Paula Hill (1926-2000) 2022 by Stephen B. Whatley
A new tribute to Hollywood film & TV actress of the 1950s, Paula Hill (1926-2000) created on her birthday, 15 February, by expressionist artist Stephen B. Whatley. Inspired by several publicity stills from 1952.
For every Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner there were hundreds of working actresses in Hollywood who did not receive such major star status - despite often displaying as much talent and beauty.
For the artist, Paula Hill - credited in some of her films as Mary Hill - was one such actress; and since discovering her in the 1990s, he has been researching her life. Hollywood biographical research has been a passion since his teens.
A minister’s daughter born Paula Mary Hill in Birmingham, Alabama she suffered very early losses of her father and protective older brother which would mark her life - and in the late 1940s she set herself on her path to Hollywood.
Despite numerous bit parts in both classic and B-movies - including The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) and The Beast From 20000 Fathoms (1953), she only got one major break as a leading lady on the big screen ironically in what is now considered one of the worst films of all time Mesa of Lost Women (1953).
In the surreal science fiction B-film starring former child star Jackie Coogan, Paula Hill - credited as Mary hill - displayed her unique beauty and a full range of acting talents, delivered with a velvet voice.
Heartbroken by a series of career disappointments newspapers reported she attempted suicide with pills in 1954 - but ever the fighter, having survived her early bereavements, she fought on in the Hollywood jungle.
She did go onto several good leading leading roles on television in TV dramas and comedy shows including Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Burns & Allen and The Red Skelton Show in the mid to late 1950s - but by 1960 she had departed to New York to become a lounge singer ; displaying the most beautiful velvet voice. She was still acting in the Los Angeles theatre in 1962.
Nothing is recorded of her life in the 1970s and 1980s - but at the end of that decade she was re-discovered by the film producer Steve Burrows , who just happened to be living in her Los Angeles apartment building.
He gave her two cameo character roles which she played to the hilt, in his films, Soldier of Fortune (1991) and Chump Change (2000); the latter of which which she sadly did not live to see released.
Through his own tributes - both in art and the feature he hopes to write for a film publication one day - artist Stephen B. Whatley hopes the world, not just film buffs, will begin to know the Paula Hill he admires a little better - and he hopes somehow from the heavens she can see his celebrations.
Paula Hill (1926-2000). 2022
Charcoal on paper, 16.5 x 11.5 / 42 x 30cm
Paula Hill (1926-2000) 2022 by Stephen B. Whatley
A new tribute to Hollywood film & TV actress of the 1950s, Paula Hill (1926-2000) created on her birthday, 15 February, by expressionist artist Stephen B. Whatley. Inspired by several publicity stills from 1952.
For every Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner there were hundreds of working actresses in Hollywood who did not receive such major star status - despite often displaying as much talent and beauty.
For the artist, Paula Hill - credited in some of her films as Mary Hill - was one such actress; and since discovering her in the 1990s, he has been researching her life. Hollywood biographical research has been a passion since his teens.
A minister’s daughter born Paula Mary Hill in Birmingham, Alabama she suffered very early losses of her father and protective older brother which would mark her life - and in the late 1940s she set herself on her path to Hollywood.
Despite numerous bit parts in both classic and B-movies - including The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) and The Beast From 20000 Fathoms (1953), she only got one major break as a leading lady on the big screen ironically in what is now considered one of the worst films of all time Mesa of Lost Women (1953).
In the surreal science fiction B-film starring former child star Jackie Coogan, Paula Hill - credited as Mary hill - displayed her unique beauty and a full range of acting talents, delivered with a velvet voice.
Heartbroken by a series of career disappointments newspapers reported she attempted suicide with pills in 1954 - but ever the fighter, having survived her early bereavements, she fought on in the Hollywood jungle.
She did go onto several good leading leading roles on television in TV dramas and comedy shows including Dragnet, Highway Patrol, Burns & Allen and The Red Skelton Show in the mid to late 1950s - but by 1960 she had departed to New York to become a lounge singer ; displaying the most beautiful velvet voice. She was still acting in the Los Angeles theatre in 1962.
Nothing is recorded of her life in the 1970s and 1980s - but at the end of that decade she was re-discovered by the film producer Steve Burrows , who just happened to be living in her Los Angeles apartment building.
He gave her two cameo character roles which she played to the hilt, in his films, Soldier of Fortune (1991) and Chump Change (2000); the latter of which which she sadly did not live to see released.
Through his own tributes - both in art and the feature he hopes to write for a film publication one day - artist Stephen B. Whatley hopes the world, not just film buffs, will begin to know the Paula Hill he admires a little better - and he hopes somehow from the heavens she can see his celebrations.
Paula Hill (1926-2000). 2022
Charcoal on paper, 16.5 x 11.5 / 42 x 30cm