Elaine Shepard
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elaine Elizabeth Shepard (April 2, 1913 – September 6, 1998) was a Broadway and film actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She was also the author of The Doom Pussy, a semi-fictional account of aviation in the Vietnam War. Shepard's first film appearance was in the 1936 Republic serial Darkest Africa, in which she played Valerie Tremaine, the heroine of the film. This was followed with a series of leading roles in other minor films, such as You Can't Fool Your Wife, a 1940 comedy starring Lucille Ball. She then had several minor roles in major films, including playing a secretary in Topper and uncredited roles in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and the 1946 Ziegfeld Follies. A more prominent role came in Seven Days Ashore, a musical in which she plays the principal love interest for the band of sailors on shore leave. Shepard also had some minor appearances on Broadway, including a part in the 1940 Cole Porter musical Panama Hattie. Shepard abandoned acting and turned to freelance journalism. She is best known in this role for her Vietnam War coverage, which became the basis for her 1967 book The Doom Pussy, recounting her experiences with aviators in the early part of the war. This book includes an early use of the phrase "the whole nine yards".
Known For
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
Topper
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk.
There Goes My Heart
Egyptologist, Dean Lambert, accused of car-theft, skips bail and begins a cross-country trek to join a group in New York headed for Egypt. With the police close on his trail he gets in and out of scrapes along the way.
Professor Beware
Two industrialists disappear from an airplane while the plane is in the air. Also missing is $100,000. The Falcon investigates and discovers a plot against the government.
The Falcon in Danger
A 15-episode serial in which Beatty goes to darkest Africa to rescue the Goddess of Joba, who is being held by the high priest.
Darkest Africa
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.
You Can't Fool Your Wife
A tour guide in Chinatown and his girlfriend get mixed up with jewel thieves and murder.
I Cover Chinatown
A rancher finds that his stock of horses is mysteriously being depleted, and discovers that a ranch near him has had a sudden upsurge in its horse population.
The Fighting Texan
Because of a storm, the Gang has to stay overnight at Darla's house, and they drive her father crazy.
Night 'n' Gales
Re-edited feature film version of the 1936 serial Darkest Africa.
Bat Men of Africa
Working undercover, Rangers Bob and Wally arrive to take up ranching. Out to stop them is Bill Nash and his men. When Bob plans to file on a ranch, Nash finds out and heads for the Registrar ahead of him.
Law of the Ranger
Circumstances force a womanizing playboy on leave from the Merchant Marine to ask two shipmates to help him by dating two surplus girlfriends.
Seven Days Ashore
After the death of his father, Anna starts working in the navy where he falls in love with a navy man.