The Timeless Theater
  • Home
  • Action
    • 1920 Action
    • 1930 Action
    • 1940 Action
    • 1950 Action
    • 1960 Action
  • Comedy
    • 1920 Comedy
    • 1930 Comedy
    • 1940 Comedy
    • 1950 Comedy
    • 1960 Comedy
  • Drama
    • 1920 Drama
    • 1930 Drama
    • 1940 Drama
    • 1950 Drama
    • 1960 Drama
  • Horror-SciFi
    • 1920 Horror-Scifi
    • 1930 Horror-Scifi
    • 1940 Horror-Scifi
    • 1950 Horror-Scifi
    • 1960 Horror-Scifi
  • Suspense
    • 1920 Suspense
    • 1930 Suspense
    • 1940 Suspense
    • 1950 Suspense
    • 1960 Suspense
  • Features
    • Film Noir >
      • Film Noir-The Men
      • Film Noir-The Women
      • Film Noir-The Directors
    • Pre-Code Hollywood >
      • Pre-code-Women-I
      • Pre-code-Women-II
  • Title Index
  • Home
  • Action
    • 1920 Action
    • 1930 Action
    • 1940 Action
    • 1950 Action
    • 1960 Action
  • Comedy
    • 1920 Comedy
    • 1930 Comedy
    • 1940 Comedy
    • 1950 Comedy
    • 1960 Comedy
  • Drama
    • 1920 Drama
    • 1930 Drama
    • 1940 Drama
    • 1950 Drama
    • 1960 Drama
  • Horror-SciFi
    • 1920 Horror-Scifi
    • 1930 Horror-Scifi
    • 1940 Horror-Scifi
    • 1950 Horror-Scifi
    • 1960 Horror-Scifi
  • Suspense
    • 1920 Suspense
    • 1930 Suspense
    • 1940 Suspense
    • 1950 Suspense
    • 1960 Suspense
  • Features
    • Film Noir >
      • Film Noir-The Men
      • Film Noir-The Women
      • Film Noir-The Directors
    • Pre-Code Hollywood >
      • Pre-code-Women-I
      • Pre-code-Women-II
  • Title Index
Picture
Cleo Moore
Active - 1948 - 1957  |   Born - Oct 31, 1930 in Baton Rouge, LA  |   Died - Oct 25, 1973 in Inglewood, CA  |   Genres - Drama, Crime | Height: 5’ 3”

Bleach-blonde leading lady Cleo Moore can be described as Marilyn Monroe without the class. Though very likely a nice person in real life, Moore specialized in playing vulgar, conniving trollops; one could practically smell the cheap perfume whenever she swivelled onscreen. She was spotted by an RKO executive and was convinced to take a screen test. She passed. Her first film was in a rather non-descript film called Congo Bill (1948). After that fiasco, Cleo went back to work at her family’s building business and did some modeling. Two years later, in 1950, the shapely blonde appeared in a Western entitled Rio Grande Patrol (1950). She received fifth billing in the movie that went nowhere.

That year proved to busy for Cleo as she appeared in five other films. In Bright Leaf (1950), a film about the tobacco industry, was a well-received one even though she had only a small part. Gambling House (1950) was, somewhat, of a personal breakthrough. Instead of having, basically, unknowns as her co-stars, Cleo had Victor Mature and William Bendix. Hard as it was to break into films that really grabbed to public’s attention, Cleo seemed to be destined to stay in B movie roles for the balance of her career. Moore became the favorite leading lady of actor/director Hugo Haas, who churned out picture after picture in which he played an older man ruined by Moore’s seductive charms. Retiring from filmmaking in 1957, Cleo Moore entered politics, making an unsuccessful bid for the governor’s chair in her home state of Louisiana.

Available Films:

GAMBLING HOUSE (1951)

HIT AND RUN (1957)

HUNT THE MAN DOWN (1950)

ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951)

ONE GIRL'S CONFESSION (1953)

OTHER WOMAN, THE (1954)

STRANGE FASCINATION (1952)

WOMEN'S PRISON (1955)

Trivia:
Was engaged in a long-running personal feud with fellow starlet Anita Ekberg.
Was considered for the role of Miss Caswell in All About Eve (1950), which ultimately went to Marilyn Monroe.

“You know, just because you’re a blonde type doesn’t mean you can’t suddenly do serious parts. I mean, Jane Wyman did a lot of silly parts for years and then all of a sudden went serious and was tremendous. I’m just hoping I don’t get typed for those creature movies - you know, “The Thing from Outer Sputnik” and so on.”
Explore the simpler time of yesteryear... 
A time when men and women were truly glamorous. A time when you could watch any movie with your children and not have to worry about gratuitous sex or violence – yet enjoy all the lustful inferences and edge-of-your-seat suspense.
Welcome to The Timeless Theater!

    Contact Us

    Don't be shy
    Your questions, comments or fond memories here
    Please leave your email address so I can respond back.
Submit

*** new features ***

Film Noir: The Men
Meet the hard-boiled detectives, cynical antiheroes, and ruthless villains
Film Noir: The Women
Meet Hard-Boiled Women, good girls gone bad, and femme fatales
Film Noir: The Directors
Meet the master storytellers who weave their ill-fated tales in an unforgiving dark, shadowy world.

Picture
Meet The Women who pushed the boundaries of moral, social, and artistic conventions... 
Part I
Part II