Gloria Marlen

Gloria Marlen was a film actress back in the "Golden Days of Hollywood" (1944-49). Born in 1925, she and her brother were raised through the Great Depression in Miami, FL by their single mother. Gloria's career started early when she sang on the radio and danced and sang on the stage as a child, and she was a drum majorette in high school and in the Orange Bowl Parade. Her favorite memory from her Miami years was dancing three dances with Clark Gable (a member of the USAAF OCS Class 42-E in addition to being an actor) at a dinner dance honoring the military graduates that was hosted at her high school, Miami Edison. After high school, Gloria and her mother moved to Pasadena, CA to be near relatives, and she attended classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. This led to performing in USO shows, which then led to her signing a contract with a movie agent and moving to Hollywood with her mother. She performed in 32 films with the big stars of the day. Most notably, she was one of famous Western star Lash LaRue's last leading ladies in Border Feud, and she starred in the title role of the exploitation film The Story of Bob and Sally with Ralph Hodges. Gloria met her husband, Army Air Corps pilot Lt. Malcolm White, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills in 1945 when she was accepting the award for the favorite USO entertainer of the Officer's Club. Within three weeks of meeting, they eloped to Yuma, AZ, where Malcolm was being discharged from the service, and the couple moved to Hollywood, where they started their family in 1950. They moved to Northridge in 1952, and in '55 Malcolm's work transferred him to Louisiana. Upon moving to Louisiana, Gloria retired permanently from her film acting career and used her many skills and talents to raise her family and support her community. After her husband's retirement, the two of them traveled extensively around the world-six continents and over two dozen countries. Soon after Malcolm passed away in 2004, Gloria moved to an independent living village and it was there she met her 2nd husband, Walter Pilcher, who was her dear companion until his death in 2012. Gloria passed away from a long illness at age 92 in Tucson, AZ, where she and Walter had moved in 2010 to be near her eldest daughter. Gloria was loved by everyone who met her, and she maintained her beautiful smile and charming, dazzling "star quality" to the end of her life.