CineScope
Gale Storm picture

Gale Storm

Acting
Known For

87 Years Old

Josephine Owaissa Cottle, known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show. Six of her songs were top ten hits. Storm's greatest success was a cover version of "I Hear You Knockin'," which hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1955. When Storm was 17, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood. 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. Storm had a role in the radio version of Big Town. After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the RKO Radio Pictures studio. 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". She acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' Frankie Darro series, and played ingénue 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, opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio. Storm starred in a number of films, including the romantic comedies G.I. Honeymoon and It Happened on Fifth Avenue, the Western Stampede, and the 1950 film-noir dramas The Underworld Story and Between Midnight and Dawn. U.S. 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. In the 1950s, she made singing appearances on such television variety programs as The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. In 1950, Storm made her television debut in Hollywood Premiere Theatre on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred in My Little Margie, with former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father. The series began as a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and then CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors. Her 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 (Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The show ran for 143 episodes on CBS and ABC 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 CBS's What's My Line?

Born

Bloomington, Texas, USA on 5th April 1922

Died

27th June 2009

All Credits

The Love Boat Image
The Love Boat
Rose Kennycott
The Love Boat Image
The Love Boat
Gale Storm
No Image
The Gale Storm Show
Susanna Pomeroy
Murder, She Wrote Image
Murder, She Wrote
Maisie Mayberry
The Mike Douglas Show Image
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
The Bob Hope Show Image
The Bob Hope Show
Self
Robert Montgomery Presents Image
Robert Montgomery Presents
The Colgate Comedy Hour Image
The Colgate Comedy Hour
Self
This Is Your Life Image
This Is Your Life
Self
The Ford Television Theatre Image
The Ford Television Theatre
Hope Foster
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show Image
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
The Ed Sullivan Show Image
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
My Little Margie Image
My Little Margie
Margie Albright
What's My Line? Image
What's My Line?
Self - Mystery Guest
What's My Line? Image
What's My Line?
Self - Panelist
No Image
Celebrity Playhouse
Burke's Law Image
Burke's Law
Dr. Nonnie Harper
Burke's Law Image
Burke's Law
Honey Feather Leeps
The Wonderful World of Disney Image
The Wonderful World of Disney
Self
No Image
The NBC Comedy Hour
It Happened on Fifth Avenue Image
It Happened on Fifth Avenue
Trudy O'Connor
Red River Valley Image
Red River Valley
Kay Sutherland
City of Missing Girls Image
City of Missing Girls
Mary Phillips
The Texas Rangers Image
The Texas Rangers
Helen Fenton
The Kid from Texas Image
The Kid from Texas
Irene Kain
Between Midnight and Dawn Image
Between Midnight and Dawn
Katharine 'Kate' Mallory
Abandoned Image
Abandoned
Paula Considine
Tom Brown's School Days Image
Tom Brown's School Days
Effie
Walk a Crooked Mile Image
Walk a Crooked Mile
Voice on Tape Recorder
Al Jennings of Oklahoma Image
Al Jennings of Oklahoma
Margo St. Claire
Woman of the North Country Image
Woman of the North Country
Cathy Nordlund
Revenge of the Zombies Image
Revenge of the Zombies
Jennifer Rand
The Underworld Story Image
The Underworld Story
Catherine Harris
The Dude Goes West Image
The Dude Goes West
Liza Crockett
Stampede Image
Stampede
Connie Dawson
Let's Go Collegiate Image
Let's Go Collegiate
Midge Lawrence
Uncle Joe Image
Uncle Joe
Clare Day
Swing Parade of 1946 Image
Swing Parade of 1946
Carol Lawrence
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld Image
Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld
Girl in TV Skit About Door Frame (uncredited)
Where Are Your Children? Image
Where Are Your Children?
Judy Wilson
Man from Cheyenne Image
Man from Cheyenne
Judy Evans
Forever Yours Image
Forever Yours
Joan Randall
Saddlemates Image
Saddlemates
Susan Langley
Sunbonnet Sue Image
Sunbonnet Sue
Sue Casey
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek Image
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek
Julie Martin
Jesse James at Bay Image
Jesse James at Bay
Jane Fillmore, 'St. Louis Journal' Reporter
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher Image
Cosmo Jones, Crime Smasher
Susan Fleming
Freckles Comes Home Image
Freckles Comes Home
Jane Potter
Campus Rhythm Image
Campus Rhythm
Joan Abbott, aka Susie Smith
Lure of the Islands Image
Lure of the Islands
Maui
No Image
Foreign Agent
Mitzi Mayo
G.I. Honeymoon Image
G.I. Honeymoon
Ann Gordon
Rhythm Parade Image
Rhythm Parade
Sally Benson
Smart Alecks Image
Smart Alecks
Ruth Stevens
Nearly Eighteen Image
Nearly Eighteen
Jane Stanton
One Crowded Night Image
One Crowded Night
Annie Mathews
Gambling Daughters Image
Gambling Daughters
Lillian Harding
No Image
The Merry-Go-Roundup
No Image
Rim of the Wheel
Virginia Sutton
No Image
I Know Somebody Who Loves You
He Plays Gin Rummy Image
He Plays Gin Rummy
Singer
Penthouse Serenade Image
Penthouse Serenade
No Image
Let's Get Away from It All
How to Go Places Image
How to Go Places
Herself
No Image
Glamour Girl
No Image
I'm a Shy Guy