Priscilla Lane

Born

  • June 12, 1915
  • Indianola, IA

Died

  • April 4, 1995
  • Andover, MA

Real Name

  • Priscilla Mullican

Marriages / Children

  • Oren Haglund (1939)
  • Joseph A. Howard (1942)
  • Joseph (b. 1945)
  • Hannah (b. 1950)
  • Judith (b. 1953)
  • James (b. 1955)

Priscilla Lane

Vocalist and movie star Priscilla Lane was the youngest of three talented sisters who graced Hollywood from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s. Though siblings Rosemary and Lola were also highly regarded performers, it was Priscilla who achieved the most success on the silver screen, starring next to such top actors as Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant in her short career. She was also a competent vocalist who, along with Rosemary, appeared as a member of Fred Waring's Glee Club during the 1930s.

Growing up in Indianola, Iowa, Lane and her sisters were encouraged to sing and perform by their mother. In 1931 young Priscilla travelled to New York, where sister Leota had established herself in a successful stage career, and enrolled in the Fagen School of Dramatics. The following year, Rosemary and mother Cora joined Priscilla and the two young girls began to audition together for various Broadway shows. One day in 1933, while they were singing at a music publishing house, they were heard by Fred Waring, who offered them a contract. They accepted and soon became featured vocalists with Waring's orchestra, with sister Lola briefly joining them. Priscilla also established herself as a comedienne on Waring's radio program.

When Waring's group was offered a spot in the 1937 Hollywood musical Varsity Girl, both Lane sisters landed top acting roles in the film. Audiences approved of the two young girls, and in 1938 Warner Brothers bought out their contracts from Waring and they were quickly put to work. Priscilla went on to appear in 16 films for the studio. She was given many top roles but was never heavily promoted by the company, much to her own frustration, and in 1942, by mutual agreement, her contract was terminated.

After her departure from Warner Brothers Lane began to freelance, hoping to land a new contract with another studio. She appearing in three more films over the next two years, including a starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur, but failed to attract any offers. She then retired from the motion picture industry and followed her husband, an Air Force officer, around the country as he moved from base to base.

In 1946 Lane's husband was released from the service and the couple settled back in the Los Angeles area. Lane briefly returned to Hollywood, making two more films in 1947 and 1948. They proved to be her last. In 1951 she moved to New England with her family, where she settled into domestic life, interrupted only by her appearance as host of a daytime Boston television program during the late 1950s. Priscilla Lane passed away in 1995 from lung cancer.