LORNA GRAY
July 26th, 1918 --

Above: A publicity photo of Lorna Gray from her later days at Republic, when she was being billed as Adrian Booth.

Never mentioned by fans as a "Serial Queen" or promoted by the serial studios as such, the lovely Lorna Gray surely has a right to share that title with Kay Aldridge and Linda Stirling. She was in six cliffhangers; however, she was the heroine in only four of them. In the other two, she played villainessess; Lorna seemed to be the only serial heroine who could get away with such switching back and forth. Let's review the serial career of this versatile actress.

Above: Lorna Gray watches as Roy Barcroft (left) battles Kirk Alyn in DAUGHTER OF DON Q (Republic, 1946).

Born in Michigan, Lorna came to Hollywood in the 1930's, and, as she said later, she freelanced for a long time, eventually settling down at Columbia Pictures and taking any part that came in her way: "I'd do anything in those days...I was down in Columbia's casting office all the time. 'Please, can I have a part? May I do something?'" She appeared in everything from THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, which starred Boris Karloff and Robert Wilcox (later star of the MYSTERIOUS DR. SATAN serial) to THREE SAPPY PEOPLE, with the Three Stooges (I saw the Stooge short on TV recently, and Lorna was really funny in it. Even back then she was a multi-talented performer). Both of these films were made in 1939; that same year, Lorna found herself cast in her first serial: Columbia's FLYING G-MEN. She played Babs McKay, the sister of the young inventor of a radio-controlled plane. When her brother was killed by foreign spies headed by the mysterious Professor, the mystery hero known as the Black Falcon and his team of flying G-men step in and help her protect the airplane's plans from the Professor's henchmen, headed by veteran villain Dick Curtis. FLYING G-MEN was Columbia's attempt to capitalize on the same gimmick Republic had introduced in THE LONE RANGER a year earlier--a mystery hero whose identity could be one of several heroic suspects. The suspects in this case were the four "Flying G-men", played by Robert Paige, James Craig (who both became movie stars later on), Stanley Brown, and Richard Fiske (who might have risen higher in the acting echelon but was killed in World War Two. With talented actors like these, FLYING G-MEN was a good serial and a success for Columbia, and it gave Lorna Gray her first exposure to the chapterplay world.

Above: Lorna Gray and the masked hero, the Black Falcon, in FLYING G-MEN (Columbia, 1939).

Columbia cast the up-and-coming young star in another cliffhanger the next year, a Western called DEADWOOD DICK. Based on a long-running series of pulp novels, the serial told of frontier newspaper publisher Dick Stanley (Don Douglas) and his crusade against the outlaws plaguing the town of Deadwood. When Wild Bill Hickock (Lane Chandler), sent to clean up the town, is killed by the lawless element, Stanley assumes the guise of the masked Deadwood Dick to smash the outlaws and their leader the Skull, a mystery villain who is secretly one of Deadwood's leading citizens. Lorna played Ann Butler, the sister of a murdered reporter on Stanley's paper and the newspaperman's trusted ally. Directed by James W. Horne (see the Charles Quigley and Warren Hull sections), DEADWOOD DICK nevertheless enjoys a large share of popularity among cliffhanger fans, and is probably the second most famous of Lorna's serials.

Above: Lorna Gray with the masked Don Douglas in the Western serial DEADWOOD DICK (Columbia, 1940).

Lorna's Columbia cliffhangers had gained the attention of Republic Pictures, the best serial makers in the business. After leaving Columbia and freelancing for a while, Republic signed her to appear in PERILS OF NYOKA in 1942, an action-packed adventure saga set in North Africa. Kay Aldridge was the title character, a young woman who was out to find her father, who had vanished while searching for the Lost Tablets of Hippocrates. Clayton Moore was Dr. Larry Grayson, the heroic physician who aided Nyoka in her search, and Lorna was the evil Vultura, an Arab queen who was after the treasure hidden with the Tablets and didn't care a straw for the Tablets' medical value to mankind. With the help of her henchman Cassib (Charles Middleton) and her pet ape Satan, Vultura gave Larry, Nyoka, and their expedition a very hard time indeed until she met her well-deserved end. Lorna's characterization of the selfish, greedy, cruel, and imperious Vultura was one of the most menacing and memorable villain performances in cliffhanger history, truly an acting tour-de-force, and the role she is still best remembered for.

Above: Vultura (Lorna Gray, in turban) and Nyoka (Kay Aldridge) grapple for a dagger in this scene from PERILS OF NYOKA (Republic, 1942).

Despite the great job she did as Vultura, Lorna managed to avoid typecasting as a villain. Her next serial part was as the heroine: Gail Richards in CAPTAIN AMERICA (Republic, 1943). Based on the comic book character created by Jack Kirby, the serial bore little resemblance to the source material. However, it was still a top-notch cliffhanger with fabulous action and a clever plot. Dick Purcell was excellent as both Captain America and his alter ego, District Attorney Grant Gardner. Lorna was the D.A.'s trusted secretary and the only one who knew of his secret identity. The two of them wind up battling the master criminal known as the Scarab, who is actually Dr. Maldor (Lionel Atwill), a museum curator who is intent on killing all his former scientific colleagues and appropriating their inventions and fortunes in revenge for their "cheating" him out of his share of a lost treasure found on a museum expedition. George J. Lewis was Maldor's cold-bloodedly murderous henchman Matson, and Hugh Sothern, John Hamilton, and Tom Chatterton were among the Scarab's intended victims. The part of Gail Richards was a good one, and, despite the strong presences of Purcell and Atwill, Lorna Gray managed to make the part memorable.

Above: Gail Richards (Lorna Gray) and Professor Dodge (Hugh Sothern) in CAPTAIN AMERCIA (Republic, 1943).

Lorna's versatility was really amazing. In her next Republic serial, she was a villainess again--Rita Parker, the slinky, shady girlfriend of sophisticated, piano-playing criminal Jim Belmont (George J. Lewis) in FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (Republic, 1945). Belmont and the larcenous Miss Rita were adept at slick heists and robberies, but they met their match in Federal Agent Jerry Blake (Marten Lamont) and his secretary Joyce Kingston (Helen Talbot) and the evil pair were brought to bay in a suspenseful climax in an abandoned theatre. FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 was unusually suave in tone for a Republic serial, as evidenced by the witty dialogue and unusual villain. The entire cast did the unique material justice, none more than Lorna, who made her portrayal of hardened gun moll Rita just as strong a villainess characterization as Vultura had been.

Above: Rita Parker (Lorna Gray, far left) watches as her henchman Riggs (Jack Ingram, center) gets the drop on Federal Operator Jerry Blake (Marten Lamont) in FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (Republic, 1945).

Republic was delighted with Lorna Gray's talent, and they decided to promote her to bigger-budgeted pictures. They changed her name to Adrian Booth and signed her to a Term Player contract, but before moving up the ladder, there was one more cliffhanger to go. DAUGHTER OF DON Q (Republic, 1946), was Lorna's only serial under her name of Adrian Booth, and her personal favorite. She played wealthy socialite and sportswoman Dolores Quantaro, who became involved in the schemes of crooked antique dealer Carlos Manning (LeRoy Mason) and his henchman Mel Donovan (Roy Barcroft). Manning was one of the heirs to an old Spanish land grant that now covered a large area of valuable land. Manning plotted to eliminate all the other heirs (including Dolores) in order to lay claim to the property, but the pretty heiress, together with wise-cracking reporter Cliff Roberts (Kirk Alyn, in his first serial) gets to the bottom of Manning's multiple-murder plot and manages to mess things up for the antique dealer. Like FEDERAL OPERATOR 99, the serial was wittier than average with good repartee between Lorna and Kirk. The script also called for Lorna to demonstrate many athletic abilities, including judo and archery, and with the expert coaching of stunt ace Dave Sharpe, she managed to make it all look convincing.

Above: Dolores Quantaro (Adrian Booth or Lorna Gray) holds a gun on Mel Donovan (Roy Barcroft, center) while Cliff Roberts (Kirk Alyn) asks the gangster some questions in this scene from DAUGHTER OF DON Q (Republic, 1946).

Under the name of Adrian Booth, Lorna first moved up to B-westerns (mainly with Monte Hale) and then to A-westerns, including the classic BRIMSTONE (Republic, 1949) with Rod Cameron and Walter Brennan. During this period of her career, she married actor David Brian, and the long and happy marriage lasted until Brian's death in the 1990s. Lorna has also been active in charitable work (along with Jane Russell, she founded WAIF, an organization that cares for homeless children). She has made many appearances at film festivals, and serial fans have been delighted to meet one of their favorite cliffhanger performers in person. I've never had that pleasure, but I've long been a fan of the work of this warm and wonderful actress, who brightened up so many great serials with her presence and talent. Lorna Gray could always be counted on to do her best in whatever role she played.