Lisa Gaye

Not to be confused with Lisa Gaye (actress, born 1960).

Lisa Gaye
Lisa Gaye with Richard Boone as a guest star on CBS's Have Gun – Will Travel
Born
Leslie Gaye Griffin

(1935-03-06)March 6, 1935
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
DiedJuly 14, 2016(2016-07-14) (aged 81)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
EducationHollywood Professional School
Occupations
Years active1954–1970
Known for
Spouse
Bently C. Ware
​
​
(m. 1955; died 1977)​
Children1
Relatives

Leslie Gaye Griffin[1] (March 6, 1935 – July 14, 2016), better known as Lisa Gaye, was an American actress and dancer.[2]

Early years

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Leslie Gaye Griffin was born on March 6, 1935, in Denver, Colorado, to Frank Henry Griffin, a painter, and Margaret Allen Griffin (née Gibson), an actress.[citation needed]

Her family moved from Denver to Los Angeles, California, when sister Teala was contracted to be an actress by Paramount Pictures.[2] Her mother was determined that Gaye and her siblings make their careers in show business. Her siblings, Marcia (Teala Loring), Debralee (Debra Paget), and Frank (Ruell Shayne), all entered the business as either cast or crew.[3]

She attended Hollywood's Professional School.[4]

Career

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Gaye made her first professional film appearance at the age of 7. At 17, she signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios and was enrolled in the studio's professional school for actors and actresses.[5]

She began her acting career with two uncredited cameos in 1953–54. Her first starring role was in Drums Across the River (1954).[6] She appeared in 13 films between 1954 and 1967, including Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), and television shows such as Hawaiian Eye (1959) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1957).

On stage, Gaye acted in a production of Merry Wives of Windsor when she was 12 years old. In 1957, she made her adult stage debut in Darling, I'm Yours in San Francisco.[4]

Television

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Among Gaye's television appearances were three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show in 1956, 13 episodes of The Bob Cummings Show as Colette Dubois, five episodes each of the ABC/Warner Brothers detective series, Hawaiian Eye and 77 Sunset Strip, two episodes of another ABC-WB series, Bourbon Street Beat, seven episodes of CBS's Perry Mason, and eleven episodes of the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, along with several episodes of Sea Hunt and an episode of Colt .45. She appeared as Susan Marno in Wanted Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen.

She appears in one episode of Zorro in the 1957 episode "Constance". She appeared twice in Have Gun - Will Travel in 1957 as Helen in "Helen of Abajinian", and as Nancy in "Gun Shy" (along with Dan Blocker, Corey Allen and Jeanette Nolan), and in the Science Fiction Theatre episode "Gravity Zero" as Elisabeth. She made a single appearance in the 1959 episode "The Peace Offering" of the syndicated western series, Pony Express, starring Grant Sullivan. Among her seven appearances on Perry Mason, Gaye played Rita Magovern and Lola Bronson in the 1961 episodes, "The Case of the Traveling Treasure" and "The Case of the Guilty Clients". In 1964 she played as Pamela Blair in "The Case of the Nautical Knot". Also in 1961, Gaye appeared as a Spanish woman tied up in a revolution against the United States in an episode of Maverick titled "State of Siege". She appeared in several episodes of Bat Masterson: in "Sharpshooter", she played Laurie LaRue, the stage assistant and wife of stage sharpshooter, Danny Dowling; in the 1959 episode "Buffalo Kill" as Susan; and in the 1961 episode, "The Fatal Garment", she portrayed Elena, a Mexican Cantina owner.

Personal life

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Gaye was married in 1955 to Bently C. Ware; the marriage ended with his death in 1977; the couple had one daughter, Janelle.[7] She died in Houston, Texas, on July 14, 2016.[7] Because her husband had served as a corporal in the U.S. Army, she was interred at Houston National Cemetery.[8]

Selected filmography

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Other television credits

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Profile of Lisa Gaye". Debra-Paget.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Barnes, Mike (July 19, 2016). "Lisa Gaye, Actress and Dancer in 'Rock Around the Clock,' Dies at 81". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  3. ^ Ware, Janell. "Dramatis Personae: The Family Cast". GeoCities. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Lisa Gaye and New Play Will Bow Together Tomorrow". Oakland Tribune. May 5, 1957. p. 119. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Lisa Gaye Proves Star in Theory". The Indiana Gazette. May 25, 1954. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "Adventure Hit on Grand Bill Colorful Saga". Terre Haute Tribune. July 25, 1954. p. 31. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ a b Lentz, Harris III (September 2016). "Lisa Gaye, 81". Classic Images (495): 57.
  8. ^ "Ware, Lisa Gaye". Nationwide Gravesite Locator. National Cemetery Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Archived from the original on June 9, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  9. ^ "Annie and the Lacemaker". Annie Oakley. Season 3. Episode 7. 1956.
  10. ^ "Trapline". The Adventures of Jim Bowie. 1956.
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