Andrea King

Andrea King (born Georgette André Barry, February 1, 1919 – April 22, 2003) was an American stage, film, and television actress, sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.

Andrea King
King in a publicity portrait for My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
Born
Georgette André Barry

(1919-02-01)February 1, 1919
Paris, France
DiedApril 22, 2003(2003-04-22) (aged 84)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
California, U.S.
Resting placeZion Episcopal Churchyard in Charles Town, West Virginia
Years active1933–1998
Spouse(s)
Nat Willis
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1970)​
Children1
Website

Early life

Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry on February 1, 1919, in Paris, France, to American Lovinia Belle Hart. At two months of age, she moved with her mother to the United States.[1] She lived with her grandmother in Cleveland, Ohio, and Palm Beach, Florida, for the first four years of her life while her mother attended Columbia University in New York City. When her mother married Douglas McKee, King went to live with them in Forest Hills, Queens.[2]

As a teenager, King attended the progressive Edgewood School in Greenwich, Connecticut,[2] a northern campus of Marietta Johnson's Organic School of Education. Playing Juliet in a school production when she was 14, she was asked to audition for a role in a Lee Shubert play, which led to other stage work.[1][2]

Career

Andrea King appeared in Broadway plays and other theater work. Her Broadway credits included Fly Away Home (1935) and Growing Pains (1933).[3] She also appeared as Mary Skinner in Life with Father. Her film debut was in a docudrama, The March of Time's first feature-length film titled The Ramparts We Watch (1940). In 1944, she signed with Warner Bros. and changed her stage name to King (some of her early movies have her credited as "Georgette McKee", her stepfather's name).[1][2] King appeared uncredited in the Bette Davis film Mr. Skeffington (1944), followed by another ten movies in the next three years. The Warner Bros. studio photographers voted King the most photogenic actress for the year 1945.[4]

She co-starred in the mystery-horror film, The Beast with Five Fingers (1946), and a drama, The Man I Love (1947), both opposite Robert Alda. King was originally cast to play Dr. Lilith Ritter in Nightmare Alley, a film noir directed by Edmund Goulding, but she chose instead the role of the sophisticated Marjorie Lundeen in Ride the Pink Horse (1947).[5]

In the 1950s, King had leading roles in the film noirs Dial 1119 and Southside 1-1000 (both 1950) and a science-fiction story, Red Planet Mars (1952). She later played supporting roles in Hollywood feature films like The World in His Arms (1952) with Gregory Peck and Band of Angels (1957) with Clark Gable.

Television

In the 1960s and 1970s, most of her acting work was on television, including the ABC/Warner Brothers Television western series Maverick's episode "Two Tickets to Ten Strike" opposite James Garner. In 1959–1960, King appeared twice as "Duchess" in the episodes "The Blizzard" and "The Devil Made Fire" of another ABC/WB western series, The Alaskans, starring Roger Moore, Jeff York, Ray Danton, and Dorothy Provine, as well as in multiple episodes of the ABC/WB private-eye series 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye.

She made four guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1959–1963, including the role of murderer Barbara Heywood in the 1959 episode, "The Case of the Bedeviled Doctor". King continued to act on television until 1990 when she played her final role on the Murder, She Wrote episode, "The Fixer-Upper". She appeared twice more as herself on the A&E series, Biography, recalling her work with Peter Lorre and Montgomery Clift.[6]

For her contribution to television she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 1960.[7]

Personal life
Andrea King pin-up from Yank, The Army Weekly, August 1945

According to her Los Angeles Times obituary, King was married to lawyer Nat Willis from 1940 until his death in 1970. In her later life, she authored children's books and was active in Democratic politics.[8] During the 1952 presidential election, she supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson.[9] She was an Episcopalian.[10]

Death

On April 22, 2003, King died in hospice care while in residence at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, in Woodland Hills, California.[11] She was survived by a daughter and three grandchildren.[12]

Filmography
Main article: Andrea King filmography

References
  1. Schneider, Paul Miles. "Biography". The official Andrea King website. Retrieved June 18, 2009. A few years later, after settling in New York, Belle consented to marry Douglas McKee, the Vice President of the Title Guarantee & Trust Company, and the threesome moved into a large house in Forest Hills, Long Island
  2. Bubbeo, Daniel (2001). The Women of Warner Brothers. McFarland. pp. 116–129. ISBN 978-0-7864-1137-5.
  3. "Georgette McKee". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  4. McClellan, Dennis (April 26, 2003). "Andrea King". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  5. Schneider, Paul Miles. "Ride the Pink Horse". The official Andrea King website. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  6. Schneider, Paul Miles. "Television Appearances". The official Andrea King website. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  7. "Andrea King". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  8. "Andrea King". IMDb.
  9. Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  10. Morning News, January 10, 1948, Who Was Who in America (Vol. 2)
  11. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. (2 volume set). McFarland. p. 406. ISBN 9780786479924. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  12. "Andrea King, 84; Often Cast in 'Bad Girl' Roles". Los Angeles Times. April 26, 2003.
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