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Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 - June 27, 2009),
Early lifeStorm was born in Bloomington in Victoria County in southeastern Texas, the youngest of five children. She had two brothers and two sisters. Her father, William Walter Cottle, died after a year-long illness when she was just seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name, "Owaissa," an American Indian word meaning "bluebird." Storm's mother Minnie took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas, which failed, and finally moved the family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. At Albert Sydney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School, she performed in the drama club.
When she was a 17-year-old high school senior, two of her teachers urged her to enter the contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California.
Film careerAfter winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures; the first was ''Tom Brown's School Days, playing opposite Jimmy Lydon and Freddie Bartholomew.
She acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' popular Frankie Darro series, and played ingénue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy, and The Three Stooges. Monogram had always relied on established actors with reputations, but in Gale Storm the studio finally had a star of its own. She starred in the studio's most elaborate productions, both musical and dramatic. She shared top billing in Monogram's Cosmo Jones in The Crime Smasher (1943), opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio.
American audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. Altogether, she performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram. The early exposure from these film appearances paved the way for her success in other media. Citation needed
Television careerStorm's first television hit was her starring role in My Little Margie from 1952 to 1955. The show, which co-starred former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS.
Storm's popularity was capitalized upon when she briefly served as hostess of the NBC Comedy Hour in the winter of 1956. That fall, she again starred in another situation comedy, The Gale Storm Show (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. This show ran for 143 episodes between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s as well. She was a panelist and a "mystery guest" on ''What's My Line?
Recording artistIn Gallatin, Tennessee in November 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television variety show, NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, hosted by Gordon MacRae, singing one of the popular songs of the day. Linda's father asked her who was singing and was told it was Gale Storm from My Little Margie. Linda's father, Randy Wood, was president of Dot Records, and he liked Storm so much that he called to sign her before the end of the television show. Her first record, "I Hear You Knockin'", a cover version of a rhythm and blues hit by Smiley Lewis, in turn based on the old Buddy Bolden standard "The Bucket's Got a Hole In It", sold over a million copies. It was followed in 1957 by the haunting ballad, "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Storm had several top ten songs and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays.
Personal lifeStorm was married and widowed twice. Her first marriage to actor Lee Bonnell (November 1918 - May 1986) took place in 1941; they had four children together: Peter, Philip, Paul and Susanna. In 1988, Storm married Paul Masterson (November 1917 - May 1996).
Later yearsStorm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as Love Boat, ''Burke's Law, and Murder, She Wrote.
Storm continued to make personal appearances and autographed photos at fan conventions, along with Charles Farrell from the My Little Margie series. She also attended events such as the Memphis Film Festival, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.
DeathStorm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009.[title=Gale Storm, perky star of 1950s TV, dies at 87 ]
Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.
Selected filmographyRecordingsSingles- 1956: "I Hear You Knocking"/"Never Leave Me" (Dot 15412) (#2)
- 1956: "Memories Are Made of This"/"Teenage Prayer" (Dot 15436)
- 1956: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love/I Walk Alone" (Dot 15448)
- 1956: "I Ain't Gonna Worry"/"Ivory Tower" (Dot 15458) (#6)
- 1956: "Tell Me Why"/"Don't Be That Way" (Dot 15474)
- 1956: "Now Is the Hour"/"A Heart Without a Sweetheart" (Dot 15492)
- 1956: "My Heart Belongs To You"/"Orange Blossoms" (Dot 15515)
- 1957: "Lucky Lips/"On Treasure Island" (Dot 15539)
- 1957: "Dark Moon"/"A Little Too Late" (Dot 15558) (#4)
- 1957: "On My Mind Again/Love By The Jukebox Light" (Dot 15606)
- 1957: "Go 'Way From My Window"/"Winter Warm" (Dot 15666)
- 1957: "I Get That Feeling"/"A Farewell To Arms" (Dot 15691)
- 1957: "You"/"Angry" (Dot 15734)
- 1957: "South Of the Border"/"Soon I'll Wed My Love" (Dot 15783 )
- 1958: "Oh Lonely Crowd"/"Happiness Left Yesterday" (Dot 15861)
- 1960: "I Need You So"/"On Treasure Island" (Dot 16057)
- 1960: "Please Help Me I'm Falling"/"He Is There" (Dot 16111)
Copyright Citations
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