Italian postcard by Nannina, Milano.
Vintage postcard, no. 3098. Photo: Universal-International.
Beauty, spark and intelligence
Helena Carter was born Helen Jean Ruckert in New York City in 1923. She was the daughter of Lawrence Ruckert and Honorah Sullivan. Helena graduated from Hunter College and attended graduate school at Columbia University, studying for a teaching degree. She later said her ambition was to be a teacher and marry a college professor.
During this period, she worked as a fashion model and modelled sports clothes at Conover, where she became friends with Betsy Drake. Renowned photographer Dick Isaacs shot some magazine covers of her that drew the notice of film studios. Carter was visiting friends at Universal Studios when producer Leonard Goldstein spotted her. Universal signed her to a seven-year contract in 1946.
Her first film role was a small part in the Film Noir Time Out of Mind (Robert Siodmak, 1947), which starred Ella Raines and Phyllis Calvert. The film was Robert Siodmak's one dud in a series of classic Film Noirs. Stephen Vagg at FilmInk: "She already demonstrates what her more notable attributes would be – her beauty, spark and intelligence, and her ability to focus her eyes on the person she was performing a scene with."
Universal put Carter in the musical comedy Something in the Wind (Irving Pichel, 1948) with Deanna Durbin. She was loaned out for the Film Noir Intrigue (Edwin L. Marin, 1948), her biggest part yet. She was billed third after George Raft and June Havoc. Stephen Vagg: "Carter’s performance in this film helped establish what would be her stock in trade character – a good girl sexually attracted to the bad boy hero; moral, but not a stick in the mud; intelligent and spirited. She’s fully present and focused in her scenes with Raft – her eyes are alive, interested, alert; she’s aware, not naive, nobody’s fool."
Back at Universal, she was in the Western River Lady (George Sherman, 1948), vying with Yvonne de Carlo for Rod Cameron. Then she did not work again in a film for over a year. Hedda Hopper reported that Carter became "a little difficult to handle after her first picture. She turned down a part in an Abbott and Costello film and got the silent treatment from the studio for the year. She finally saw the light, started cooperating." The film that brought her back was The Fighting O'Flynn (Arthur Pierson, 1949). She was cast as Douglas Fairbanks Jr's love interest in the film made for Fairbanks' company but released through Universal. Fairbanks took an option on her for two more films. In 1948, she appeared on the cover of Life.
Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem (Antwerp). Photo: Universal-International.
Brave, kind and heroic
Helena Carter turned down the part of Richard Long's wife in Ma and Pa Kettle (Charles Lamont, 1949), and Meg Randall played the role. In November 1948, Hedda Hopper reported that Carter wanted out of her Universal contract six months ago, and would get it if she paid back all the salary she had received. Hopper judged that the studio got enough money out of her loan-outs to Fairbanks and Raft to cover two years of her pay.
Carter wanted better roles, but Universal executives slapped her down. She stayed with Universal and replaced Dolores Hart in South Sea Sinner (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1950). Carter and co-star Shelley Winters reportedly feuded on set, although both denied it. She played the female lead in the comedy Double Crossbones (Charles Barton, 1950), with Donald O'Connor.
James Cagney and his brother, producer William Cagney, borrowed her for the Film Noir Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (Gordon Douglas, 1950), made by William Cagney Productions for Warner Bros. Carter supported Randolph Scott in the Western Fort Worth (Edwin L. Marin, 1951). William Cagney used her again in the Western Bugles in the Afternoon (Roy Rowland, 1952) with Ray Milland. The story features the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Sam Katzman used her in the historical adventure film The Golden Hawk (Sidney Salkow, 1952) and the Western The Pathfinder (Sidney Salkow, 1952). Carter's final film was the Sci-Fi thriller Invaders from Mars (William Cameron Menzies, 1953). The film recounts its story from the point of view of an older child in an adult world heading into crisis. It was rushed into production to be released before George Pal's War of the Worlds (also released in 1953), becoming the first feature film to show aliens and their spacecraft in colour. The film developed a cult following in the years after its release.
Stephen Vagg: "For the first time in her entire career, Carter played something other than a love interest for the male lead; she’s the kindly psychiatrist who believes the young boy (Jimmy Hunt) who claims aliens have taken over his parents and helps him investigate. She’s brave, kind and heroic." In 1953, Helena Carter married producer Michael Meshekoff and retired from the film industry. It was her second marriage; the first had ended in divorce. She would remain with Meshekoff until his death in 1997. Three years later, Helena Carter died in Los Angeles, California, in 2000. She was 76.
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 688. Photo: Universal-International.
Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Universal-International.
Sources: Stephen Vagg (FilmInk), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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