Gale Storm (April 5, 1922 โ June 27, 2009) was an American actress and sing… Read Full Bio ↴Gale Storm (April 5, 1922 โ June 27, 2009) was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.
Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington in Victoria County, Texas. The youngest of five children, she had two brothers and two sisters. Her father, William Walter Cottle, died after a year-long illness when she was just seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name "Owaissa," a Norridgewock Amerindian word meaning "bluebird." Storm's mother Minnie took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas, which failed, and finally moved the family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.
When she was 17 years old, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. First prize was a one-year contract with a movie studio. She won and was immediately given the stage name Gale Storm. Her performing partner (and future husband), Lee Bonnell from South Bend, Indiana, became known as Terry Belmont.
In Gallatin, Tennessee in November 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television variety show, NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, hosted by Gordon MacRae, singing one of the popular songs of the day. Linda's father asked her who was singing and was told it was Gale Storm from My Little Margie. Linda's father Randy Wood was president of Dot Records, and he liked Storm so much that he called to sign her before the end of the television show. Her first record, "I Hear You Knockin'," a cover version of a rhythm and blues hit by Smiley Lewis, sold over a million copies. The follow-up was a two-sided hit, with Storm covering Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" backed with her cover of Gloria Mann's "A Teenage Prayer." That was followed by a hit cover of Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." Storm's subsequent record sales began to slide but soon rebounded with a cover of her own labelmate Bonnie Guitar's haunting ballad "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Storm had several other hits and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays. Amazingly, Storm only recorded for approximately two years with Dot and then gave up recording because of her husband's concerns with the time she had to devote to that career. Equally amazing, almost her entire recording career was based on her quickly recording cover versions of new hits by other artists (one, a cover of Joni James' "I Need You So," was never released). Many felt that Storm's covers often were better than the originals, and she developed a large following.
After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures. Her first was Tom Brown's School Days, playing opposite Jimmy Lydon and Freddie Bartholomew. She worked steadily in low-budget films released during this period. In 1941 she sang in several Soundies, three-minute musicals produced for "movie jukeboxes."
Storm acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' popular Frankie Darro series, and played ingรฉnue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy and The Three Stooges, most notably in the film Swing Parade of 1946. Monogram had always relied on established actors with reputations, but in Gale Storm the studio finally had a star of its own. She played the lead in the studio's most elaborate productions, both musical and dramatic. She shared top billing in Monogram's Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943), opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio.
American audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. She performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram, experience which made possible her success in other media. She became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series. It was also in this decade that her singing career took shape. She appeared on such variety programs as ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.
n 1950, Storm made her TV debut in Hollywood Premiere Theatre on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred in My Little Margie. The show, which co-starred former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors.
Storm's popularity was capitalized on when she served as hostess of the NBC Comedy Hour in the winter of 1956. That year she starred in another situation comedy, The Gale Storm Show (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The Gale Storm show ran for 143 episodes between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s. She was both a panelist and a "mystery guest" on What's My Line?
Storm was married and widowed twice. In 1941, she married Lee Bonnell (1918โ1986), then an actor and later a businessman. They had four children: Peter, Phillip, Paul and Susanna. She married the second time in 1988 to Paul Masterson (1917โ1996).
In her later years she struggled with alcoholism, in her own words:
During the 1970s I experienced a terribly low and painful time of dealing with alcoholism. I had Lee's unfailing support through the entire ordeal. My treatment and recovery were more than rugged. At that time, there was such a stigma attached to alcoholism, particularly for women, that it could be hazardous to your reputation and career. I thank God daily that I have been fully recovered for more than 20 years. During my struggle, I had no idea of the blessing my experience could turn out to be! I've had the opportunity to share with others suffering with alcoholism the knowledge that there is help, hope, and an alcohol free life awaiting them.
Storm was a great believer in the benevolence of God and was very much a Christian and later became an active member of the South Shores Church. She once said of this:
Life has been good and I thank God for His many blessings and the happy life He has given to me.
Storm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as Love Boat, Burke's Law, and Murder, She Wrote. In 1981, she published her autobiography, I Ain't Down Yet, which described her battle with alcoholism. She was also interviewed by author David C. Tucker for The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms, published in 2007 by McFarland and Company.
Storm continued to make personal appearances and autographed photos at fan conventions, along with Charles Farrell from the My Little Margie series. She also attended events such as the Memphis Film Festival, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.
Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009.
Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.
Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington in Victoria County, Texas. The youngest of five children, she had two brothers and two sisters. Her father, William Walter Cottle, died after a year-long illness when she was just seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name "Owaissa," a Norridgewock Amerindian word meaning "bluebird." Storm's mother Minnie took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas, which failed, and finally moved the family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.
When she was 17 years old, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. First prize was a one-year contract with a movie studio. She won and was immediately given the stage name Gale Storm. Her performing partner (and future husband), Lee Bonnell from South Bend, Indiana, became known as Terry Belmont.
In Gallatin, Tennessee in November 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television variety show, NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, hosted by Gordon MacRae, singing one of the popular songs of the day. Linda's father asked her who was singing and was told it was Gale Storm from My Little Margie. Linda's father Randy Wood was president of Dot Records, and he liked Storm so much that he called to sign her before the end of the television show. Her first record, "I Hear You Knockin'," a cover version of a rhythm and blues hit by Smiley Lewis, sold over a million copies. The follow-up was a two-sided hit, with Storm covering Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" backed with her cover of Gloria Mann's "A Teenage Prayer." That was followed by a hit cover of Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." Storm's subsequent record sales began to slide but soon rebounded with a cover of her own labelmate Bonnie Guitar's haunting ballad "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Storm had several other hits and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays. Amazingly, Storm only recorded for approximately two years with Dot and then gave up recording because of her husband's concerns with the time she had to devote to that career. Equally amazing, almost her entire recording career was based on her quickly recording cover versions of new hits by other artists (one, a cover of Joni James' "I Need You So," was never released). Many felt that Storm's covers often were better than the originals, and she developed a large following.
After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures. Her first was Tom Brown's School Days, playing opposite Jimmy Lydon and Freddie Bartholomew. She worked steadily in low-budget films released during this period. In 1941 she sang in several Soundies, three-minute musicals produced for "movie jukeboxes."
Storm acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' popular Frankie Darro series, and played ingรฉnue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy and The Three Stooges, most notably in the film Swing Parade of 1946. Monogram had always relied on established actors with reputations, but in Gale Storm the studio finally had a star of its own. She played the lead in the studio's most elaborate productions, both musical and dramatic. She shared top billing in Monogram's Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher (1943), opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio.
American audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. She performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram, experience which made possible her success in other media. She became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series. It was also in this decade that her singing career took shape. She appeared on such variety programs as ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.
n 1950, Storm made her TV debut in Hollywood Premiere Theatre on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred in My Little Margie. The show, which co-starred former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors.
Storm's popularity was capitalized on when she served as hostess of the NBC Comedy Hour in the winter of 1956. That year she starred in another situation comedy, The Gale Storm Show (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The Gale Storm show ran for 143 episodes between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s. She was both a panelist and a "mystery guest" on What's My Line?
Storm was married and widowed twice. In 1941, she married Lee Bonnell (1918โ1986), then an actor and later a businessman. They had four children: Peter, Phillip, Paul and Susanna. She married the second time in 1988 to Paul Masterson (1917โ1996).
In her later years she struggled with alcoholism, in her own words:
During the 1970s I experienced a terribly low and painful time of dealing with alcoholism. I had Lee's unfailing support through the entire ordeal. My treatment and recovery were more than rugged. At that time, there was such a stigma attached to alcoholism, particularly for women, that it could be hazardous to your reputation and career. I thank God daily that I have been fully recovered for more than 20 years. During my struggle, I had no idea of the blessing my experience could turn out to be! I've had the opportunity to share with others suffering with alcoholism the knowledge that there is help, hope, and an alcohol free life awaiting them.
Storm was a great believer in the benevolence of God and was very much a Christian and later became an active member of the South Shores Church. She once said of this:
Life has been good and I thank God for His many blessings and the happy life He has given to me.
Storm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as Love Boat, Burke's Law, and Murder, She Wrote. In 1981, she published her autobiography, I Ain't Down Yet, which described her battle with alcoholism. She was also interviewed by author David C. Tucker for The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms, published in 2007 by McFarland and Company.
Storm continued to make personal appearances and autographed photos at fan conventions, along with Charles Farrell from the My Little Margie series. She also attended events such as the Memphis Film Festival, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.
Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009.
Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.
Uninvited Dream
Gale Storm Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Gale Storm:
A Heart without a Sweetheart A heart without a sweetheart (Sweetheart) Is a very lonely t…
Dark Moon Dark moon, dark moon Dark moon (dark moon), a way up…
I Hear You Knockin' You went away and left me long time ago And now…
I Hear You Knocking You went away and left me long time ago And now…
If I Had You I could show the world how to smile I could be…
Ivory Tower Come down, come down from your ivory tower Let love come…
Lucky Lips (Lucky lips, lucky lips) (Lucky lips, lucky lips) When I wa…
Memories Are Made of This Sweet sweet memories you gave-a me You can't beat the memori…
Now Is the Hour Sunset glow fades in the west, Night o'er the valley…
Teen Age Prayer My friends all know it, How I adore him; I've whispered to…
Teenage Prayer My friends all know it How I adore him I've whispered to…
Tell Me Why Every time I look at someone new Tell me why I…
Why Do Fools Fall in Love Ooh-wah ooh-wah, ooh-wah ooh-wah, Ooh-wah ooh-wah, why do fo…
Why Do Fools Fall in Love? Ooh-wah ooh-wah, ooh-wah ooh-wah, Ooh-wah ooh-wah, why do fo…
Winter Warm It's a snowy kind of blowy day But your kisses make…
You I could show the world how to smile I could be…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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David G Austin
Very interesting about Gail Russell. When I was a kid, I would also hide when unfamiliar people came to the house. I was terrified of people I didnโt know. I also only ever wanted to play by myself โ never with other children. It was so bad that my mother took me to the doctor. The doctor said I was just extremely shy and that my mother should put me in preschool so I could learn social skills.
That was in the late 1960s. I was put into a preschool and I had real problems adjusting to it, but by the time I got to kindergarten I could at least deal with other children being around. I remained painfully shy, however, and I would freeze up and sometimes even have full-blown panic attacks if I was called on to answer something or to present a report to the class.
At 54 years old, I was finally diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder. In the 1960s, you werenโt considered to have autism if you could speak and interact with family members. Had I been diagnosed at age three, I would most likely have had a MUCH easier time at school. I might have been able to go to school each morning without feeling like Iโd be sick to my stomach because I was afraid Iโd get called on in class. That problem stuck with me all the way through graduate school, where Iโd find myself unable to speak in seminars on subjects I knew well. I will admit that sometimes Iโd drink a couple of beers before class if I had to make a presentation; it was the only way I knew of to calm the paralyzing anxiety Iโd feel.
So, I guess my point is that I wonder if Ms. Russell was similarly suffering from undiagnosed ASD. Things were bad enough in the 1960s, so I can only imagine that things were even worse decades earlier when she was a child. You were just told that you needed to get over it, to toughen up, to act like a "normal" person. I can relate so much to feeling that terror when a camera is on you.
(Oh, and I did end up as a professional artist as an adult. It worked out pretty well for me. Itโs sad that Ms. Russell wasnโt allowed to follow that path.)
Felidae 1962
The Uninvited is one of my favorite films. Gail was so lovely...such a tragedy. ๐ Rest in Peace Gail.๐น
Cinema Cities
It's such a great film. Even with all the special effects today, I think the manifestation of the ghost of Mary Meredith still has the power to scare.
myownfan
Agreed! The ghost is definitely still convincing. It spooks me everytime.
Steven J. Bosch
I have always loved the scene where Milland's character con fronts the ghost of Mary Meredith. He addresses it as if she was a spoiled child and he had enough of her tantrums.
Cinema Cities
I often wonder if he permanently got rid of her or if she returned later and resumed her haunting.
rosemary franzese
Gail Russell was a genuinely tragic star. She did appear in another great film Moonrise which is well worth a look
Cinema Cities
I hate that Moonrise is so overlooked. Besides the performances by Gail and Dane Clark, it's a beautiful film directed by the criminally forgotten Frank Borzage.
v parker
Thanks for the recommendation
LolaB
I love this movie, and it breaks my heart every time I see those pictures of Gail Russell after she was caught driving while intoxicated. She looks so sad and scared, and I know she never wanted to go into acting, she just wanted a peaceful life doing what she loved, art. She had horrible stage fright, so she began drinking to calm her nerves, and to see her addiction take over her life and eventually end it, is so sad and tragic.
Angie Rucinski
Poor, poor Gail Russell
I must confess I never knew of her until about a year ago but reading (and now watching) the story of her sad, so short life is just tragic