Tanis Chandler

Tanis Chandler (born Tannis Anne Goldthwaite; August 29, 1924 – May 7, 2006) was a French-born American film actress. She is perhaps best known to today's audiences as the ingenue in low-budget features with The Bowery Boys and Charlie Chan, and for incidental roles in major Warner Bros. features.

Early years Chandler was born in Nantes, France. Her father was musician Chandler Goldthwaite, who was billed as Rex Chandler for his performances of popular music. Her mother was Leon Lorfray De Rousier. Chandler was educated initially by private tutors in Paris and, after the family moved to the United States in 1936, at the Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. After her father's illness interrupted his work on radio programs, she became a model to help with finances. George White's Scandals and Wanderer of the Wasteland. She also used her fluency in French and Spanish to dub parts for foreign versions of approximately 30 films. Her success was such that the casting office sent Archer for work in another 1944 film, My Reputation (released 1946). That venture ended, however, when a scene called for being shirtless while mowing a lawn. At that point, Chandler admitted to being a female, ending her male-impersonation efforts. Her explanation for the hoax was that studio executives frequently complained about a lack of men, and she hoped for a better opportunity for roles in films. She then signed with Monogram Pictures for more prominent roles in "B" features, in which she sometimes spoke with a French accent. Her highest-profile film is probably the 1946 Warner Bros. feature The Big Sleep.

Personal life Tanis Chandler journeyed to France in 1949, where she was hired by a production crew making the multi-part feature Return to Life; she played a British army captain.

In October 1949, Chandler married Paul Mills. Chandler worked for a stock brokerage firm for a year, and she and her mother operated a kindergarten in which she taught when she was not working in films.

Filmography