How did actress Gale Storm and her husband Lee Bonnell meet?”
Storm was a Texas high schooler named Josephine Owaissa Cottle when she entered a talent contest for a radio show called “Gateway to Hollywood” in 1940. She was brought to Los Angeles for the finals, where her wholesome vivacity won over the radio audience and she was awarded a movie contract. The contest’s male winner was a lanky would-be actor named Lee Bonnell, who would later become her husband. Given the quirky name Gale Storm, she went from contracts with RKO to Monogram to Universal, appearing in such low-budget films as “Where Are Your Children?” with Cooper and “Tom Brown’s School Days” with Freddie Bartholomew.
Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television’s biggest stars on “My Little Margie” and “The Gale Storm Show,” has died at age 87. Storm, who had been in failing health in recent years, died Saturday at a convalescent hospital in Danville, said her son, Peter Bonnell. Before landing the starring role in “My Little Margie” in 1952, Storm starred in numerous B movies opposite such stars as Roy Rogers, Eddie Albert and Jackie Cooper. After her last TV series, “The Gale Storm Show,” ended in 1960 she went on to a successful singing career while continuing to make occasional TV appearances. Storm was a Texas high schooler named Josephine Owaissa Cottle when she entered a talent contest for a radio show called “Gateway to Hollywood” in 1940. She was brought to Los Angeles for the finals, where her wholesome vivacity won over the radio audience and she was awarded a movie contract. The contest’s male winner was a lanky would-be actor named Lee
Born on April 5, 1922, in Bloomington, Texas, the auburn-haired Storm had played the leads in numerous plays and musicals in school, but two of her teachers had to push her to enter the “Gateway” competition. Storm was a pert and pretty 17-year-old Houston, Texas, high school senior named Josephine Cottle when she arrived in Hollywood in late 1939 as a finalist in the nationwide “Gateway to Hollywood” talent contest. At that same contest was a man named Terry Belmontl. The winning actor and actress were promised contracts with RKO Studios and guaranteed a role in a major motion picture. And, as Hollywood tradition dictated, they would be given new, marquee-suitable names. Well, Josephine and Terry won the contest and their marquee-names were changed to Gale Storm and Lee Bonnell. The two fell in love and were later married.
