The Sheila Ryan Centennial

Today’s tribute is to the originalSheila Ryan (1921-1975), not James Caan’s second wife. As it turns out, this Sheila Ryan’s real name turns out to have been Katherine McLaughlin, which made me laugh because Katie McLaughlin to Sheila Ryan is rather a lateral move in terms of seeming less Irish, if that was her motive. Perhaps she thought it sounded more sophisticated?

Ryan was all of 18 when she bolted from Topeka and started out for Hollywood. She was very lucky, She immediately got a job in local television, back in the very early days — 1939. This led to her being named a “Baby Star” of 1940 — not under the original WAMPAS organization, but a sort of reboot sponsored by the Motion Picture Publicists Association. Once World War Two hit, she had great success as a pin-up model. She was initially signed by 20th Century Fox, and later moved to Columbia and the Bs. Some of her notable films include A Night at Earl Carroll’s (1940), the Laurel and Hardy pictures Great Guns (1941) and A-Haunting We Will Go (1942), and Gold Raiders (1951) with the Three Stooges and George O’Brien. She’s in musical westerns with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, Joe Palooka pictures, and mysteries in the Lone Wolf, Charlie Chan, and Philo Vance series.

During the B movie period she was married to actors Allan Lane (1945-46) and Eddie Norris (1948). He third husband, Autry’s sidekick Pat Buttram (later of Green Acres) proved the charm. Her final film was the independent caper film Street of Darkness (1958).

For more on classic comedy stars like Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges, please check out my book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube — now also available on audiobook.