Sara Shane
Shane in Perry Mason (1961)
Born
Elaine Sterling

(1928-05-18)May 18, 1928
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DiedJuly 31, 2022 (aged 94)
Gold Coast, Australia
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Actress
  • author
Years active1948–1964
Spouse(s)
William I. Hollingsworth, Jr.
​
​
(m. 1949; div. 1957)​
Children1

Sara Shane, born Elaine Sterling, (May 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022) was an American actress, who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Acting career

Born Elaine Sterling, Shane secured a film contract with MGM and was featured in a few musicals (billed with her birth name). She "was dropped by the studio after six months."[1] In 1953 she hired publicist Russell Birdwell, and began using the name Sara Shane ("inspired by the movie with the same name"[2]). She secured a seven-year contract with Universal International pictures (UI), but after two films took a sabbatical, which at the time was predicted as likely being brief.[3]

A 1953 newspaper article reported that fellow actress Hedy Lamarr prompted Shane (described as Lamarr's "closest woman friend in recent years") to resume her career in film.[4] Shane said of Lamarr, "She pushed me into a career again and got me out of my laziness."[4] The article noted that Shane was "currently testing for the John Wayne picture, 'The High and the Mighty,' and the film version of 'Oklahoma.'"[4] She returned to film and television work in 1955, most notably in the Clark Gable film The King and Four Queens.[5] Her last film, 1959’s Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, in which she portrayed Angie,[6] is considered her most memorable performance. She continued in television through 1964.

Among Shane's television appearances, she played the role of defendant Alyce Aitken in the 1961 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Envious Editor." She also played the role of Ethel Meridith in The Outer Limits TV series, Episode 8, Season 2, titled "Wolf 359" which aired on November 7, 1964. Shane's final acting role was as the Countess in the first-season, Christmas-themed episode "Long Live the Kingdom" of the ABC television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which aired on December 21, 1964. The episode's director László Benedek had previously worked with Shane on The Outer Limits episode "Wolf 359 and recommended her for the role.[7]

Business ventures

Shane left acting in 1964 to go into business. As of 2018, she was a director of Hippocrates Health Centre in Queensland, Australia and an author.[8] In 1974, she published a non-fiction novel, Zulma, about a Mexican pre-op trans woman's experiences in the La Mesa Prison, based on her visit to the prison and her meeting with a trans woman named Zulma.[9] In 2000, she published Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry (ISBN 978-0646402970). In 2008 she wrote, produced, and co-presented (with narrator Tony Barry) a DVD documentary entitled "One Answer to Cancer" (2008). The first half of the DVD is about the dangers of the pharmaceutical drug Aldara. The rest of the movie promotes the alternative cancer treatment, black salve; including detailed instructions on how to make it and apply it yourself.

Personal life

Shane married William Hollingsworth,[10] a "wealthy real estate tycoon,"[11] in 1949. They divorced in 1957. The couple had a son, Jamie.[10] Shane died on July 31, 2022, at the age of 94 in Gold Coast, Australia.[12][13]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1948 Easter Parade Showgirl Uncredited
Julia Misbehaves Mannequin Uncredited
1949 Neptune's Daughter Miss Pratt Uncredited
1954 Magnificent Obsession Valerie
Sign of the Pagan Myra
1955 Daddy Long Legs Pat Uncredited
1956 Three Bad Sisters Lorna Craig
The King and Four Queens Oralie McDade
1957 Affair in Havana Lorna
1959 Tarzan's Greatest Adventure Angie Loring

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Loretta Burns Season 7 Episode 8: “The Old Pro”
Perry Mason Alyce Aitken episode, "The Case of the Envious Editor”
1962 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour Helen Barrow Season 1 Episode 5: "Captive Audience"
1964 The Outer Limits Ethel Meridith Season 2, Episode 8, "Wolf 359"
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea The Countess Season 1, Episode 15, episode, "Long Live the Kingdom" [7]

References

  1. ↑ Thomas, Bob (November 16, 1954). "Starlet Who Rose To Top Too Fast Back Again For Second Film Try". The Call-Leader. The Call-Leader. p. 5. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ↑ Johnson, Erskine (July 7, 1956). "Gable Rejects Life Story Bids". The Rhinelander Daily News. The Rhinelander Daily News. p. 4. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ↑ "Two Careers Take a Turn", Life, pp. 51, 54, September 6, 1954, retrieved 18 August 2010
  4. 1 2 3 Johnson, Erskine (September 24, 1953). "Hollywood Today!". The Times Standard. The Times Standard. p. 2. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ↑ "Sara Shane Cast In Gable Movie". The Amarillo Globe-Times. The Amarillo Globe-Times. June 1, 1956. p. 24. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ↑ Blum, Daniel (1960), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure", Daniel Blum's Screen World, vol. 11, New York: Biblo & Tannen, p. 66, ISBN 9780819603012, retrieved 18 August 2010
  7. 1 2 Cushman, Marc; Alfred, Mark (2018). Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Volume 1: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series. Los Angeles, California: Jacobs Brown Press. pp. 358–359, 364, 367, 611. ISBN 978-0999507827.
  8. ↑ Hollingsworth's website
  9. ↑ Zulma, Elaine Hollingsworth. (New York) Warner Books, 1974 ISBN 0-446-78361-7
  10. 1 2 "Actress Sara Shane Plans Divorce Action". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. February 19, 1957. p. 20. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  11. ↑ "Former Starlet Leaving Society to Return to Film". The Tipton Daily Tribune. The Tipton Daily Tribune. September 5, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved October 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. ↑ "HOLLINGSWORTH, Elaine Stirling | Funeral Notices | Gold Coast". My Tributes. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  13. ↑ "Sara Shane, Actress in 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure' and 'The King and Four Queens,' Dies at 94". The Hollywood Reporter. 21 September 2022.
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