Nancy Saunders

Nancy Saunders

Born: June 29, 1925
Died: June 13, 2020
in Los Angeles, California, USA
This pretty, blonde 1940s B-movie starlet was the daughter of newspaperman Leonard Sanders and showgirl Blanche Thompson (who also appeared in a few silent pictures). By her own account, she was born in Hollywood as Nancy Lou Sanders on June 29 1925, the day of the Santa Barbara earthquake. Curiously, being in the movies had not been her primary career choice when she was spotted dancing at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub by journeyman actor and talent scout Don Dillaway. Dillaway took an instant shine to Nancy and managed to arrange a screen test at RKO. She passed muster and was rewarded with a six-month contract (being an experienced equestrian from the age of eight also helped clinch the deal). Before long, she found herself on the cover of Life magazine -- along with Jane Greer and Martha Hyer -- as one of 'nine hopefuls'. After five pictures, RKO dropped her option and Nancy moved over to Columbia where she went on to appear in no less than thirteen pictures in 1947 alone. Many of these were horse operas, including half a dozen of the Durango Kid series with Charles Starrett, shot at the Columbia ranch in Burbank. Nancy also doubled for Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (1947) (wearing a blonde wig) and The Loves of Carmen (1948) (dressed as a gypsy). She was Gerald Mohr's leading lady in The Lone Wolf in London (1947) and popped up in a few Three Stooges comedies which she later said to have really enjoyed being in. When her Hollywood career began to falter in the early 50s, Nancy found work as a tour booking agent with Air Cal Airlines. In 1996, she came out of retirement for occasional TV guest appearances. She was predeceased by her husband of 43 years, a sales rep for Seagram and Jim Bean.

- Biography By: I.S.Mowis

Movies for Nancy Saunders...

The Shunning
Title: The Shunning
Character: Ella Mae Zook
Released: April 16, 2011
Type: Movie
Beautiful Katie Lapp has always felt something missing in her simple Amish existence -- until a mysterious "Englisher" comes to Lancaster County looking for the baby girl she gave up for adoption 19 years ago.
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Stone Age Romeos
Title: Stone Age Romeos
Character: Maggie (archive footage)
Released: June 2, 1955
Type: Movie
The stooges hope to collect a reward by proving to a museum that cavemen still exist. They return from their expedition with a film purporting to show some stone age stooges defending their women from other cavemen. The museum curators are about to pay they reward, until they overhear the stooges talking about how they faked the film, with themselves playing the cavemen.
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Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Title: Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone
Character: Joanie
Released: December 8, 1950
Type: Movie
Harriet O'Malley tries to solve a murder aboard a train en route to New York.
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Arizona Territory
Title: Arizona Territory
Character: Doris Devin
Released: July 2, 1950
Type: Movie
Prospector Jeff Malloy rescues Doris Devlin, owner of a trading post, from an ambush planned by her uncle, Kilburn, who is trying to scare her out of the territory so that he can continue his counterfeiting operations.
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The Ghost Talks
Title: The Ghost Talks
Character: Lady Godiva (uncredited)
Released: February 3, 1949
Type: Movie
The stooges are movers for an express company and on a rainy night are sent to move some junk, including a suit of armor, from a spooky old house. The armor is haunted by the ghost of Peeping Tom, who has no intention of leaving. The ghost foils the stooges attempts to take the armor, until Lady Godiva shows up and the two ride off together.
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Outlaw Country
Title: Outlaw Country
Character: Jane Evans
Released: January 7, 1949
Type: Movie
Lash goes south of the border looking for a counterfeiter, a kidnapped engraver and his daughter, and the mysterious Frontier Phantom, while Fuzzy St. John studies hypnotism.
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I'm a Monkey's Uncle
Title: I'm a Monkey's Uncle
Character: Maggie
Released: October 7, 1948
Type: Movie
Set in the stone age, the stooges are cavemen who must have various misadventures hunting, gathering, and otherwise coping with prehistoric life. When some other cavemen threaten to take their women ("Aggie", "Maggie", and "Baggy"), the boys fight them off with a catapulting tree branch that shoots rocks and eggs.
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Whirlwind Raiders
Title: Whirlwind Raiders
Character: Claire Ross
Released: May 12, 1948
Type: Movie
It's 1873 and the disbanded Texas Rangers have been replaced by the corrupt Texas State Police. Steve Lanning arrives posing as a wanted outlaw to get in with them in his attempt to have them replaced. His inside work helps the Durango Kid break up the State Police raids but he is in trouble when his secret identity as Durango becomes known to them.
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Six-Gun Law
Title: Six-Gun Law
Character: June Wallace
Released: January 9, 1948
Type: Movie
In this western, an entry in the "Durango Kid" series of westerns, a corrupt, prominent citizen owns a small western town. The trouble begins when a cowboy finds himself convinced by the evil town father that he has killed the sheriff. In exchange for his silence, the official forces the man to become the new sheriff and instructs him to turn a blind eye to the villain's evil doings.
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It Had to Be You
Title: It Had to Be You
Character: Nancy the Model
Released: December 7, 1947
Type: Movie
A chronic runaway bride is haunted by her conscience, who becomes reality.
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The Lone Wolf in London
Title: The Lone Wolf in London
Character: Ann Klemscott
Released: November 13, 1947
Type: Movie
Michael Lanyard (Gerald Mohr) is suspected of stealing two fabulous diamonds from a vault in Scotland Yard, where they were being held for safekeeping, but the Yard can't prove he did it. Later, Lanyard is summoned by a member of the nobility to help the latter raise money to pay a blackmailer. Lanyard later finds evidence to reveal the diamonds as having been stolen by a famous stage star.
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The Woman on the Beach
Title: The Woman on the Beach
Character: Girl at Party (uncredited)
Released: June 7, 1947
Type: Movie
A sailor suffering from post-traumatic stress becomes involved with a beautiful and enigmatic seductress married to a blind painter.
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Prairie Raiders
Title: Prairie Raiders
Character: Ann Bradford
Released: May 29, 1947
Type: Movie
Government Agent Steve leases land to Masters so he can bring in horses for the Army. Henley has obtained a forged lease for the same land and Steve is unable to prove it's a fake. While Steve checks with Washington, Henley plans to roundup and ship the horses. Masters also intends to roundup the horses and he has the Durango Kid on his side in the battle with Henley.
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The Millerson Case
Title: The Millerson Case
Character: Belle Englehart
Released: May 29, 1947
Type: Movie
While on vacation, a criminal psychologist investigates a murder during a typhoid epidemic.
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Law of the Canyon
Title: Law of the Canyon
Character: Mary Coleman
Released: April 23, 1947
Type: Movie
Freight wagons are being stolen and ransomed back to their owners. Government agent Steve Langtry (and his alter ego the Durango Kid) is sent break up the Hood Gang that's behind the robberies.
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A Likely Story
Title: A Likely Story
Character: Blonde on Train (uncredited)
Released: April 18, 1947
Type: Movie
A shell-shocked young GI mistakenly believes he is dying, and a young artist takes it upon herself to prove to him that he's not.
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West of Dodge City
Title: West of Dodge City
Character: Anne Avery
Released: March 26, 1947
Type: Movie
Charles Starrett once again dons the disguise of the "Durango Kid" to restore law and order in this entry in Columbia's Western series. This time, the Kid, aka Steve Ramsey, witnesses a stage robbery, during which local rancher John Avery is brutally murdered.
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South of the Chisholm Trail
Title: South of the Chisholm Trail
Character: Nora Grant
Released: January 30, 1947
Type: Movie
When the ranchers of Bearcat are plagued by rustlers, Big Jim Grady offers to buy their herds from them at low-ball prices. Steve Haley suggests to the ranchers that they band together and drive their herds to Abilene, Kansas and get full price. Steve's friend Smiley "joins" the rustlers to learn who their leader is. Grady henchman Doc Walker asks Steve to help break up the cattle drive, and he agrees in order to keep tabs on the rustlers. The gang makes several attempts to take the trail herd but Steve, in his guise as the Durango Kid, intervenes and saves the cattle.
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Slappily Married
Title: Slappily Married
Character: Bellhop (uncredited)
Released: November 7, 1946
Type: Movie
Joe's wife, who thinks he's been carrying on with another woman, moves out.