Marilyn Maxwell

Marvel Marilyn Maxwell (b. Clarinda, Iowa, August 3, 1921 – d. Beverly Hills, California, March 1972) – Actress, USO entertainer, and singer. Although a native of Iowa, Maxwell went to high school in Fort Wayne before dropping out after her sophomore year to pursue entertainment. In her mid teens, she was a singer in the Amos Astot Band in Lake Manitou (Rochester, Indiana) and moved to Indianapolis with the band after the group’s summer gig had ended. In Indy, she also sang at the Columbia Club, although she left the city and eventually made it to Hollywood. In 1942, she signed a radio contract with MGM and appeared on the Abbot and Costello Show. She was also an entertainer on USO tours during WW II and the Korean War with Bob Hope, with whom she had an ongoing affair. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Maxwell starred in several feature films, including Lost in a Harem (1944), Champion (1949), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), and Rock-A-Bye-Baby (1958). After her sudden death of a heart attack in 1972, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby served as honorary pallbearers.