Beatrice Joan Caulfield

 Beatrice Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 – June 18, 1991)

She was an actress and former fashion model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures. Caulfield appeared on Broadway in Beat the Band in 1942. Directed by George Abbott it ran for 67 performances. In July 1944 Paramount put Caulfield in a lead role in her first film: Miss Susie Slagle's (1946), a drama about medical students with Sonny Tufts and Veronica Lake. Caulfield was Bob Hope's leading lady in Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), a popular comedy. She was with Bing Crosby and Paul Draper in Blue Skies (1946). When original director Mark Sandrich died, Caulfield was pulled out of the film but Crosby insisted she stay. Eventually Draper was replaced with Fred Astaire. The result was a huge box office success. One of Caulfield's most memorable film roles was when she was loaned out to Warner Bros. to appear in The Unsuspected (1947) with Claude Rains and Audrey Totter. Caulfield later went to Columbia to make a musical with Robert Cummings, The Petty Girl (1950). In the early 50s Caulfield began guest starring on television shows such as Robert Montgomery Presents, Lux Video Theatre, The Ford Television Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse and Hollywood Opening Night. She also appeared on the series My Favorite Husband, which Lucille Ball made famous on the radio version, and turned into I Love Lucy. In the 1960s and 1970s, Caulfield was active in touring companies of plays, summer stock theater and dinner theater. She was married twice, and had one son from each marriage. Caulfield died, aged 69, from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and had lived in Beverly Hills, California.