Beryl Wallace

Wallace and Earl Carroll became romantically involved, and she followed him to Hollywood, where she performed at his theatre and appeared in films. Her first movie role was an uncredited part in the 1934 Paramount film Murder at the Vanities, based on Carroll's play. Over the next decade she played small roles and bit parts, but she also landed co-starring turns in B-Westerns like Romance of the Rockies (1937) with Tom Keene and Air Devils (1938). In total she acted in twenty-two films between 1934 and the mid-1940s. Her primary job, though, was as the star entertainer at Earl Carroll's Theatre, whose facade featured a famous 20-foot-tall neon portrait of her face. A recreation of that sign can be seen today at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles.

During World War II, Wallace helped the war effort by singing on two weekly radio shows, hosting a Monday evening program called Furlough Fun, and volunteering as a dancer at the Hollywood Canteen. She was also a figure skater, a sport she pursued alongside her performance career. Her life was cut short on June 17, 1948, when she and Earl Carroll died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 in Pennsylvania. She was 35. The two were buried together at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Wallace's career spanned twenty years, from 1928 to 1948, and left a lasting mark on both Broadway and Hollywood.