Nancy Gates was born February 1, 1926 in Dallas, Texas. She entered
show business, at an early age, when she was signed to a contract with
RKO Studios when she was 15. Her first production with that studio was
in 1942's
Hitler's Children (1943). Nancy
was also in two more films that year, those being
The Great Gildersleeve (1942)
and
Der Glanz des Hauses Amberson (1942).
The young actress was equally busy the following year with appearances
in
Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943),
Behind the Rising Sun (1943)
and Dies ist mein Land (1943).
However, after 1949, Nancy didn't appear in another film until she was
26 years old. In 1952, Nancy appeared in five films, beginning with
Target Hong Kong (1953). Up to
this point, the beautiful actress appeared mostly in character roles.
Two of her finest performances did come in the Fifties. In 1954, Nancy
played "Ellen Benson", a woman whose home was commandeered by a
would-be assassin (Frank Sinatra) of the
President of the U.S., in
Der Attentäter (1954). The other was as "Edith
Barclay", the secretary to a small-town jeweler, in 1958's
Verdammt sind sie alle (1958). After
the production of
Einer gibt nicht auf (1960), Nancy
left film acting to be with her family but continued off and on with guest spots on television shows up to her swan song in an episode of The Mod Squad in 1969.. She had 34 films on her dossier,
along with a host of television appearances.
