Randy Stuart, born as Elizabeth Shaubell (October 24, 1924 – July 20, 1996), was an American actress in film and television. A familiar face in several popular films of the 1940s and 1950s, and later in Western-themed television series, she is perhaps best remembered as Louise Carey, the wife of Scott Carey, played by Grant Williams, in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), now considered an early classic of science-fiction film.Stuart's parents were itinerant musicians in the American South and the Middle West. She was born in Iola in Allen County in southeastern Kansas, and made her stage debut at the age of three. The Shaubells relocated to California, where Stuart attended college. A screen test in the play The Women led to Stuart being placed under contract at 20th Century Fox. Her film debut was uncredited in the 1947 picture, The Foxes of Harrow.In 1948, she played Peggy, a knowing secretary (and collaborator with star Clifton Webb) in the comedy Sitting Pretty. She also appeared that year (sixth-billed) in Apartment for Peggy with William Holden and Jeanne Crain.In 1949, she portrayed Lieutenant Eloise Billings, an object of desire for Cary Grant, in the Howard Hawks film I Was a Male War Bride, also starring Ann Sheridan. That same year, she appeared opposite Jose Ferrer in Otto Preminger's psychological noir, Whirlpool. Stuart was billed on posters as a supporting player in the comedy / musical Dancing in the Dark, starring William Powell and Betsy Drake.In 1950, Stuart was briefly in that year's Best Picture, All About Eve, as a telephone friend of Anne Baxter, appearing in the party sequence. (The same scene featured Marilyn Monroe, a classmate of Stuart's from dance training.) She had fourth-billing in the noir comedy Stella, with Ann Sheridan and Victor Mature.In 1951, she appeared as Marge Boyd in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, in what might have been her breakout role. 1952 saw Stuart teaming again with Cary Grant and Betsy Drake in the comedy Room for One More for Warner Brothers.Stuart's TV career had a solid start with her co-starring role as Louise Baker, the wife of Cold War spy Alan Hale, Jr., in the 26-episode filmed adventure series, Biff Baker, U.S.A., which aired on CBS in the 1952-53 season (and was recently released on DVD).In 1958, she was cast as Nancy Dawson in the western film, Man from God's Country, starring George Montgomery. She also guest-starred about that time in Montgomery's short-lived television western television series, Cimarron City.In 1959 to 1960, Stuart had a recurring role as Nellie Cashman in eleven episodes of the ABC western television series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role of Marshal Wyatt Earp. Nellie was briefly a romantic interest for Earp. From 1958 to 1961, Stuart guest starred four times in different roles on Clint Walker's ABC/Warner Brothers western, Cheyenne. In 1960, she played the mentally unbalanced Claire Russo in the episode "Tangl
Gina Lee Wootten, Laurie A. Wootten, Scott R. Wootten
Star Sign
Libra
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They [parents] did everything there was to do in show business, and the days were pitifully unprofitable then. My first recollections were of leaning against an upright piano played by my mother in the old-time silent movie theaters. Once we had a tent show, and the tent was washed away in a flood. My own debut at three was a failure, and embarrassed my mother.
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Fact
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Her three marriages were to non-professionals. Her first husband, Kenneth Smith, was an airplane marriage; her second husband, Edward Charles George, by whom she had a daughter, was a car salesman who later became a police officer. Third husband Lane Allan's occupation is unknown.
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Auditioned for a prime role in the film Lady in the Dark (1944) but didn't get it. Her test, however, was eventually seen by Fox, who signed her to a contract a couple years later (1947).
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According to Laura Wagner, in her article about Randy in Films of the Golden Age, Winter 2013/2014 issue, she was born Elizabeth Shaubell but began going by the nickname of "Randy" while a teenager.
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Joined up with her vaudeville parents, who called their act "The Shaubells," at age 3.