Helen Mack

She made the transition to performing on radio and then into writing, directing, and producing shows during the Golden Age of Radio. She later wrote for Broadway, stage and television. Her career spanned the infancy of the motion picture industry, the beginnings of Broadway, the final days of vaudeville, the transition to sound movies, the Golden Age of Radio, and the rise of television.

• Name — Helen Mack • Birth Name — Helen McDougall • Born — 13 November 1913 • Birthplace — Rock Island, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 13 August 1986 • Place of death — Beverly Hills, California, U.S. • Known for — * His Girl Friday • Son of Kong • Occupation — * Actress • writer • director • producer • Years Active — 1923–1971

Mack was born in Rock Island, Illinois, the daughter of William George McDougall, a barber, and Regina (née Lenzer) McDougall, who had a repressed desire to become an actress. She attended the Professional Children's School of New York City. Her friend Vera Gordon helped her along as a child actress. She appeared on Broadway and in vaudeville and debuted in films at age 10 in 1924. Her stage debut was in The Idle Inn with Jacob Benami. She performed with Roland Young in Pomeroy's Past, and toured America with William Hodge in Straight Through The Door.

In the early 1940s, Mack performed in the radio series Myrt and Marge, replacing actress Donna Damerel after Damerel's sudden death in childbirth. She was chosen from more than 200 applicants for the role. During that decade and the next, Mack also worked as a producer and director of radio programs, including such series as Richard Diamond, Private Detective; The Saint; and Meet Corliss Archer. She also co-wrote A Date with Judy with Aleen Leslie, and was its producer-director, one of the few women to fill that role in network radio. Her friend Leslie originally wanted Mack to play the title role, but they decided she was too old for the high-school-girl part when the series begain in 1941. As TV displaced radio, Mack continued to write plays and TV episodes until her death. In 1949, she collaborated with Roger Price in writing the children's record Gossamer Wump, narrated by Frank Morgan and released by Capitol Records.

Mack married lawyer Charles Irwin in San Francisco in February 1935, Mack died from cancer at the home of her friend Aleen Leslie in Beverly Hills on August 13, 1986.

• Success (1923) as Ruth • Zaza (1923) as Lucille Dufresne (uncredited) • Under the Red Robe (1923) (uncredited) • Grit (1924) (uncredited) • Pied Piper Malone (1924) as Child • The Struggle (1931) as A catty girl • The Silent Witness (1932) as Sylvia Pierce • While Paris Sleeps (1932) as Manon Cortaud • Sweepings (1933) as Mamie Donahue • The California Trail (1933) as Delores Ramirez • Melody Cruise (1933) as Laurie Marlowe • Blind Adventure (1933) as Rose Thorne • Christopher Bean (1933) as Susan Haggett • Fargo Express (1933) as Helen Clark • Son of Kong (1933) as Hilda Petersen • All of Me (1934) as Eve Haron • Kiss And Make Up (1934) as Anne • You Belong to Me (1934) as Florette Faxon • The Lemon Drop Kid (1934) as Alice Deering • College Rhythm (1934) as June Cort • Captain Hurricane (1935) as Susan "Matey" Ann • Four Hours to Kill! (1935) as Helen • She (1935) as Tanya Dugmore • The Return of Peter Grimm (1935) as Catherine • The Milky Way (1936) as Mae Sullivan • A Doctor's Diary (1937) as Nurse (uncredited) • I Promise to Pay (1937) as Mary Lang • You Can't Buy Luck (1937) as Betty McKay • The Last Train from Madrid (1937) as Lola • Fit for a King (1937) as Jane Hamilton / Princess Helen • The Wrong Road (1937) as Ruth Holden • King of the Newsboys (1938) as Mary Ellen Stephens • I Stand Accused (1938) as Alison Cooper • Secrets of a Nurse (1938) as Katherine MacDonald • Gambling Ship (1938) as Mollie Riley • Mystery of the White Room (1939) as Carole Dale • Mickey the Kid (1939) as Telephone Operator (uncredited) • Calling All Marines (1939) as Judy Fox • His Girl Friday (1940) as Mollie Malloy • Girls of the Road (1940) as Mickey • Power Dive (1941) as Betty Coles • And Now Tomorrow (1944) as Angelletta Gallo • Strange Holiday (1945) as Miss Sims, Secretary • Divorce (1945) as Martha Phillips