Helen Walker

Helen Marion Walker (July 17, 1920 – March 10, 1968) was an American actress born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Irish-American parents. Her father, who managed a grocery store, died when Walker was six years old, after which she and her two sisters relocated to a farm in Upton, Massachusetts. Her mother later worked at a department store before suffering a nervous breakdown. Walker described her upbringing as "quite poor."

Her earliest exposure to acting came through high school plays. She subsequently won a scholarship to the Erskine School of Dramatics in Boston, where she completed one semester before withdrawing, citing embarrassment over her performance in her first production. Following her departure from the school, she began performing in local stock theater.

Walker made her Broadway debut in 1942, portraying Lisa Otis in the drama Jason. That same year she made her film debut in Lucky Jordan, a comedy starring Alan Ladd. She developed a reputation in Hollywood playing leading roles in comedies, describing her own screen function as a "reactress" — a straight man to comic leads. Films in this vein included Brewster's Millions and Murder, He Says, both released in 1945. On November 19, 1942, she married Paramount lawyer Robert Blumofe in Tijuana, Mexico; the marriage ended in divorce in 1946.

On December 31, 1946, Walker's career was severely disrupted by an automobile accident. While driving a convertible coupe belonging to director Bruce Humberstone along U.S. Route 99 from Palm Springs to Hollywood, she picked up three hitchhikers: soldier Robert E. Lee and two 18-year-old students, Philip Mercado and Joseph Montalde. Near Redlands, California, the vehicle left the road, rolled more than 300 feet, and ejected all four occupants. Lee died when his head struck the pavement. Walker sustained fractures to her pelvis and clavicle and a crushed foot, requiring more than a month of hospitalization. Police estimated her speed had exceeded 80 mph, and a responding officer reported smelling alcohol on her breath. A coroner's jury determined she had been driving negligently. Mercado sued her for $150,000 and Montalde for $100,000. Walker was charged with manslaughter in connection with Lee's death, though the charge was later dismissed for lack of evidence. She had been set to appear in Heaven Only Knows before the accident; that role went to Marjorie Reynolds.

Despite these legal and physical setbacks, Walker continued working in film. She appeared in what became perhaps her most recognized role, playing a duplicitous psychoanalyst in the 1947 film Nightmare Alley opposite Tyrone Power. She followed that with prominent parts in Call Northside 777 (1948) with James Stewart, My Dear Secretary (1948) with Kirk Douglas, and Impact (1949) with Brian Donlevy. In 1950 she married department-store executive Edward DuDomaine; that marriage ended in divorce in 1952. She took starring roles in My True Story (1951) and Problem Girls (1953) before making her final film appearance in Joseph H. Lewis's noir The Big Combo (1955) with Cornel Wilde. She retired from acting that year at the age of 35.

In 1960, a fire destroyed Walker's home, prompting several Hollywood actresses to organize a benefit on her behalf. She died of cancer on March 10, 1968, in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, following a nine-year illness. She was 47 years old.