Nancy Drexel

{{short description|American actress}}

{{More citations needed |date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Nancy Drexel

| image = Nancy Drexel Freulich.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Dorothy Kitchen

| birth_date = April 6, 1910

| birth_place = New York City, US

| death_date = November 19, 1989 (aged 79)

| death_place = Orange County, California

| othername =

| occupation = Actress

| yearsactive = 1926–1932 (film)

| spouse = Thomas H. Ince Jr. (1932–1947)
John O. Stornes (1953–1971)

}}

Nancy Drexel (born Dorothy Kitchen,{{cite book |last1=Pedersen |first1=Jeannine L. |title=Catalina by Air |year=2008 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-5936-0 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lz72HUncnnkC&dq=%22Nancy+Drexel%22&pg=PA85 |accessdate=November 14, 2020 |language=en}} April 6, 1910 – November 19, 1989) was an American film actress of the late silent and early sound era. She was sometimes credited by her birth name in films. She appeared in 29 films, generally B-film Westerns.

Drexel was the daughter of George P. Kitchen, who was described in a newspaper article as "a pioneer of the film industry."{{cite news |title=Young Ince and Nancy Drexel wed; on way back to school |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63207356/st-louis-post-dispatch/ |accessdate=November 14, 2020 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |agency=Associated Press |date=September 29, 1932 |page=21|via = Newspapers.com}} Her professional debut came when she was 8 years old, performing in The Royal Vagabond comic opera.{{cite news |title=Little actress won't cut hair |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63204940/nancy-drexel/ |accessdate=November 14, 2020 |work=The Pasadena Post |date=January 9, 1929 |location=California, Pasadena |page=10|via = Newspapers.com}} She ventured to Hollywood after winning a Miss New York contest that had 10,000 competitors.{{cite news |title=New to Films |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63205497/nancy-drexel/ |accessdate=November 14, 2020 |work=The Indianapolis Star |date=June 3, 1928 |page=62|via = Newspapers.com}}

In 1931, she appeared in one of the earliest Spanish-language sound films, Hollywood, City of Dreams, as a glamorous movie star who is the idol of the film's hero, José Bohr. Drexel is presented as one of the leading stars of Hollywood, rather than the B-movie leading lady she was in real life.{{cite book |last1=Jarvinen |first1=Lisa |title=The Rise of Spanish-Language Filmmaking: Out from Hollywood's Shadow, 1929-1939 |date=5 June 2012 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-5328-3 |pages=16–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W10o8udrUakC&dq=%22Nancy+Drexel%22&pg=PA17 |accessdate=November 14, 2020 |language=en}}

On September 28, 1932, Drexel married Thomas H. Ince Jr., son of film producer Thomas H. Ince, in Beverly Hills. Both of them were students at Antioch College in Antioch, Illinois, and resumed their studies after the wedding. The couple had two daughters.{{cite news |title=Thomas Ince Jr. Sued for Divorce |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84942611/thomas-ince-jr-nancy-drexel-divorce/ |access-date=September 7, 2021 |work=Valley Times |location=California, North Hollywood |date=May 17, 1947 |page=2|via = Newspapers.com}} Drexel sued for divorce in 1947 and married John Stornes in 1953.{{cite web |title=California, U.S., Marriage Index, 1949-1959 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5186/images/CA___MG953STONEF-0?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XZr75&_phstart=successSource&pId=385311 |website=ancestry.com |access-date=Sep 10, 2021}}{{cite web |title=Nancy Kitchen Stornes in the California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/7104896:5180 |website=ancestry.com |access-date=Sep 9, 2021}}{{cite web |title=Nancy Kitchen Stornes in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/33435006:60901 |website=ancestry.com |access-date=Sep 9, 2021}}