Biography for
Priscilla Lane More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

12 June 1915, Indianola, Iowa, USA

Date of Death

4 April 1995, Andover, Massachusetts, USA (lung cancer)

Birth Name

Priscilla Mullican

Nickname

Pat

Height

5' 2½" (1.59 m)

Mini Biography

Priscilla Lane attended the Eagin School of Dramatic Arts in New York before she began touring with her sisters in the Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians Dance Band. She was a popular singer with her sisters and, after 5 years, she was signed to a Hollywood contract with Warner Brothers in 1937. Her first film was Varsity Show (1937) where she had the hard task of portraying a singer with the Fred Waring Band. Priscilla was to play the nice girl against the temperamental star played by her sister Rosemary Lane. Over the years, Priscilla would play an assortment of girlfriends, daughters and fiancees. She would team with her two sisters, Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane, to make a series of drama's beginning with the film Four Daughters (1938). That film would be the one that made John Garfield a star. In most of her films, all Priscilla had to do was to look attractive and give a good supporting performance. Priscilla would also co-star with Wayne Morris in three 1938 releases. In The Roaring Twenties (1939), she would play the girlfriend of James Cagney. In Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), which was release 3 years after it was filmed, she would play the fiancee of Cary Grant. When Alfred Hitchcock was unable to get Barbara Stanwyck, he cast Priscilla in Saboteur (1942) where she was on the run with the hero. By that time, her movie career was almost finished and she would appear in just a couple of films over the next five years before retiring in 1948.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana

Spouse

Col. Joseph A. Howard, USAF	(22 May 1942 - 18 May 1976) (his death) 4 children
Oren Haglund	(14 January 1939 - 1 May 1939) (annulled)

Trivia

She had been dating assistant director and screenwriter Oren Haglund. They eloped to Yuma, Arizona on January 14, 1939, but Priscilla left him the following day. The marriage was soon annulled.

Was considered for the role of Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Hosted The Priscilla Lane Show on a Boston television station in 1958.

After turning down roles in Money and the Woman (1940) and My Love Came Back (1940), and asking for a raise, Priscilla was put on suspension by Jack L. Warner.

Sister of stage actress Leota Lane [1904-1963] with whom she appeared in a 'Lux Radio Theatre' adaptation of Four Daughters (1938) in 1939.

Following her retirement, she followed her Air Force husband around from the world from base to base, often singing at camp shows. They eventually settled in New England and had four children: Joseph Lawrence (1945), Hannah (1950), Judith (1953) and James (1955).

After Bette Davis refused the lead role in Four Daughters (1938), an adaptation of Fannie Hurst's novel "Sister Act", Priscilla's sister, Lola Lane, suggested to Jack L. Warner that she and her three other sisters star in the tearjerker. Priscilla and Rosemary Lane were signed on, but the oldest sister Leota Lane, who was flown in from New York to test for the part, was deemed unsuitable by the studio. Actress Gale Page replaced her. The movie was a hit, made a star out of John Garfield, and spawned two sequels: Four Wives (1939) and Four Mothers (1941).

Sister of Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane and Leota Lane.

She is buried in Arlington National Cemetary next to her husband, Col. Joe Howard, who was buried there with full military honors in 1976

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