- Belita
Gladys Lyne Jepson-Turner (
October 25 1923 , Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England –December 18 2005 ), known professionally as Belita, was an Olympic ice-skater, dancer and early film actress. She skated for Great Britain in the1936 Winter Olympics , then turned to Hollywood to further her career.She appeared in films including "Never Let Me Go" (1953), with
Clark Gable , and oppositeCharles Laughton in "The Cherry Orchard ".She also made several highly profitable productions for
Poverty Row studioMonogram Pictures . Her appearances included "Silver Skates " (1943), "Lady, Let's Dance " (1944) and "Suspense" (1946). "Suspense", with its novel mixture of ice-skating and film noir proved enormously popular at the box-office.In 1946 Belita married Joel McGinnis; they divorced in 1956. She married, secondly, James Berwick (died 2000). In 1956 she retired from skating and three years later gave up show business altogether.
Her autographed ice skates remain on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Fact|date=September 2007
External links
*imdb name|id=0067927|name=Belita
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
