June Travis

June Travis (August 7, 1914 - April 14, 2008) was a motion picture actress from Chicago, Illinois.

Background

Born as June Dorothea Grabiner, she was the daughter of Harry Grabiner, vice-president of the Chicago White Sox in the 1930s.

She had dark brown hair and green eyes. She stood 5'4" tall. She attended Parkside Grammar School in Chicago and later UCLA. When she returned to Illinois she matriculated at the University of Chicago.

Marriage

On January 3, 1940, June married Fred Friedlob. They had two daughters, Cathy and June. Friedlob died in May 1979 in Chicago.

Screen Actress

A Paramount Pictures vice-president noticed her in Miami, Florida at a White Sox exhibition game. He offered Travis a screen test when she came to Pasadena, California, where the major league baseball team trained. The first time she was presented with a screen contract, she suffered from screen fright and turned it down. She returned to Chicago and school. The next winter she accepted a film studio offer in Palm Springs, California.

Travis made her screen debut in Stranded (1935), a film which co-starred Kay Francis and George Brent. She played the role of "Mary Rand". She followed this with a part in Not On Your Life (1935), with Warren William and Claire Dodd. Howard Hawks directed her in Ceiling Zero (1936), a Warner Bros. feature. In preparation for her role, Travis learned flying, navigation, and parachute jumping from Amelia Earhart. The aviatrix gave her instructions in September 1935. The film co-starred James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. In 1936, she played secretary Della Street to Perry Mason as played by Ricardo Cortez in The Case of the Black Cat.

Her most notable film role was likely the one she played in The Star (1952) starring Bette Davis.

Travis became known as the Queen of the B-movies on the Warner Bros. lot. Later she said that if she had remained in Hollywood two more years, she would have been a star. However, following three years, she came home to Chicago for Christmas with her parents. She did not return to making motion pictures. Her final movie appearances were in 1938, when nine films were released. Some of the titles are Federal Man-Hunt, Little Orphan Annie, The Night Hawk, The Gladiator, and Mr. Doodle Kicks Off.

Filmography

• Stranded (1935)
• Don't Bet on Blondes (1935)
• Broadway Gondolier (1935)
• Bright Lights (1935)
• The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
• Shipmates Forever (1935)
• Dr. Socrates (1935)
• Broadway Hostess (1935)
• Ceiling Zero (1936)
• Times Square Playboy (1936)
• Earthworm Tractors (1936)
• Bengal Tiger (1936)
• Jailbreak (1936)
• The Big Game (1936)
• The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
• Join the Marines (1937)
• Circus Girl (1937)
• Men in Exile (1937)
• Love Is on the Air (1937)
• Over the Goal (1937)
• Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
• The Kid Comes Back (1938)
• Over the Wall (1938)
• Go Chase Yourself (1938)
• Marines Are Here (1938)
• The Gladiator (1938)
• Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938)
• The Night Hawk (1938)
• Little Orphan Annie (1938)
• Federal Man-Hunt (1938)
• The Star (1952) with Bette Davis
• Monster A Go-Go (1965)

Later Career-Stage Acting

By the late 1970s Travis was performing on stage.^{[citation needed]} She admitted that the transition from acting on film was a difficult one.^{[citation needed]}

Death

On April 14, 2008, Ms. Travis died in a hospital in Chicago, Illinois of complications from a stroke she suffered weeks earlier. She was 93 years old.

References

• Long Beach Press-Telegram, "Actress looks back at what might have been", April 23, 1977, p. 16.
• Los Angeles Times, "Wrong Sex For Baseball, Girl Turns Actress", April 15, 1935, p. 19.
• Los Angeles Times, "Another Society Bud Lured To Movies", April 20, 1935, p. 13.
• Los Angeles Times, "The Pageant of the Film World", April 27, 1935, p. A9.
• Los Angeles Times, "Kirkland's Troth Seen", August 20, 1935, page A1.
• New York Times, "Screen Notes", September 21, 1935, p. 18.
• New York Times, "Miss Earhart Teaches Aviation", September 26, 1935, Page 25.
• Chicago Tribune, "June Travis Friedlob 1914 ~ 2008", April 16, 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: June Travis

• June Travis at the Internet Movie Database
• June Travis at the TCM Movie Database
• June Travis at Find a Grave