Ramsay Ames

Ramsay Ames (born Ramsay Phillips,[1] March 30, 1919 – March 30, 1998) was a leading 1940s American B movie actress,[2][3] model, dancer,[4] pin-up girl and television host. As a dancer, she was billed as Ramsay D'el Rico. She appeared in the film The Mummy's Ghost (1944), where she played Princess Ananka.

Ramsay Ames
Pin-up photo of Ramsay Ames for the May 4, 1945 issue of Yank, the Army Weekly
Born
Ramsay Phillips

(1919-03-30)March 30, 1919
Long Island, U.S.
DiedMarch 30, 1998(1998-03-30) (aged 79)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
OccupationActress, model
Years active1943–1963
Spouse(s)Dale Wasserman
(m. 19??; div. 1980)

Career

Of Spanish/English descent,[1] Amews was born on Long Island.[5] Athletic in high school, she excelled as a swimmer. Ames first was recognized as a dancer/singer before moving into sultry-eyed 1940s film roles.

Ames had attended the Walter Hillhouse School of Dance, specializing in Latin-style dance. She later became part of a dance team under the name Ramsay D'el Rico[1] and appeared as a model at the Eastman Kodak-sponsored fashion show at the 1939 New York World's Fair. An injury forced her to alter her dance career plans. She took up singing and became the vocalist with a top rhumba band.

During a trip to California to visit her mother, Ramsay had a chance meeting at the airport with Columbia Pictures President Harry Cohn. The meeting resulted in a screen test and then her movie debut in Two Señoritas from Chicago (1943).

From there, she moved to Universal Pictures,[6] where she was featured in such films as Calling Dr. Death and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. She later appeared in a Monogram Pictures drama, Below the Deadline (1946), and in Republic serials including The Black Widow (1947) and G-Men Never Forget (1948).

After her career subsided in the 1940s, Ames and her husband lived in Spain, where she had her own television interview show and occasionally took on support roles in films produced in Europe.

She was wed to "Man of La Mancha" playwright Dale Wasserman, and the couple later lived in a villa called "La Mancha" on the Costa del Sol.

According to director William Witney, some of Republic Pictures' stuntmen suffered more injuries running on rooftops to get a better look at Ramsay Ames walking across the backlot than were hurt performing dangerous action sequences in the studio's westerns.

Personal life

She was married to and later divorced Dale Wasserman, a Tony Award-winning musical writer. She died of lung cancer in 1998 on her 79th birthday.

Trivia
  • Ramsay Ames plays a double role in the 1947 serial The Black Widow, as her character Ruth Dayton gets impersonated by Carol Forman's Sombra through use of a mask.

Selected filmography

Soundtrack (5 credits)

Archive footage (5 credits)

  • The Mummy's Ghost (Short) (1966) Amina
  • Sombra, the Spider Woman (TV Movie) (1966) Ruth Dayton
  • Code 645 (TV Movie) (1966) (Frances Blake)
  • Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed (Video documentary short) (1999) Amina Mansouri
  • Svengoolie (TV Series)- The Mummy's Ghost (2012) (2012)

Pictorial Yank (USA)24 December 1943 Yank (USA)20 April 1945 Yank (USA)4 May 1945

References
  1. Johnson, Erskine (December 10, 1943). "Hollywood: Pin-Up Queen's Portrait". The Ithica Journal. New York, Ithaca. p. 12. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Ramsay Ames Heads Bond Sllers Here". Eugene Register-Guard. January 17, 1944. p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  3. "Inside Perelman". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. June 12, 1944. p. 24. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  4. "Hollywood Sights and Sounds". Prescott Evening Courier. June 26, 1943. p. 3. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  5. Fanning, Win (February 24, 1956). "Actress Ramsay Ames Finds Her Shangri-La in Spain". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 14. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "This Is the Story of Ramsay Ames -- Who's No Gentleman". The Des Moines Register. December 29, 1943. p. 51. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  • Screen Sirens Scream (USA)2000, pg. 3-11, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell "Reminiscences Of The Doomed Ananka"
  • Filmfax (USA)July 1998, Iss. 67, pg. 46-49, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Bride Of The Mummy"
  • Fantastyka (France)July 1998, Iss. 16, pg. 36-38, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Souvenirs D'Ananka La Mandite"
  • Movie Collectors World (USA)28 November 1997, Iss. 539, pg. 86-88, by: Paul Parla/Charles P. Mitchell, "Reminiscences Of The Doomed Ananka"
  • Scary Monsters Magazine (USA)June 1997, Iss. 23, pg. 47-50, by: Paul Parla, "I Shall Make You Immortal"
  • Classic Images (USA)June 1996, Iss. 252, pg. 28-29, by: Paul Parla, "Ramsay Ames-Sultry Latin Beauty"
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