Rosemarie Bowe
{{short description|American actress (1932 – 2019)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rosemarie Bowe
| image = Rosemarie Bowe (crop) 1952.jpg
| caption = Bowe in 1952
| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|9|17}}
| birth_place = Butte, Montana, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|1|20|1932|9|17}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Actress, model
| othername = {{plainlist|
- Laura Bowe
- Rosemarie Stack
}}
| yearsactive = 1952–1986
| spouse = {{marriage|Robert Stack|1956|2003|end=d.}}
| children = 2
| relatives = Taran Killam (great-nephew)
David Bowe (nephew)
}}
Rosemarie Bowe Stack (born Rose Marie Bowe; September 17, 1932 – January 20, 2019) was an American model, best known for her appearances in several films in the 1950s.
Born in Butte, Montana, Bowe was primarily raised in Tacoma, Washington. She began her career modeling in Los Angeles, California, before being cast in uncredited bit parts. Her first major role was a supporting part in the 1954 adventure film The Adventures of Hajji Baba. She would have several lead roles before officially retiring from acting following her appearance in John Cassavetes' Big Trouble (1986).
She was married to actor Robert Stack from 1956 until his death in 2003.
Early life
Bowe was born Rose Marie Bowe on September 17, 1932, in Butte, Montana, the youngest child of Dennis and Ruby Bowe.{{cite web|url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/31/Rosemarie+Bowe/index.html|work=Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen|title=The Private Life and Times of Rosemarie Bowe|access-date=August 31, 2017}} Bowe's father was a building contractor and her mother was a dress designer. She had an older sister, Claire (maternal grandmother of actor Taran Killam),{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=152}} and a brother, Sidney. The family moved to Tacoma, Washington, when Bowe was a child. She was raised Lutheran.{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=158}}
As a teenager, she worked as a model in Seattle. She attended Stadium High School in Tacoma,{{cite news |title=Film Contract Okayed For Rosemarie Bowe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21458048/rosemarie_bowe/ |work=Arizona Republic |agency=Associated Press |date=June 19, 1952 |location=Arizona, Phoenix |page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 1, 2018}} where she was active in theater and dance,{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=152}} and graduated in 1950.{{cite news|title=Approve Starlet's Pact|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8443911/the_kansas_city_times/|work=Kansas City Times|agency=Associated Press|date=June 18, 1952|location=Kansas City, Missouri|page=28|via = Newspapers.com}} The same year, Bowe won the "Miss Tacoma" beauty contest. In 1951, she was one of six finalists in competition for queen of the Home Show and Building Exposition in Los Angeles, California.{{cite news |title=Six Beauties Vie for Queen of Home Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21457542/rosemarie_bowe/|work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 11, 1951 |location= Los Angeles, California |page=27|via = Newspapers.com}}
Bowe briefly attended Tacoma Community College before moving to Los Angeles.
Career
=Modeling work=
She was crowned Miss Tacoma and Miss Montana in 1950. In May 1951, Bowe competed in a contest to choose the queen of the sixth annual Home Show and Building Exposition. Along with Mary Ellen Nichols, she was a runner-up to the contest winner, Linda Peterson.{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}
In 1951, Bowe traveled with her mother to Los Angeles, California, to see her brother Sidney off to the military during the Korean War.{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=152}} "Washington is very much like London," Bowe reflected in an interview. "Kinda gloomy, dark skies, unless it's summertime. Washington state is beautiful from June to September, but after that it's overcast, everyday practically. The minute my mother and I saw California palm trees and the sun, we really liked it and we decided we could stay here for awhile."{{Sfn|Weaver|2010|p=152}}
Having done modeling work in the past, Bowe secured work in Los Angeles as a model, appearing in several pin-up portraits by artist Gil Elvgren. Her measurements were 36–25–36. She was 5'5" tall and had blue-green eyes. Her modeling agency was contacted by a high-fashion photographer, Christa, who suggested she pose for national and fashion magazine portraits. Modeling for magazines such as Eye, Tempo, and Blightly, she eventually made the transition from model to actress in television.{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}
Bowe's look was at times likened to both Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. She always modeled high fashion rather than lingerie or bathing suits.{{cite news|last1=Bacon|first1=James|title=New Actress Has Face And Figure|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8443806/cumberland_sunday_times/|work=Cumberland Sunday Times|date=January 16, 1955|location=Maryland, Cumberland|page=20|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = January 18, 2017}} She was never asked by photographers to pose for cheesecake pictures as were many a pin-up girl. She once said, "Of all the auditions and interviews I have had with casting men, directors, and producers, not one ever made a pass at me. I guess they were afraid of me."{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8443806/cumberland_sunday_times/|title=Rosemarie Bowe: Face Like Kelly Body a la Monroe|date=February 13, 1955|page=20|work=Charleston Gazette|location=Charleston, South Carolina|via=Newspapers.com}}
=Acting career=
Bowe moved to Hollywood in 1950. In 1952, a court approved her seven-year contract with film agent Charles K. Feldman.{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=153}} When his production plans stalled, she obtained a contract with Columbia Pictures. She was trained in dramatic acting by Benno Schneider. Her early experience as an entertainer included performing as a singer and dancer in amateur musicals.{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}
Early in her career, she used the name Laura Bowe.{{cite magazine |title=Life's Cover |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVUEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Rosemarie+Bowe%22&pg=PA19 |access-date=July 1, 2018 |magazine=Life|publisher=Time, Inc |date=June 23, 1952 |page=19}}
As a screen debutante, Bowe appeared in Lovely To Look At (1952) with Kathryn Grayson and Red Skelton.{{cite news |title=Boy Actor to Be Starred in 'The Punk' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21457814/the_los_angeles_times/ |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 24, 1951 |location= Los Angeles, California |page=55|via = Newspapers.com}} Bowe's part is uncredited, as is her depiction of a swimmer in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952). The same year in June, she appeared on the cover of Life. In 1954, she appeared in The Golden Mistress and The Adventures of Hajji Baba. The former was Bowe's first movie after requesting her release from Columbia.{{sfn|Weaver|2010|pages=155–6}} As Ann Dexter, she was featured opposite John Agar in an R.K. Productions release, set in Haiti. Bowe performed her own stunts on the set,{{sfn|Weaver|2010|p=156}} and during filming, she almost drowned, was stung by a sea urchin, and sustained bumps, bruises, and insect bites.{{sfn|Weaver|2010|pages=153–6}}
Bowe was under option to 20th Century Fox when she filmed The Peacemaker (1956). Based on a novel, the Western also featured James Mitchell. It was released by Hal R. Makelim Productions. Announced in April 1954, the Makelim plan for producing pictures "guaranteed a flow of film products through a fixed-fee system."{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}
Her later acting roles included appearances in the films Murder on Flight 502 (1977) and Big Trouble (1986), both of which starred her husband Robert Stack, and the TV movie Making of a Male Model (1983).
She appeared in a 1963 episode of Burke's Law, credited as Rosemarie Bowe. The episode was "Who Killed Beau Sparrow?".
Personal life
File:Rosemarie Bowe and Robert Stack wedding.jpg on their wedding day, 1956]]
On January 23, 1956,{{cite news|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25282157/the_los_angeles_times/|date=January 24, 1956|title=Actor Robert Stack and Rosemarie Bowe Married|page=33|via=Newspapers.com}} Bowe married Robert Stack in Beverly Hills Lutheran Church.{{cite news|title=Bob Stack Marries Rosemarie Bowe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8443475/albuquerque_journal/|work=Albuquerque Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=January 24, 1956|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|page=19|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = January 18, 2017}} The couple became the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth Langford Stack, on January 20, 1957.{{cite news|title=Baby Born to Wife of Robert Stack|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8443684/the_times/|work=The Times|agency=Associated Press|date=January 21, 1957|location=California, San Mateo|page=16|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = January 18, 2017}} They shared mutual passions for the outdoors, especially sailing and riding. Bowe temporarily gave up her career when her children were young.{{Citation needed |date=February 2024}}
In October 1969, Bowe was in an automobile accident in Sacramento, California, and sustained serious internal injuries. She crashed into a concrete culvert because of a mechanical failure in the rental car she was driving. Kathleen Lund, the wife of Art Lund, was killed in the accident.{{cite news|work=San Bernardino County Sun|location=San Bernardino, California|date=October 19, 1969|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25282278/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|title=Wreck Kills Wife of Actor Lund|via=Newspapers.com}} At the time, Stack was filming The Name of the Game. He chartered a flight to be with her. Art Lund filed a $750,000 wrongful-death suit, alleging Bowe had been driving at an "excessive speed" during the accident.{{cite news|work=Arizona Daily Star|location=Tucson, Arizona|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25282325/arizona_daily_star/|title=Actor Lund Files $750,000 Suit in Wife's Death|date=September 30, 1970|page=28}}
Bowe died on January 20, 2019.{{cite news|title=Rosemarie Bowe, model and actress who had 'a face like Grace Kelly and the body of Marilyn Monroe' – obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/02/12/rosemarie-bowe-model-actress-had-face-like-grace-kelly-body/|work=Telegraph Obituaries|agency=The Telegraph|date=February 12, 2019|location=UK|via = telegraph.co.uk|access-date = April 17, 2019}} Her son, Charles Robert Stack, is a retired investment banker. Her nephew David Bowe is also an actor.{{cite web |title=Episode 12" UHF Co-Star David Bowe |url=http://2000inch.com/episode-12/ |website=Dave and Ethan's 2000" Weird Al Podcast}}
Filmography
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Aaker|first=Everett|year=2006|title=Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters: All Regular Cast Members in American Crime and Mystery Series, 1948-1959|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-786-42476-4}}
- {{cite book|last=Erens|first=Patricia|year=1978|title=The Films of Shirley MacLaine|publisher=A. S. Barnes|location=New York|isbn=978-0-498-01993-7}}
- {{cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Maltin|year=1992|title=Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1993|publisher=Plume|location=New York|isbn=978-0-452-26857-9}}
- {{Cite book|last=Weaver|first=Tom|year=2010|title=A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers|publisher=McFarland|chapter=Rosemarie Bowe on The Golden Mistress (1954)|pages=152–8|isbn=978-0-786-44658-2}}
Further reading
- {{cite news| work=Humboldt Standard |publisher=Eureka, California |title=Unstoppable |date=January 7, 1961 |page=33}}
- {{cite news| work=Los Angeles Times |title=Queen And Her Court |date=July 14, 1951 |page=2}}
- {{cite news| work=Los Angeles Times |title=Drama |date=October 24, 1951 |page=B7}}
- {{cite news| work=Los Angeles Times |title=Perennial Mother Joins Theater Narrative |date=October 27, 1952 |page=B9}}
- {{cite news| work=Los Angeles Times |title=Rosemarie Had to Rough It but She Got Film |date=March 7, 1954 |page=D1}}
- {{cite news| work=Lowell Sun |title=The Robert Stack I Know: In a Crisis, He Won Me Anew |date=July 30, 1972 |pages=94–96}}
- {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Doris Day to Take Role as Reporter |date=September 26, 1955 |page=18}}
- {{cite news| work=New York Times |title=Robert Stacks Have Daughter |date=January 21, 1957 |page=19}}
External links
{{commons category|Rosemarie Bowe}}
- {{IMDb name|0821043}}
- {{tcmdb name|id=20177|name=Rosemarie Bowe}}
- [http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/31/Rosemarie+Bowe/index.html Rosemarie Bowe at Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=yVUEAAAAMBAJ Rosemarie Bowe on the cover of Life, June 23, 1952]
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Category:American film actresses
Category:Western (genre) film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American women singers
Category:American female dancers
Category:20th-century American dancers
Category:Female models from Washington (state)
Category:Actresses from Butte, Montana
Category:Actresses from Tacoma, Washington
Category:Actresses from Montana
Category:Female models from Montana
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Dancers from Washington (state)