Lisa Gaye | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Leslie Gaye Griffin March 6, 1935 Denver, Colorado, U.S. |
| Died | July 14, 2016 (aged 81) Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Education | Hollywood Professional School |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 1954–1970 |
| Known for | |
| Spouse |
Bently C. Ware
(m. 1955; died 1977) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Debra Paget (sister) Teala Loring (sister) |
Leslie Gaye Griffin[1] (March 6, 1935 – July 14, 2016), better known as Lisa Gaye, was an American actress and dancer.[2]
Gaye was born in Denver, Colorado to Frank Henry Griffin, a painter, and Margaret Allen Griffin (née Gibson), an actress.
The Griffin family moved from Denver to Los Angeles, California, in the 1930s to be close to the developing film industry. Her mother was determined that Gaye and her siblings make their careers in show business. Her siblings, Marcia (Teala Loring), Debralee (Debra Paget), and Frank (Ruell Shayne), all entered the business as either cast or crew.[3]
She attended Hollywood's Professional School.[4]
Gaye made her first professional film appearance at the age of 7. At 17, she signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios and was enrolled in the studio's professional school for actors and actresses.[5]
She began her acting career with two uncredited cameos in 1953–54. Her first starring role was in Drums Across the River (1954).[6] She appeared in 13 films between 1954 and 1967, including Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), as well as television shows such as Hawaiian Eye (1959) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1957).
On stage, Gaye acted in a production of Merry Wives of Windsor when she was 12 years old. In 1957, she made her stage adult debut in Darling, I'm Yours in San Francisco.[4]
Among Gaye's television appearances were three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show in 1956, 13 episodes of The Bob Cummings Show as Colette Dubois, five episodes each of the ABC/Warner Brothers detective series, Hawaiian Eye and 77 Sunset Strip, two episodes of another ABC-WB series, Bourbon Street Beat, seven episodes of CBS's Perry Mason, and eleven episodes of the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, along with several episodes of Sea Hunt and an episode of Colt .45.
She appears in one episode of Zorro in the 1957 season (Episode 13, Constance). She appeared twice in Have Gun - Will Travel in 1957 as Helen in "Helen of Abajinian", and as Nancy in "Gun Shy" (along with Dan Blocker, Corey Allen and Jeanette Nolan), and in the Science Fiction Theatre episode "Gravity Zero" as Elisabeth. She made a single appearance in the 1959 episode "The Peace Offering" of the syndicated western series, Pony Express, starring Grant Sullivan. Among her seven appearances on Perry Mason, Gaye played Rita Magovern and Lola Bronson in the 1961 episodes, "The Case of the Traveling Treasure” and “The Case of the Guilty Clients.” In 1964 she played as Pamela Blair in "The Case of the Nautical Knot". Also in 1961, Gaye appeared as a Spanish woman tied up in a revolution against the United States in an episode of the Maverick TV Series titled State of Siege. She also appeared in several episodes of the Bat Masterson TV series. In two 1959 episodes; in "Sharpshooter", she played Laurie LaRue, the stage assistant and wife of stage sharpshooter, Danny Dowling. She also appeared in the 1959 episode "Buffalo Kill" as Susan. In the 1961 episode of Bat Masterson, "The Fatal Garment", she portrayed Elena, a Mexican Cantina owner.
Gaye was married in 1955 to Bently C. Ware; the marriage ended with his death in 1977; the couple had one daughter, Janelle.[7] She died in Houston, Texas, on July 14, 2016.[7]
