Rosemary Lane

Rosemary Lane (born Rosemary Mullican; April 4, 1913 – November 25, 1974) was an American actress and singer. She is known for her performances with Lola and Priscilla as the Lane Sisters and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians in the 1930s, and for her film career in the 1930s to 1940s.

Early years Rosemary was born in Indianola, Iowa, in 1913, to dentist Lorenzo Mullican and his wife, Cora Bell Hicks. She had four sisters (Leotabel (Leota), Dorothy (Lola), Martha and Priscilla, three of whom later had careers in entertainment. As children, Rosemary and her sister Priscilla traveled to Des Moines every weekend to study dancing with Rose Lorenz, a renowned dance teacher. The girls made their first professional appearance on September 30, 1930, at Des Moines' Paramount Theater. In 1930, Rosemary performed on stage as part of the entertainment accompanying the release of her sister Lola's Hollywood movie Good News. Rosemary, a member of the National Honor Society, graduated from Indianola High in 1931 and attended Simpson College for a while, playing on the freshman basketball team.

Film career Rosemary and Priscilla remained with Fred Waring for almost five years. In 1937, Waring was engaged by Warner Bros. in Hollywood to appear with his entire band in Varsity Show, a musical starring Dick Powell. Both Rosemary and Priscilla took feature roles in the film. Lane's next film was the musical Hollywood Hotel, in which she co-starred with sister Lola, and Powell, before starring in Gold Diggers in Paris, opposite Rudy Vallee.

Priscilla, Rosemary, and Lola appeared as three of four sisters (the fourth being Gale Page) in Four Daughters in 1938; in the similarly themed Daughters Courageous in 1939, and in two sequels, Four Wives in 1939 and Four Mothers in 1941. She also starred in The Oklahoma Kid in 1939, playing a 'real girl of the West' who falls in love with James Cagney, while Humphrey Bogart plays the 'real villain'.

Lane earned good reviews for The Boys from Syracuse in 1940, based on Rodgers and Hart's Broadway hit of 1938. The next year she made an unusual move for a film actress of her era by becoming a Broadway star in the musical Best Foot Forward, as Gale Joy, which opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on October 1, 1941. It closed after 326 performances on the Fourth of July 1942. Lane closed out her film career in 1945 with Sing Me a Song of Texas, as nightclub singer Laurie Lang, the niece of a wealthy Texas rancher. She began a career selling real estate from an office in Pacific Palisades.

In 1942, a street in Burbank, California, was named Rosemary Lane in her honor.

Personal life Lane married Hollywood makeup artist George H. "Bud" Westmore on December 28, 1941. They were married for 13 years and had a daughter, Bridget Westmore. The couple divorced in 1954. Like her sisters Lola and Priscilla, Lane was a Roman Catholic convert.

Death Lane died of diabetes and pulmonary obstruction at Motion Picture Country Hospital on November 25, 1974, in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 61.

Filmography Year Film Role Notes 1937 Varsity Show Barbara 'Babs' Steward Hollywood Hotel Virginia Stanton 1938 Gold Diggers in Paris Kay Morrow Four Daughters Kay Lemp 1939 Blackwell's Island Mary 'Sunny' Walsh The Oklahoma Kid Jane Hardwick Daughters Courageous Tinka Masters The Return of Doctor X Joan Vance Four Wives Kay Lemp 1940 An Angel from Texas Lydia Weston Ladies Must Live Pat Halliday The Boys from Syracuse Phyllis Always a Bride Alice Bond 1941 Four Mothers Kay Lemp Forrest Time Out for Rhythm Frances Lewis 1943 Chatterbox Carol Forrest All by Myself Val Stevenson Harvest Melody Gilda Parker 1944 Trocadero Judy 1945 Sing Me a Song of Texas Laurie Lang