Sally Rawlinson

Sally Rawlinson’s father was a silent movie star, and Sally herself wanted to become an actress since she was a girl. And Sally worked as her craft, acting in amateur productions and taking acting classes, and when she was signed for a movie contract she was ecstatic at getting her dream underway. However, the upward tilt of her career never happened, and after some tries to salvage it on Broadway and Las Vegas, Sally gave up to become a housewife. Let’s learn more about her!

EARLY LIFE

Sally Anne Rawlinson was born on May 13, 1925, in Los Angeles, California, to Herbert Rawlinson and Lorraine A. Long. She had a younger brother. Her father was a silent movie actor, originally from England, UK. A former circus performer, he became an actor, and moved to US in the early 1900s. Though primarily a dramatic actor, he proved his comic flair in the 1910s in Universal’s “Victor Comedies”, and worked for Hal Roach by the time that Sally was born.

Sally grew up as a movie brat in Los Angeles, and attended Hollywood high school, where she met many personas that would later become part of the Tinsel town lore. It was no surprise to anyone that Sally caught the acting bug pretty early, and dreamed to following her father’s trade. She was a part of several amateur acting troupes by the time she was in elementary school, and her future seemed cemented. Also not surprisingly, Her father wasn’t overtly happy with Sally wanting to become an actress, but he finally gave in after seeing her perform several roles in amateur theater productions.

After graduating from high school, due to her parent’s wish, Sally attended City college, but acted in the Little Theater on the side, and slowly gained solid acting experience. With the help of her dad, she secured a screen test, passed it with flying colors, and was signed to a studio contract not long after. And her career started!

CAREER

Sally’s first movie is a Paramount studios variety movie, Variety Girl. You are a Paramount star in the 1940s? Then you are in this movie for sure! Especially notable for the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope duet that takes up a nice chunk of screen time. Next came Unconquered, a very fun and dynamic Cecil B. DeMille adventure movie, with Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard evading everybody, while trying to escape in the US wilderness. Fast paces, well written and acted, this is a solid DeMille offering is what a adventure movie should be.

Sally did a couple of shorts, before appearing in Isn’t It Romantic, a mild and not very interesting romance movie with Veronica Lake in the female lead. The story is about three daughters of a Civil war veteran being courted by three very different men. Only old Hollywood could do a movie out of this mush, and sometimes it worked, but here, not really. There are charming moments, but overall it’s not a solid movie. Then came Bride of Vengeance, a historical non a curate, mediocre movie about Lucrezia Borgia, helmed by Paulette Goddard in the leading role, and John Lund as her enemy/love interest. Lund’s mustaches are ridiculous, and Goddard has terrible eyebrows that make her look like a witch. Definitely not one of their stronger movies.

A bit better was Sorrowful Jones, made from a Damon Runyon story. A seemingly heartless, stingy bookie accepts a little girl as a marker for a bet, but when the girl’s father is killed by notorious gangsters, the bookie, Sorrowful Jones, is stuck with the girl, which is completely as odds with his hectic lifestyle. Jones is played by the incomparable Bob Hope, and Lucille Ball plays his love interest. Ball and Hope were a good combo, and they made five movies together this was just the first one. The movie is touching and funny, and just what you want from a comedic drama of Old Hollywood! Before her hiatus, Sally appeared in Samson and Delilah, a Cecil B. DeMille classic with Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature. No need for any additional info about this one!

Sally worked in other venues, and came back to Hollywood in 1951, but with limited success again. She appeared in two uncredited roles. The first movie was The Mating Season, a simple but very funny comedy with the indomitable Thelma Ritter playing a burger stand owner who, due to a mistaken identity case, has to pretend she is a live in cook for her son and his new socialite wife (played by John Lund and Gene Tierney). While it’s nothing too deep nor profound, it’s a top notch old Hollywood comedy, chock full of delightful actors and wacky characters, like Jan Sterling, Larry Keating, Miriam Hopkins, Malcolm Keen and so on. The second movie was Something to Live For, a typical 1950 weepie, with Joan Fontaine playing a alcoholic trying to get of the juice, and in the process falls in love with a fellow from AA, played by Ray Milland, who is unfortunately already married. I’t nothing to shout about, but still an okay drama, and at least it directly tackled such delicate topics like alcoholism, something which Hollywood tended to avoid, and it has a high quality acting ensemble (Fontaine, Milland, Teresa Wright, Richard Derr).

That was all from Sally!

PRIVATE LIFE

In her prime, Sally was five feet five inches tall and weighed 117 lbs. The fact that Sally was Herbert’s daughter was her PR selling point from the very starts of her career. There were plenty of articles like this one:

Debate on this issue, which has continued for many years, recently, influenced a newcomer, Sally Rawlinson, daughter of former Film Star Herbert Rawlinson, to choose the abbreviated film as her introduction. Miss Rawlinson the third generation of her family in the acting game (her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Garrison, appeared in nickelodeon films,) makes her bow in Paramount’s two-reel musical in “Curtain Of her experience the less executives see you on the screen, your golden opportunity keeps hiding. “The short is really a showcase, much mere elaborate than any screen test. You get personalized attention from hairdresser, wardrobe expert, makeup and cameraman. But in a small feature role you’re just one of the mob, usually.

Sally is perhaps a good depiction of nepotism in Hollywood, how nuances and complex this issue realistically is. And let us notice the way nepotism is not the same for every person. However, one rule applies everywhere – the bigger the fish your parents are, the easier it is to make it. Sally’s dad, Herbert, while a matinee idol in the 1910s, was hardly a top star in the 1940s, and could not really do much for her career. Except get her a screen test, his hands were tied. And Sally did nor manage to break the uncredited roster on her own merits. One wonders what would happen if a bigger name was her dad? Would she make it, like Jane Fonda, or not, like many, many other celebrity children that didn’t make the grade. Too bad, since is seems that she really quite enjoyed acting, and wished to

But, on a personal note, things were a bit better. Sally married her high school love, Alvin White, on Aug. 11, y. Were wed at Shatto Chapel and had a brief honeymoon at La Jolla. Alvin Somerville White, born on May 5, 1925, (making him 8 days older than Sally) was the son of Watson S. White and Annie Tefler, the third of four children (his siblings were Normal, Marshall and Patricia). During the war, he was a flyer in the Army Air Forces, but worked as a costume designer in his civilian life.

The Whites had three children, David Christopher White, born on June 25, 1949, Wendy Louise, born on October 14, 1952, and Cary Cameron, born on November 9, 1955. After the first of her first child, David, against the custom of the times, Sally was not ready to gave up on her career to concentrate on her family life and raise her children. At least not yet!

After her Hollywood career evaporated, Sally first tried to make it in Broadway, and then in Las Vegas, working in the chorus there, but no luck. After the birth of her second child, Wendy, 1952, she finally gave up her showbiz career for good, and settles in Los Angeles, with the goal of rising her family.

Sally and Alvin divorced in 1972. Sally continued living in California from them on, did not remarry and enjoyed her golden years.

Sally White died on August 29, 2004. in Los Angeles, California.