Wanda Hendrix

Dixie Wanda Hendrix^[1] (November 3, 1928 – February 1, 1981) was an American film and television actress.^[2][3]

Wanda Hendrix
in Wagon Train, 1958
Born	Dixie Wanda Hendrix (1928-11-03)November 3, 1928 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Died	February 1, 1981(1981-02-01) (aged 52) Burbank, California, U.S.
Burial place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1945–1972
Spouse(s)	Audie Murphy ​ ​ (m. 1949; div. 1951)​ Jim Stack ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1958)​ Steve LaMonte ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1980)​

Early life

Hendrix's father was a logging foreman,^[4] and she was born in Jacksonville, Florida.^[5] She was performing in a school play in Jacksonville when she was seen by a talent agent who took her to Warner Bros. Her parents moved with her to California, buying a ranch there. She graduated from University High School.^[1]

Career and marriages

Hendrix made her first film, Confidential Agent,^[1] in 1945 at the age of 16, and for the first few years of her career was consistently cast in B movies. By the late 1940s, she was being included in more prestigious films, such as Ride the Pink Horse (1947) and Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948). She starred with Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes (1949).

From 1946, she dated Audie Murphy^[6] and her agent got him an early small film role.^[7] They married in 1949,^[8] but divorced in 1951.^[9]

On June 26, 1954, Hendrix married wealthy sportsman James Langford Stack, Jr., the brother of actor Robert Stack, and essentially retired from films, though she worked in live television dramatic anthology shows such as Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Plymouth Playhouse, The Ford Television Theatre, The Revlon Mirror Theater, and Schlitz Playhouse, and occasionally appeared in later series such as Bat Masterson, My Three Sons, Wagon Train, and Bewitched. Stack and she divorced on November 3, 1958.^[10]

She married Italian financier and oil company executive Steven LaMonte on June 7, 1969; they divorced on November 17, 1980.^[10]

Death

Hendrix died on February 1, 1981, in Burbank, California from double pneumonia, aged 52, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery.^[5]

Partial filmography

• Confidential Agent (1945) as Else
• Nora Prentiss (1947) as Bonita Talbot
• Welcome Stranger (1947) as Emily Walters
• Hollywood Wonderland (1947 short) as Tour Guide (uncredited)
• Variety Girl (1947) (uncredited)
• Ride the Pink Horse (1947) as Pila
• My Own True Love (1948) as Sheila Heath
• Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948) as Nan Tatlock
• Song of Surrender (1949) as Abigail Hunt
• Prince of Foxes (1949) as Camilla
• Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950) as Giulia [de Cresci] de Greffi
• Sierra (1950) as Riley Martin
• The Admiral Was a Lady (1950) as Jean Madison
• Saddle Tramp (1950) as Della
• The Highwayman (1951) as Bess Forsythe
• My Outlaw Brother (1951) as Señorita Carmelita Alvarado
• Montana Territory (1952) as Clair Enoch
• South of Algiers (1953) as Anne Burnet
• The Last Posse (1953) as Deborah Morley
• Sea of Lost Ships (1953) as Pat Kirby
• Highway Dragnet (1954) as Susan
• The Black Dakotas (1954) as Ruth Lawrence
• The Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961) as Laura
• Johnny Cool (1963) as Miss Connolly
• Stage to Thunder Rock (1964) as Mrs. Swope
• The Oval Portrait (1972) as Lisa Buckingham