Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic / Centra.
Dutch postcard. Photo: Republic Pictures.
Comic foil of Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges
Adrian Booth or Lorna Gray was born as Virginia Pound in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1917. After her father's millinery business was a victim of the Great Depression, the family split up. Before appearing in films, Gray sang with a group in Cleveland called 'Ben Yost's Varsity Co-eds', who performed primarily in cinemas before the movie began.
Although she had a film test at Universal Studios, she signed her first contract with Paramount Pictures. In such films as Hold 'Em Navy / That Navy Spirit (Kurt Neumann, 1937) with Lew Ayres, she was credited as Virginia Pound.
She soon moved to Columbia Pictures, where she was given the name Lorna Gray. She used it from 1938 until 1945. As a Columbia contract player, she appeared in two serials. The first was the Cliffhanger Flying G-Men (James W. Horne, Ray Taylor, 1939) starring Robert Paige.
One year later, Booth portrayed 'good girl' Ann Butler in the Western Serial Deadwood Dick (James W. Horne, 1940) opposite Don Douglas as a cowpoke who assumes a masked alter ego as he crusades for justice. She was also the comic foil in such comedy shorts as Pest from the West (Del Lord, 1939) starring Buster Keaton, and You Nazty Spy! (Jules White, 1940) starring The Three Stooges.
When her Columbia contract lapsed, she found work at Monogram Pictures, where she worked with action star Frankie Darro. Gray also starred opposite John Wayne in the Republic Western Red River Range (George Sherman, 1938) and appeared in the title role in O, My Darling Clementine (Frank McDonald, 1943), a Country music film starring Roy Acuff as a singing sheriff.
Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 1722. Adrian Booth as Native American character Aleeta in Rock Island Trail (Joseph Kane, 1950). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.
Suspicion of possessing marijuana
In 1945, Lorna Gray moved to Republic Pictures. In 1942, she had already starred for the studio as the evil Vultura in the Serial Perils of Nyoka (William Witney, 1942) with Clayton Moore and Kay Aldridge as Nyoka.
It was followed by a 15-chapter Serial about the comic book superhero Captain America (Elmer Clifton, John English, 1944), played by Dick Purcell. In 1945, she played hard-as-nails Rita Parker teaming with brains-heavy George J. Lewis in Republic's Serial Federal Operator 99 (Spencer Gordon Bennet, Yakima Canutt, Wallace Grissell, 1945).
She was still credited as Lorna Gray but subsequently adopted the name Adrian Booth. Wikipedia: "At Republic, she often received co-star billing in Westerns, the only woman other than Dale Evans to be billed so highly at that studio."
In 1945, shortly after signing a contract with Republic Pictures, she and the stunt performer Ruel F. Taylor were arrested for "suspicion of possessing marijuana in Los Angeles." A $1,000 bail set her free. She was later exonerated after Taylor testified at his preliminary hearing that Booth had not used the marijuana and was not aware of it. She married actor David Brian in 1949 and retired from motion pictures in 1951.
After retiring, she worked for many years with the World Adoption International Fund, an adoption agency founded by Jane Russell. She was married to David Brian till his death in 1993. As Adrian Booth, she was awarded the Golden Boot Award in 1998 and attended film festivals into her nineties. She appeared as a guest at the annual Three Stooges convention held in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 2011. Adrian Booth died in Sherman Oaks, California, in 2017, aged 99.
American Arcade Card.
Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.L., Merksem (Anvers). Photo: Republic Pictures.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
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