Priscilla Lawson

Biography

Born Priscilla Jones Shortridge on March 8, 1914 in Indianapolis, the daughter of a locomotive mechanic. The voluptuous, dark-haired Priscilla Lawson was a professional model in her early twenties. When she was crowned "Miss Miami Beach" in 1935 and found work as an Earl Carroll chorus girl in an area casino. A rather exotic, severe-looking beauty, her pageant title caught the eye and attention of Universal Pictures and earned her a contract. She began in starlet bit parts and was confined mostly to similar small roles as nurses, hat check girls, native girls, switchboard operators and secretaries in such movies as His Night Out (1935), The Great Impersonation (1935), The Phantom Rider (1936) and The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936) for the duration of her Hollywood career. She did earn occasional featured parts in a few films including Rose Bowl (1936), Double Wedding (1937), The Girl of the Golden West (1938), Test Pilot (1938) and Heroes of the Hills (1938). Priscilla capped her brief, rather unremarkable 1930's career as the sexy, conniving Princess Aura, daughter of Ming the Merciless in the classic cliffhanger Rocket Ship (1938), a role that made her a minor cult figure. Universal dropped her within a year or so and MGM picked her up in 1937. Her movie career was over, however, in less than a half a decade. making her last appearances in walk-ons as a hairdresser in The Women (1939) and a barmaid in Billy the Kid (1941). Married briefly at age 18, she later married to movie actor Alan Curtis, her second husband but the marriage was short-lived. Priscilla later joined the Women's Army Corps. under her married name in World War II. It is believed that she lost a leg in a war-related incident (jeep accident) and later managed a stationary shop in Los Angeles after leaving active service. He ex-husband, Curtis, died on February 2, 1953, at the relatively young age of 43. Priscilla herself would die just a few years later on August 27, 1958, at age 44 in the Veterans' Administration hospital in Los Angeles. Her death was due to cirrhosis of the liver and upper gastrointestinal bleeding from a duodenal ulcer.