Christine Larson

Diminutive beauty Christine Larsen (also credited as 'Larson' in some of her early films) had a minor Hollywood career, spanning a mere seven years, from 1948 to 1955. On the rare occasions she was not cast as the perfunctory love interest in B-westerns, opposite the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, she co-starred in long-forgotten potboilers (Last Train from Bombay (1952)) and 'Jungle Jim' adventures (Valley of Head Hunters (1953)). The multi-talented redhead initially studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and gained her entry to Hollywood in the mid 1940's via a spell with the Western Costume Company, as a designer of men's garments for 20th Century Fox musicals and period dramas. She also dabbled in theatrical set design and was a champion equestrian and rodeo queen, whose greatest ambition in life was to own a Lipizzaner stallion. Ironically, it was to be Christine's private life which made the headlines, rather than her all-too-brief tenure as a second feature lead in Hollywood. A 1992 unauthorized biography of Nancy Reagan by sensationalist author Kitty Kelley alleged an affair between her and future president Ronald Reagan -- though she had spurned his proposal of marriage in 1951 -- which endured at least a year into his marriage to Nancy. In 1952, Christine hit the news again, when she made a claim to police, accusing her 57-year old neighbor of spying on her by means of a spotlight and a periscope after she had refused his advances. The authorities, apparently, did not seriously pursue the matter, insisting that periscopes were not covered by city ordinances. There were a few more TV appearances before Christine's career had run its course and it became quiet about her for the remaining years of her life. She died at the relatively young age of 47 in Los Angeles in February 1973.