Fay Spain
Encyclopedia
Fay Spain was an American actress in motion pictures and television. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona
.
. She gave Spain a job which combined the duties of acting apprentice and babysitting. At sixteen, Miss Spain was in New York City
, residing in an $8-a-week room on the Upper West Side
. She worked in tie shop where she became acquainted with an associate of Walter Winchell
. The gossip writer mentioned her name in a column and Spain received a call from Columbia Pictures
. She was not extended a contract because she "wasn't pretty enough for Hollywood".
Within two months she found work with a stock company in the Catskill Mountains
. She obtained an Equity Card
which enabled her to continue working as an actress. Spain eschewed a college scholarship after attending high school in White Salmon, Washington
. She chose instead to pursue a stock company apprenticeship.
. The test was unfavorable and she was not considered photogenic. She continued to pursue acting, unimpeded by rejection. She accepted any parts which came along, learning the techniques of the acting trade.
Spain first came to prominence with movie audiences in 1958. She was cast as "Darlin Jill" in the film version of God's Little Acre
, based on Erskine Caldwell
's novel. The film marked the screen debut of Tina Louise
and also starred Robert Ryan
, Jack Lord
, Buddy Hacket, Aldo Ray
, and Vic Morrow
. Spain followed this success by playing "Maureen Flannery" in the film Al Capone. Her final appearance as a film actress came in 1974, when she portrayed the wife of mobster Hyman Roth
(Lee Strasberg
) in The Godfather Part II
.
painter John Altoon. They spent their honeymoon in Reno, Nevada
. Both led busy lives and enjoyed their time away from work by relaxing in a home they remodeled in the San Fernando Valley
of California
. Altoon was an art instructor in Los Angeles, California
. He contributed art for a series of record album covers. Spain had a five-year-old son from a previous marriage who lived with her in California.
Bonanza
, Cheyenne,
Whirlybirds
, Perry Mason
, Tombstone Territory
(episode "Pick up the Gun"), The Millionaire, M Squad
,
The Texan
, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Gunsmoke
(1957 episode "Mavis McCloud"),
Playhouse 90
, 77 Sunset Strip
,
Have Gun Will Travel {1958},
Alfred Hitchcock Presents; episode: "The Last Dark Step", and "The Cuckoo Clock",
Maverick
, Bat Masterson
, Hogan's Heroes
, and The Restless Gun
. She also appeared on the NBC
interview program Here's Hollywood
. In the 1960s she continued to be seen frequently on television series such as Rawhide
(episode Incident of the Valley in Shadow) and The Fugitive
.
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
.
Theater apprentice
She began living alone in her English teacher's attic at the age of 14. The teacher had a daughter who was affiliated with an acting stock company in MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. She gave Spain a job which combined the duties of acting apprentice and babysitting. At sixteen, Miss Spain was in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, residing in an $8-a-week room on the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
. She worked in tie shop where she became acquainted with an associate of Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
. The gossip writer mentioned her name in a column and Spain received a call from Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. She was not extended a contract because she "wasn't pretty enough for Hollywood".
Within two months she found work with a stock company in the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
. She obtained an Equity Card
Equity Card
An Equity Card is proof of membership in an organization of stage actors such as the Actors' Equity Association of the United States or the British Equity...
which enabled her to continue working as an actress. Spain eschewed a college scholarship after attending high school in White Salmon, Washington
White Salmon, Washington
White Salmon is a city in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. It is located in the Columbia River Gorge. The population was 2,193 at the 2000 census and increased 1.4% to 2,224 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. She chose instead to pursue a stock company apprenticeship.
Film actress
As a film aspirant her first screen test was made with James GarnerJames Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
. The test was unfavorable and she was not considered photogenic. She continued to pursue acting, unimpeded by rejection. She accepted any parts which came along, learning the techniques of the acting trade.
Spain first came to prominence with movie audiences in 1958. She was cast as "Darlin Jill" in the film version of God's Little Acre
God's Little Acre (film)
God's Little Acre is a 1958 American film of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel. It was directed by Anthony Mann and shot in black and white by master cinematographer Ernest Haller....
, based on Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Caldwell
Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was...
's novel. The film marked the screen debut of Tina Louise
Tina Louise
Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
and also starred Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
, Jack Lord
Jack Lord
John Joseph Patrick Ryan , best known by his stage name Jack Lord, was an American television, film, and Broadway actor. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the American television program Hawaii Five-O from 1968 to 1980. Lord appeared in feature films earlier in his career,...
, Buddy Hacket, Aldo Ray
Aldo Ray
Aldo Ray was an American actor.-Life and career:Ray was born in Pen Argyl, PA, to an Italian family of five brothers and one sister. His brother Mario lettered in football at USC in the years 1952-54...
, and Vic Morrow
Vic Morrow
Victor "Vic" Morrow was an American actor whose credits include a starring role in the 1960s TV series Combat!, prominent roles in a handful of other television and cinema dramas, and numerous guest roles on television...
. Spain followed this success by playing "Maureen Flannery" in the film Al Capone. Her final appearance as a film actress came in 1974, when she portrayed the wife of mobster Hyman Roth
Hyman Roth
Hyman Roth is a fictional character, and the primary antagonist in The Godfather Part II, played by the actor and acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role...
(Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
) in The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
.
Marriages
In 1959 the actress married west coast abstractAbstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
painter John Altoon. They spent their honeymoon in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. Both led busy lives and enjoyed their time away from work by relaxing in a home they remodeled in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Altoon was an art instructor in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He contributed art for a series of record album covers. Spain had a five-year-old son from a previous marriage who lived with her in California.
Television
By the middle and late 1950s Spain was making frequent guest appearances on television. She appeared inBonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, Cheyenne,
Whirlybirds
Whirlybirds
Whirlybirds is an American drama television series....
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...
(episode "Pick up the Gun"), The Millionaire, M Squad
M Squad
M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...
,
The Texan
The Texan (TV series)
The Texan is a Western television series starring popular B movie star Rory Calhoun. It aired on the CBS television network from 1958-1960.-Production notes:...
, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(1957 episode "Mavis McCloud"),
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
,
Have Gun Will Travel {1958},
Alfred Hitchcock Presents; episode: "The Last Dark Step", and "The Cuckoo Clock",
Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, Bat Masterson
Bat Masterson (TV series)
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
, Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
, and The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
. She also appeared on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
interview program Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood
Here's Hollywood is an American celebrity interview program which aired on weekday afternoons on NBC at 4:30 Eastern time from September 26, 1960, to December 28, 1962.-Overview:...
. In the 1960s she continued to be seen frequently on television series such as Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
(episode Incident of the Valley in Shadow) and The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
.