Iris Adrian

{{Infobox person

| name = Iris Adrian

| image = Iris Adrian publ.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Adrian {{circa|1940}}

| birth_name = Iris Adrian Hostetter

| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|05|29|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|09|17|1912|05|29|mf=y}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California

| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|dancer}}

| years_active = 1928–1980

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

{{marriage|Charles Over
|1935|1936|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|George Jay
|1943|1945|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Dan Schoonmaker
|1949|1950|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Ray F. Murphy|1950|1983|reason=his death}}

}}

Iris Adrian Hostetter{{cite book |last1=Room |first1=Adrian |title=Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5763-2 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSIhzKnNUf4C&q=%22Iris+Adrian%22&pg=PA15 |access-date=December 29, 2019 |language=en}} (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage and film actress.[https://web.archive.org/web/20141018215423/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/410/Iris-Adrian/biography Iris Adrian filmography], nytimes.com; retrieved October 10, 2014.

Life and career

Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who wed in 1909 in Los Angeles.{{Cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XLWG-D47|title=FamilySearch|website=FamilySearch }}{{Better source needed|date=December 2019}} She was raised by her single mother in Los Angeles. She was a graduate of Hollywood High School.{{cite news|title=Leaves Hollywood, Makes Good in East|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5941945/jefferson_city_posttribune/|work=Jefferson City Post-Tribune|agency=United Press|date=October 15, 1934|location=Missouri, Jefferson City|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 19, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Adrian won a beauty pageant, worked with the Ziegfeld Follies,{{cite news|title=Now in Follies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5941891/the_salt_lake_tribune/|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=August 2, 1931|location=Utah, Salt Lake City|page=28|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 19, 2016}} {{Open access}} and performed with Fred Waring{{cite news |last1=Folkart |first1=Burt A. |title=Iris Adrian, Actress Who Played 'Toughs' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41250840/iris_adrian/ |access-date=December 29, 2019 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=September 22, 1994 |location=California, Los Angeles |page=A 20|via = Newspapers.com}} before she entered films at the end of the silent era in Chasing Husbands (1928) and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early sound films like Paramount on Parade (1930).

During the 1930s she specialised in playing hard-boiled gals, glamorous gold-diggers, and gangsters' "molls". She played supporting roles in numerous features. She played "Gee-Gee Graham" in Lady of Burlesque. In the Jerry Lewis comedy, The Errand Boy, she played a glamorous movie star "Anastasia Anastasia", whose on-set birthday party is wrecked by Lewis's shenanigans. She appeared on several radio programs, including the Abbott and Costello Show.

She acted regularly, albeit without achieving star status, and by the end of the 1960s had appeared in more than one hundred films. In her later years she appeared in several Walt Disney films, including That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug, The Shaggy D.A., Freaky Friday, and No Deposit, No Return. Disney director Robert Stevenson considered Adrian his "good-luck charm". In these and other movies (such as The Odd Couple), she was typically cast as sharp-tongued or wise cracking waitresses, landladies, and other blue collar neighborhood types. On television, she was a member of the cast of the unsuccessful situation comedy The Ted Knight Show in the spring of 1978. She also played numerous guest roles in television series such as Get Smart, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, The Munsters, The Love Boat, The Lucy Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Jack Benny Program.

Personal life

Adrian was married to Charles Over from 1935 to 1936; the marriage ended in divorce. Her second marriage, to George Jay, also ended in divorce.{{Citation needed |date=December 2019}} On September 24, 1949, she married Dan Schoonmaker, a camera manufacturer, in Las Vegas.{{cite news |title=Iris Adrian Married |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41377616/iris_adrian/ |access-date=December 31, 2019 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |agency=International News Service |date=October 7, 1949 |location=California, San Francisco |page=4|via = Newspapers.com}} They separated two months later{{cite news |title=Iris Adrian Leaves Hubby |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41377783/iris_adrian/ |access-date=December 31, 2019 |work=Long Beach Independent |agency=International News Service |date=November 26, 1949 |location=California, Long Beach |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}} and were divorced on September 14, 1950, in Ciudad Juárez.{{cite news |title=Husband Divorces Actress In Juarez |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/41377959/iris_adrian/ |access-date=December 31, 2019 |work=El Paso Times |date=September 15, 1950 |location=Texas, El Paso |page=1|via = Newspapers.com}} Her fourth and final marriage was to football player Ray (Fido) Murphy, and lasted more than 30 years until his death in 1983.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

Adrian had no children.

Death

Adrian died in Los Angeles, as a result of a fall in her home sustained during the 1994 Northridge earthquake eight months earlier. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-iris-adrian-1440804.html Obituary: Iris Adrian], independent.co.uk; accessed October 10, 2014. Her ashes are within the Columbarium of Radiant Dawn{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=August 19, 2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=Iris+Adrian |access-date=January 17, 2021 |language=en}} at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786409839 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Iris+Adrian+Hostetter%22&pg=PA79 |access-date=11 January 2019 |language=en}}

Filmography

=Features=

The Vagabond King (1930) as Extra (uncredited)
Lord Byron of Broadway (1930) as Lady In The Audience (uncredited)
Paramount on Parade (1930) as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Let's Go Native (1930) as Chorine (uncredited)
Midnight Daddies (1930) as Model (uncredited)
Rumba (1935) as Goldie Allen
Stolen Harmony (1935) as Sunny Verne
The Gay Deception (1935) as Gettel's Wife (uncredited)
Murder at Glen Athol (1935)
Grand Exit (1935) as Diane, First Secretary (uncredited)
A Message to Garcia (1936) as Muriel Randel
One Rainy Afternoon (1936) as Cashier (uncredited)
Stage Struck (1936) as Ms. LaRue (uncredited)
Lady Luck (1936) as Rita
Our Relations (1936) as Alice
Mr. Cinderella (1936) as Lil, Maizie's Friend
Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) as Verna (uncredited)
...One Third of a Nation... (1939) as Myrtle
Back Door to Heaven (1939) as Sugar, Burlesque Dancer
Meet the Wildcat (1940) as Jail Cell Blonde
Go West (1940) as Mary Lou (uncredited)
Meet the Chump (1941) as Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
Horror Island (1941) as Arleen Grady
The Lady from Cheyenne (1941) as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Road to Zanzibar (1941) as French Soubrette
Too Many Blondes (1941) as Hortense Kent
Wild Geese Calling (1941) as Mazie
Sing Another Chorus (1941) as Francine La Verne
Hard Guy (1941) as Goldie Duvall
New York Town (1941) as Toots O'Day (uncredited)
Swing It Soldier (1941) as Dena Maxwellton
I Killed That Man (1941) as Verne Drake
Roxie Hart (1942) as 'Two-Gun' Gertie Baxter
Rings on Her Fingers (1942) as Peggy
To the Shores of Tripoli (1942) as Okay's Girlfriend (uncredited)
Juke Box Jenny (1942) as Jinx Corey
Fingers at the Window (1942) as Babe Stanton (uncredited)
Broadway (1942) as Maisie
Moonlight Masquerade (1942) as Contestant (uncredited)
Orchestra Wives (1942) as Wisecracking Blonde in Bus Station (uncredited)
Highways by Night (1942) as Blonde Chorine
Thunder Birds (1942) (Not Listed - Reshot with Joyce Comton)
McGuerins From Brooklyn (Two Mugs From Brooklyn) (1942)
The Crystal Ball (1943) as Mrs. Angela Martin (uncredited)
Calaboose (1943) as Gert, aka Ma, Sluggy's Moll
He's My Guy (1943) as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Ladies' Day (1943) as Kitty McClouen
Taxi, Mister (1943) as Diner Waitress
Lady of Burlesque (1943) as Gee Gee Graham
Action in the North Atlantic (1943) as Jenny O'Hara (uncredited)
Hers to Hold (1943) as Arlene
Submarine Base (1943) as Dorothy
Spotlight Scandals (1943) as Bernice
His Butler's Sister (1943) as Sunshine Twin
Career Girl (1944) as Glenda Benton
Million Dollar Kid (1944) as Mazie Dunbar
Shake Hands with Murder (1944) as Patsy Brent
Once Upon a Time (1944) as Theatregoer (uncredited)
The Singing Sheriff (1944) as Lefty
Swing Hostess (1944) as Marge O'Day
I'm from Arkansas (1944) as Doris
The Woman in the Window (1944) as Streetwalker (uncredited)
Bluebeard (1944) as Mimi Robert
Alaska (1944) as Kitty
It's a Pleasure (1945) as Wilma
Boston Blackie's Rendezvous (1945) as Martha
Steppin' in Society (1945) as Shirley
Road to Alcatraz (1945) as Louise Rogers
The Stork Club (1945) as Gwen
The Bamboo Blonde (1946) as Montana Jones
Vacation in Reno (1946) as Bunny Wells
Cross My Heart (1946) as Miss Baggart
Fall Guy (1947) as Mrs. Ed Sindell
Philo Vance Returns (1947) as Maggie McCarthy Blendon, aka Choo-choo Divine
Love and Learn (1947) as New Danceland Hostess (uncredited)
The Trouble with Women (1947) as Rita La May
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
Smart Woman (1948) as Newspaper Columnist (uncredited)
Out of the Storm (1948) as Ginger
The Paleface (1948) as Pepper
Miss Mink of 1949 (1949) as Mrs. McKelvey
My Dream Is Yours (1949) as Peggy (uncredited)
Sky Dragon (1949) as Wanda LaFern
Flamingo Road (1949) as Blanche - Inmate of Women's Prison (uncredited)
The Lovable Cheat (1949) as Madame Mercadet
Mighty Joe Young (1949) as Gloria (uncredited)
Trail of the Yukon (1949) as Paula
Woman On Pier 13 (1949) as Club Waitress (uncredited)
Tough Assignment (1949) as Gloria
Always Leave Them Laughing (1949) as Julie Adams
Bodyhold (1949) as Aggie (uncredited)
There's a Girl in My Heart (1950) as Lulu Troy
Blondie's Hero (1950) as Mae
Joe Palooka in Humphrey Takes a Chance (1950) as Miss Tuttle
Sideshow (1950) as Nellie
Once a Thief (1950) as Pearl
Hi-Jacked (1950) as Aggie
Hunt the Man Down (1950) as Marie (uncredited)
Stop That Cab (1951) as Lucy
The Scarf (1951) as Floozy (uncredited)
Varieties on Parade (1951) as Herself
G.I. Jane (1951) as Lt. Adrian
My Favorite Spy (1951) as Lola
The Big Trees (1952)
Carson City (1952) as Saloon Girl in Fight (uncredited)
Crime Wave (1953) as Hastings' Girlfriend (uncredited)
Take the High Ground! (1953) as Mrs. Butterfly (scenes deleted)
Highway Dragnet (1954) as Sally
The Fast and the Furious (1955) as Wilma Belding, Waitress
The Helen Morgan Story (1957) as Louise Jensen - Secretary (uncredited)
Carnival Rock (1957) as Celia
The Buccaneer (1958) as Capt. Brown's Frowsy Wench
Blue Hawaii (1961) as Enid Garvey
The Errand Boy (1961) as Anastasia Anastasia, Actress
Fate Is the Hunter (1964) as Woman (uncredited)
That Darn Cat! (1965) as Landlady
The Odd Couple (1968) as Waitress
The Love Bug (1968) as Carhop
The Barefoot Executive (1971) as Woman Shopper
Scandalous John (1971) as Mavis
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) as Poker Polly
No Deposit, No Return (1976) as Housewife
Gus (1976) as Fan's Wife
The Shaggy D.A. (1976) as Manageress
Freaky Friday (1976) as Bus Passenger
Herbie Goes Bananas (1980) as Loud American Wife

=Short subjects=

Chasing Husbands (1928)
Whirls and Girls (1929) as 4th Girl (unconfirmed)
The Freshman's Goat 20 min.. (1930)
Don't Give Up (1930)
College Cuties 19 min. (1930) as Iris
Man to Man (1937)
How to Clean House 18 min. (1948) as Isabella, The Maid
Foy Meets Girl 17 min. (1950)
Heebie Gee-Gees (1952) as Wally's Wife
So You Want To Know Your Relatives 10 min. (1954) as Bubbles LaVonne (uncredited)
So You Want to Be Pretty 10 min. (1956) as Mabel - Nurse (uncredited)

=Selected Television Appearances=

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956) (Season 1 Episode 20: "And So Died Riabouchinska") as Macey

Sources

Terrace, Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999; {{ISBN|0-7864-0351-9}}
Cocchi, John. "The Films of Iris Adrian, 1972", The Real Stars. Curtis Books, 1973
Maltin, Leonard."Interviews with Iris Adrian, 1972-73", The Real Stars 2, Curtis Books, 1973 {{OCLC|801245658}}