June Travis


June Travis was an American film actress.

Background

Born June Dorothea Grabiner, she was the daughter of Harry Grabiner, vice-president of the Chicago White Sox in the 1930s.
She had dark brown hair and green eyes. She stood 5'4" tall. She attended Parkside Grammar School in Chicago and the Starrett School for Girls. She later studied at UCLA. When she returned to Illinois, she matriculated at the University of Chicago.

Screen actress

A Paramount Pictures vice-president noticed her in Miami, Florida, at a White Sox exhibition game. He offered Travis a screen test when she came to Pasadena, California, where the major league baseball team trained. The first time she was presented with a screen contract, she suffered from screen fright and turned it down. She returned to Chicago and school and the next winter, accepted a film studio offer in Palm Springs, California.
Travis made her screen debut in Stranded, a film which starred Kay Francis and George Brent. She played the role of Mary Rand. She followed this with a part in Not On Your Life, with Warren William and Claire Dodd. Howard Hawks directed her in Ceiling Zero, a Warner Bros. feature. In preparation for her role, Travis learned flying, navigation, and parachute jumping from Amelia Earhart. The aviator gave her instructions in September 1935, including the film stars James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Also in 1936, she portrayed secretary Della Street to Perry Mason as played by Ricardo Cortez in The Case of the Black Cat.
She was Ronald Reagan's leading lady in his first movie, Love Is on the Air, in 1937.
Travis became known as the Queen of the B-movies on the Warner Bros. lot. Later, she said that if she had remained in Hollywood two more years, she would have been a star. However, following three years, she came home to Chicago for Christmas with her parents and did not return to making motion pictures afterward. Although Travis stopped regularly appearing in films after 1938, she made minor appearances in The Star and Monster a Go-Go.

Radio

Travis played Stormy Wilson Curtis in the radio soap opera Girl Alone and Bernice in Arnold Grimm's Daughter, another soap opera.

Marriage

On January 3, 1940, Travis married Fred Friedlob. They had two daughters, Cathy and June. Friedlob died in May 1979 in Chicago.

Death

On April 14, 2008, Travis, age 93, died in a hospital of complications from a stroke she suffered weeks earlier. She is buried in Chicago's Oak Woods Cemetery.

Filmography

Stranded – Mary RandDon't Bet on Blondes – Telephone Operator Bright Lights – Party Guest Broadway Gondolier – Hatcheck Girl The Case of the Lucky Legs – George's Lady Friend Shipmates Forever – Cigarette Girl Dr. Socrates – DublinBroadway Hostess – Mrs. Bannister Ceiling Zero – Tommy ThomasTimes Square Playboy – Beth Calhoun,aka Fay MelodyEarthworm Tractors – Mabel JohnsonBengal Tiger – Laura Homan BallengerJailbreak – Jane RogersThe Big Game – Margaret AnthonyThe Case of the Black Cat – Della StreetJoin the Marines – Paula DenbroughCircus Girl – Kay RogersMen in Exile – Sally HainesLove Is on the Air – Jo HopkinsOver the Goal – Lucille MartinExiled to Shanghai – Nancy JonesThe Kid Comes Back – Mary MaloneOver the Wall – Kay NortonGo Chase Yourself – Judy DanielsThe Marines Are Here – Terry FosterThe Gladiator – Iris BennettMr. Doodle Kicks Off – Janice MartinThe Night Hawk – Della ParrishLittle Orphan Annie – Mary EllenFederal Man-Hunt – Anne LawrenceThe Star – Phyllis StoneMonster A Go-Go – Ruth