KATHLEEN CROWLEY

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(26 December 1929 - 23 April 2017)

Kathleen Crowley

The American actress Kathleen Crowley came sixth in the Miss America pageant of 1949, representing New Jersey. Her prize money went towards her studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York. In 1951 she made her TV debut in a version of A Star Is Born with Robert Montgomery. More television followed until her first film role in The Silver Whip, a western with Dale Robertson. Then came The Farmer Takes a Wife with Robertson again and Betty Grable, and Sabre Jet with Robert Stack. She appeared with Fess Parker in Westward Ho, the Wagons! but for the most part it was back to TV apart from Target Earth, a sci-fi horror flick which set the tone for her career in exploitation movies such as Female Jungle, The Flame Barrier, Curse of the Undead, The Rebel Set, The Quiet Gun, Showdown and other minor Westerns. Guest shots in TV also kept her busy. After the films of Downhill Racer and The Lawyer in 1970, she retired to look after her family and to become a bridge tender for the Green Bank Road Bridge in her hometown in New Jersey.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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