Sunday, October 23, 2011

Ruth Hampton (Law and Order, 1953)




Originally posted on allmovie.com:

The bleak look of the seminal 1932 Western classic Law and Order has been exchanged for a Technicolor landscape and the equally colorful presence of Dorothy Malone and "Miss New Jersey of 1952," Ruth Hampton, in this the third go-around of W.R. Burnett's tale of a Wyatt Earp-like reformer. Ronald Reagan, alas, is almost too laid-back as the fatigued lawman, and although they do their best to ignite the screen, the supporting players likewise fail to liven the rather obvious goings-on. The result is one of those typical early-'50s Grade-B+ Westerns that proved moneymakers for the burgeoning Universal International but are today notable mainly for the early appearances of future television stars, in this case Russell Johnson, Dennis Weaver, and Jack Kelly.

Miss New Jersey of 1952 and a runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, dark-haired, exotic-looking Ruth Hampton (1931-2005) appeared in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) with Miss USA herself, Jackie Loughery, and a cadre of Miss Universe contestants that included Miss Sweden, Anita Ekberg, and Miss Germany, Renate Hoy. The gig led to a contract with Universal-International and featured roles in such potboilers as Law and Order (1953), with Ronald Reagan, and Ricochet Romance (1954), with the Kettles. She retired in 1954 to marry actor-singer Byron Palmer.

Divorcing Palmer in 1966, Hampton later remarried and became a housewife in Shawnee Mission, KS.

1 comment:

  1. caught my attention esp when she was in bra , very perky

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