Lois Wilde: Movies & Filmography

Lois Wilde, born Edithia Lois Wilde on August 14, 1907, in Los Angeles, California, was a multifaceted American talent who worked as an actress, model, dancer, and beauty contest winner. By the time she was just 15 years old, Wilde had already begun working as a model and was performing as a ballet dancer at the prestigious Metropolitan Opera House. During her early modeling career, she posed for renowned artists including Howard Chandler Christy, Arnold Genthe, and Renee Prahar, establishing herself as a sought-after subject in artistic circles. While dancing at the Metropolitan Opera, she was discovered by the legendary showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., who promptly hired her to perform in the celebrated 1923 Ziegfeld Follies. During this glamorous period, she was once voted the most beautiful girl in the Follies organization, cementing her reputation as one of the era's notable beauties.

On March 8, 1925, at eighteen years of age, Wilde married Leslie Major Sherriff, a banjo-player for the Paul Whiteman Band, in Brooklyn, New York. When she became pregnant with her first child, Marjorie, she made the difficult decision to leave the Follies. After relocating from Atlantic City to Beverly Hills, she underwent a hysterectomy. While recovering in a wheelchair at a hair salon, a man approached her and inquired if she had ever been involved in theater, an encounter that ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in film. Wilde became most famous for her appearances in B-Western and Action movies, and she was particularly celebrated for her role in the serial Undersea Kingdom (1936), where she co-starred with Ray Corrigan under Republic Pictures. She also co-starred alongside the iconic cowboy star Gene Autry in the 1936 film The Singing Cowboy. Wilde and Sherriff divorced in 1937, and the following year, she married William Henry Snow, who served as the president of a radio recording company. She later married Gilbert Denton Buck in 1954, and the couple remained together until his death in 1986. Throughout her extensive filmography, she appeared in numerous productions including Step on It (1936), The Millionaire Kid (1936), Caryl of the Mountains (1936), Hopalong Rides Again (1937), Danger Valley (1937), and even took on small uncredited roles as late as 1984's Oh, God! You Devil. Wilde passed away on February 16, 1995, in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, at the age of 87.