Lorna Gray

• Name — Lorna Gray • Birth Name — Virginia Pound • Born — 26 July 1917 • Birthplace — Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. • Died — 30 April 2017 • Place of death — Sherman Oaks, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1937–1951 • Other Names — * Adrian Booth • Adrian Brian • Adrian Booth Brian

Gray was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After her father's millinery business was a victim of the Great Depression, the family split up. Before appearing in films, Gray sang with a group in Cleveland called Ben Yost's Varsity Co-eds that performed primarily in theaters as an introductory act before the main feature.

Although Gray took a film test at Universal Studios and signed a brief contract with Paramount Pictures, her first major film break occurred at Columbia Pictures. As a Columbia contract player, she appeared in the studio's shorts and serials, including Flying G-Men, Pest from the West and the Three Stooges film You Nazty Spy!. When her Columbia contract lapsed, she found work at Monogram Pictures, where she worked with action star Frankie Darro. Gray starred opposite John Wayne in Red River Range (1938) and appeared in the title role in O, My Darling Clementine (1943), a country-music film starring Roy Acuff as a singing sheriff. In her Paramount films, such as Hold 'Em Navy, she was credited as Virginia Pound, but she was given the name Lorna Gray by Columbia and she used it from 1938 until 1945, when she left Columbia and moved to Republic Pictures. She appeared as Lorna Gray in Republic's Federal Operator 99 but subsequently adopted the name Adrian Booth. At Republic, she often received costar billing in Westerns, the only woman other than Dale Evans to be billed so highly at the studio. She also starred in Republic's serial about the comic-book superhero Captain America.

In 1945, shortly after signing a contract with Republic Pictures, Gray and the stunt performer Ruel F. Taylor were arrested for suspicion of possessing marijuana in Los Angeles. A $1,000 bail set her free, and she was later exonerated after Taylor testified at his preliminary hearing that Gray had not used the marijuana and was not aware of it. Gray married actor David Brian on July 19, 1949 and retired from motion pictures in 1951. As Adrian Booth, she was awarded the Golden Boot Award in 1998 and attended film festivals into her 90s. She appeared as a guest at the annual Three Stooges convention held in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania on April 30, 2011.

Gray died in Sherman Oaks, California on April 30, 2017 at the age of 99.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1937 — Hold 'Em Navy — Girl • Thrill of a Lifetime — Chorus girl — Uncredited • 1938 — The Buccaneer — Uncredited • The Big Broadcast of 1938 — Divorcee • Scandal Street — Uncredited • Adventure in Sahara — Carla Preston • Red River Range — Jane Mason • Smashing the Spy Ring — Anna Loring • 1939 — The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt — Girl Michael runs into in nightclub — Uncredited • Flying G-Men — Babs McKay • Outside These Walls — Secretary — Uncredited • Missing Daughters — Nan — Uncredited • Good Girls Go to Paris — Bridesmaid — Uncredited • Coast Guard — Uncredited • The Man They Could Not Hang — Janet Savaard • Those High Grey Walls — Nurse — |Uncredited • Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise — May Jenkins — Short, Uncredited • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington — Woman at station — Uncredited • Beware Spooks! — Uncredited • The Amazing Mr. Williams — Nurse — Uncredited • Three Sappy People — Sherry Rumsford — Short • The Stranger from Texas — Jean Browning • Pest from the West — Conchita — Short • 1940 — Cafe Hostess — Cafe hostess — Uncredited • You Nazty Spy! — Mattie Herring — Short, Uncredited • Convicted Woman — Frankie Mason • Bullets for Rustlers — Ann Houston • Rockin' thru the Rockies — Flossie — Short • Deadwood Dick — Anne Butler — Serial • Up in the Air — Rita Wilson • Drums of the Desert — Helene Laroche • 1941 — Father Steps Out — Helen Matthews • Tuxedo Junction — Joan Gordon • 1942 — Perils of Nyoka — Vultura • Ridin' Down the Canyon — Barbara Joyce • 1943 — So Proudly We Hail! — Lt. Tony Dacelli • O, My Darling Clementine — Clementine Cheshire • 1944 — Captain America — Gail Richards — Serial • The Girl Who Dared — Ann Carroll • 1945 — Adventures of Kitty O'Day — Gloria Williams • Fashion Model — Yvonne Brewster • Federal Operator 99 — Rita Parker • Tell It to a Star — Mona St. Clair • Dakota — Entertainer — Uncredited • 1946 — Home on the Range — Bonnie Garth • Valley of the Zombies — Susan Drake • Man from Rainbow Valley — Kay North • Daughter of Don Q — Dolores Quantero • Out California Way — Gloria McCoy • 1947 — Last Frontier Uprising — Mary Lou Garnder • Spoilers of the North — Jane Koster • Along the Oregon Trail — Sally Dunn • Exposed — Judith Bentry • Under Colorado Skies — Julia Collins • 1948 — Lightnin' in the Forest — Dell Parker • California Firebrand — Joyce Mason • The Gallant Legion — Connie Faulkner • The Plunderers — Julie Ann McCabe • 1949 — The Last Bandit — Kate Foley • Hideout — Betty / Hannah Kelly • Brimstone — Molly Bannister • 1950 — Rock Island Trail — Aleeta • The Savage Horde — Livvy Weston • 1951 — Oh! Susanna — Lia Wilson • Yellow Fin — Jean Elliott • The Sea Hornet — Ginger Sullivan