Jackie Loughery

A pert and glamorous redhead, Jacqueleen Loughery came to fame as the first ever Miss USA beauty pageant winner in 1952, held at Long Beach, California.

Just two years prior, the Brooklyn-born daughter and only child of Joseph Clark Loughery (a captain in the U.S. Navy) and Ellen (Avery) Loughery had been crowned Miss New York State. She wasn't especially keen to continue competing for further titles, but later claimed to have been talked into it by 'Uncle Miltie' (Milton Berle). She eventually finished in ninth place for the Miss Universe event. On the strength of this, she was hired by the Ward Kent modeling agency. Late that year, she also secured a contract with Universal-International, declaring "I want to become a dramatic actress".

For the first five years of her acting career, that ambition remained unfulfilled. Her appearances were merely confined to bit parts, walk-ons or cameos. Her fortunes improved a little when she was cast as the female lead in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy Pardners (1956). Jackie then scored a leading regular television role in a western series as Letty, the niece of Judge Roy Bean (1955). Her next film, The D.I. (1957), was a wartime drama about a tough drill instructor. It starred Jack Webb and featured Jackie as his romantic interest.

Real romance developed during filming and Jackie married Webb in June 1958 in Studio City (having divorced her previous husband, the actor and singer Guy Mitchell, on the grounds of mental cruelty and abusiveness). Ultimately, her second marriage proved equally turbulent and faltered in 1964, Jacqueline citing the same reasons for divorcing Webb as had his previous two wives, namely 'being married to his work'.

Dropped by Universal, she briefly found a supporter in Howard Hughes, who signed her for RKO. However, no film opportunities arose from this. As a freelancer, she found work in a couple of B-grade potboilers (even headlining in an obscure drama, The Hot Angel (1958)) and in five episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950). The remainder of her tenure on the screen comprised only a few sporadic TV guest appearances in prime time shows like Bat Masterson (1958), Burke's Law (1963), and Perry Mason (1957) .

In 1969, now almost forty and finding fewer and fewer worthy roles, she threw in the towel, saying "you don't quit acting, acting quits you." That year, she was married to one Jack William Schwietzer. This union may have proved the adage of 'third time lucky', as it endured for four decades until his death in 2009.