Audrey Totter

 Audrey Totter (December 20, 1917 – December 12, 2013)

Totter began her acting career in radio in the latter 1930s in Chicago, only forty miles northeast of Joliet. She played in soap operas, including Painted Dreams, Road of Life, Ma Perkins, and Bright Horizon. Following success in Chicago and New York City, Totter was signed to a seven-year film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She made her film debut in Main Street After Dark (1945) and established herself as a popular female lead in the 1940's. Although she performed in various film genres, she became most widely known to movie audiences for her work in films noir. However, those roles had become obsolete by the 1950's, when studios began to focus on more family friendly films, and Totter was released from her contract with MGM. It was at this time when she moved to television, which gave her steady work. She had featured roles in the programs "Cimarron City" (1958 to 1959) and "Our Man Higgins" (1962 to 1963). She may be best remembered by TV audiences for playing Nurse Wilcox in the series "Medical Center" (1975 to 1976). Additionally, she had accumulated scores of guest roles in such programs as "Dr. Kildare", "Hawaii Five-O" and "Murder, She Wrote". Totter was married from 1953 until her husband's death in 1995, they had one daughter. Totter died of a stroke on December 12, 2013, eight days before her 96th birthday.