Brenda Marshall

Brenda Marshall (born Ardis Ankerson; September 29, 1915 – July 30, 1992) was an American film actress.

Career Marshall made her first film appearance as Ardis Gaines in Wives of Tomorrow (1937). Her initial billing as Brenda Marshall came in Espionage Agent (1939). The following year, she played the leading lady to Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk. After divorcing actor Richard Gaines in 1940, she married William Holden in 1941, and her own career soon slowed. She starred opposite James Cagney in Captains of the Clouds (1942).

Marshall appeared in The Constant Nymph (1943), but she virtually retired after this, appearing in only four more films, including the Western Whispering Smith (1948). She also played scientist Nora Goodrich in the B picture cult film Strange Impersonation (1946). In 1955, five years after her last film role, she made an appearance as herself (billed as Mrs. William Holden) in the fourth-season episode of I Love Lucy titled "The Fashion Show".

Personal life

Marshall did not use her stage name off set. She was one of two daughters of Otto Peter Ankerson, overseer of a large sugar plantation near Bacolod. Her mother died in 1925 when she was young, so Ardis, along with her older sister Ruth, attended grammar school and began high school studies as boarding students at the Brent School in Baguio. In the early 1930s, the girls were sent to San Antonio, Texas, to complete high school. She attended Texas State College for Women in her freshman and sophomore years, 1933–1935, and was named the Freshman Class Beauty in 1934, chosen by modern dancer Ted Shawn.

She married the actor Richard Gaines in 1936, and they had one daughter, Virginia Gaines (born November 17, 1937); the couple divorced in 1940.

In 1941, Marshall married actor William Holden, who adopted Virginia, and Marshall and Holden had two sons together, Peter Westfield "West" Holden (1943–2014) and Scott Porter Holden (1946–2005). After several separations, Marshall and Holden were divorced in 1971. Marshall moved to Palm Springs, California in 1971. She died in 1992 from throat cancer in Palm Springs, aged 76.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1939 Blackwell's Island Reynolds' Secretary uncredited Espionage Agent Miss Brenda Ballard 1940 The Man Who Talked Too Much Celia Farrady The Sea Hawk Doña Maria with Errol Flynn Money and the Woman Barbara Patteson East of the River Laurie Romayne South of Suez Katharine 'Kit' Sheffield 1941 Footsteps in the Dark Rita Warren with Errol Flynn Singapore Woman Vicki Moore Highway West Claire Foster The Smiling Ghost Lil Barstow 1942 Captains of the Clouds Emily Foster You Can't Escape Forever Laurie Abbott 1943 The Constant Nymph Toni Sanger Background to Danger Tamara Zaleshoff w/ George Raft Paris After Dark Yvonne Blanchard 1946 Strange Impersonation Nora Goodrich Whispering Smith Marian Sinclair with Alan Ladd1950 The Iroquois Trail Marion Thorne