery.[7]
