Lorna Gray | |
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 Autographed photo as Adrian Booth Brian | |
| Born | Virginia Pound (1917-07-26)July 26, 1917 Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | April 30, 2017(2017-04-30) (aged 99) Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1937–1951 |
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Virginia Pound (July 26, 1917 – April 30, 2017), known professionally asLorna Gray and (after 1945)Adrian Booth, was an American film actress known for her comic roles, and later as a villainess. She is best known for her roles inColumbia Pictures comedy shorts andRepublic Pictures serials.
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Gray was born inGrand Rapids, Michigan.[1] After her father'smillinery business was a victim of theGreat Depression, the family split up. Before appearing in films, Gray sang with a group in Cleveland called Ben Yost's Varsity Co-eds, who performed primarily in movie theaters before the movie began.[2]
Although she had a film test atUniversal Studios and a brief contract withParamount Pictures, she made her first big film forColumbia Pictures.
As a Columbia contract player she appeared in the studio's shorts and serials, includingFlying G-Men (starringRobert Paige),Pest from the West (starringBuster Keaton), andYou Nazty Spy! (starringThe Three Stooges). When her Columbia contract lapsed, she found work atMonogram Pictures, where she worked with action starFrankie Darro.[3]
Gray also starred oppositeJohn Wayne inRed River Range (1938) and appeared in the title role inO, My Darling Clementine (1943), acountry music film starringRoy Acuff as asinging sheriff.[4]
In her Paramount films, such asHold 'Em Navy, she was credited as Virginia Pound, but she was given the nameLorna Gray by Columbia and she used it from 1938 until 1945, when she left Columbia and moved toRepublic Pictures. She appeared as Lorna Gray in Republic'sFederal Operator 99, but subsequently adopted the nameAdrian Booth.[5]
At Republic, she often received co-star billing in Westerns, the only woman other thanDale Evans to be billed so highly at that studio.[2] She also starred in Republic's serial about the comic book superheroCaptain America.
In 1945, shortly after signing a contract with Republic Pictures, she and thestunt performer Ruel F. Taylor were arrested for "suspicion of possessingmarijuana in Los Angeles." A $1,000bail set her free.[6] She was later exonerated after Taylor testified at his preliminary hearing that Gray had not used the marijuana and was not aware of it.[7]
She married actorDavid Brian[8] on July 19, 1949,[2] and retired from motion pictures in 1951. As Adrian Booth, she was awarded theGolden Boot Award in 1998 and attended film festivals into her nineties.[5] She appeared as a guest at the annual Three Stooges convention held inFort Washington, Pennsylvania, on April 30, 2011.
Gray died in Sherman Oaks, California on April 30, 2017, aged 99.[9]
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