ADRIAN BOOTH

Adrian Booth was born Virginia Pound in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The attractive Ms. Booth can be found across the wide gamut of Saturday afternoon favorites from the serial cliffhangers (where she played good and bad girls) to the B westerns (invariably cast as the heroine).

As Lorna Gray, she began her 50+ film career in a supporting role in 1938 in Columbia's ADVENTURE IN SAHARA and a comedic turn as aditsy society gal in The Three Stooges' THREE SAPPY PEOPLE.

Booth made her Western debut in a 1938 Republic oater, RED RIVER RANGE, a Three Mesquiteers feature starring John Wayne. Booth played Jane Mason in support of the Mesquiteers' encounter with a cattle rustling operation tied in with an illicit slaughterhouse.

Best recalled by her fans is her long history at Republic Pictures, which included the following serial work:
• as evil Vultura in PERILS OF NYOKA (1942)
• as Dick Purcell's plucky aide Gail Richards in CAPTAIN AMERICA (1944)
• in FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (1945), she played hard-as-nails Rita Parker
• the lead (heiress Dolores Quintero) in DAUGHTER OF DON Q (1946)

Appearances in major motion pictures included a role in Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON as well as a supporting part (as Lt. Toni Dacolli), one of the heroic Army nurses serving on Battan and Corregidor, in Paramount's memorable SO PROUDLY WE HAIL (1943).

During the latter stage of her career (1946 through 1951), Booth spent more than half her screen time cast in various Republic westerns and she played opposite Monte Hale in eight episodes of his series.

Though she had worked at Republic since around 1941 on a picture commitment basis, she was ultimately offered a Term Players Contract at the studio. That contract, which ran from February 19, 1945 through June 23, 1951, gave Ms. Booth a steady paycheck and some job security, but it also allowed Republic to use her often and in a variety of films. At the time of this contract signing, Lorna Gray changed her screen name to Adrian Booth.

One of Booth's better roles in the Hale series was as Gloria McCoy in 1946's OUT CALIFORNIA WAY, a story concerned with a fading screen cowboy's envy of a newcomer and a kid hoping to get his trained horse into the movies. In the role of Molly Bannister, Booth helped Rod Cameron in BRIMSTONE (1949), a cattle-rustling yarn. Her second western with Cameron, OH SUSANNA (1951), was a story about a feud between Cameron and co-lead William Bakewell. Her appearances with Elliott included THE GALLANT LEGION (1948), THE LAST BANDIT (1949) and THE SAVAGE HORDE (1950).

She married actor David Brian (early TV's famed 'Mr. District Attorney') in 1948, and after making films for a few more years, she retired from the screen in 1951. Booth was awarded the Golden Boot Award in 1998.

REPUBLIC FILM CREDITS
(as Lorna Gray)
1938
Red River Range

1941
Tuxedo Junction

1942
Perils of Nyoka

Ridin’ Down the Canyon

1943
O, My Darling Clementine

1944
Captain America
The Girl Who Dared

1945
Federal Operator 99
(as Adrian Booth)
Tell It to a Star
The Tiger Woman
Dakota

1946
Home on the Range
Valley of the Zombies
Man from Rainbow Valley
Daughter of Don Q
The Invisible Informer
I’ve Always Loved You

Out California Way

1947
Last Frontier Uprising
Spoilers of the North
Along the Oregon Trail
Exposed

Under Colorado Skies

1948
Lightnin’ in the Forest
California Firebrand
I, Jane Doe
The Gallant Legion
The Plunderers

1949
Hideout
The Last Bandit
Brimstone

1950
Rock Island Trail
The Savage Horde

1951
Oh! Susanna
The Sea Hornet