Here's an excerpt of a London newspaper on her obituary.Originally Posted by karina1974
Belita was given a contract by Monogram, and though her movies had slim plots, the lavish production numbers on ice made them popular fare, and in 1946 she was entrusted with the leading role in Frank Tuttle's Suspense. 'It was the film I most enjoyed making,' she recalled. 'It was the first film in which certain camera angles were used, and it was photographed by Karl Struss, who was incredible.'
It was a steamy tale, scripted by Philip Yordan in James Cain fashion, of infidelity, deceit and murder, boosted by lavish skating routines (in the most suspenseful of which, Belita had to jump through a circle of knives). Her skating skill masked any deficiencies as an actress. Her co-star, Barry Sullivan, recalled,
You could think about googling yourself once in a while. BTW, if you can get a tape of that film, let me know.
Nope. Watched War and Peace instead. I outgrew skating movies.Uh, you never saw Ice Castles, did you? And Lynn-Holly Johnson WAS a skater before starring in that movie.
Sonja Henie was a European!!! and a good business woman. Should she have tried Pinewood Studios in London?Well, ALL of the prominent skaters before Dick Button and Barbara Ann Scott emerged in the late 1940's were European. North American skaters had won a few silvers and bronzes but no Olympic titles until 1948. That proves my point about Sonja, that she really began pushing skating's popularity on this side of the Atlantic back in the 1930's. All of the skaters during the USA's Golden Age of Skating (1948-1960) are arguably products of Sonja Henie's popularity in this country.
Anyway, Belita was special for me.
Joe
but (as Joe says) her successor in the skating movies, "Belita" (AKA Gladys Jepson-Turner) was.
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