Julie Bishop

Born to a wealthy Denver banker/oilman, Jacqueline Wells began her 35-year film career as a child actress in 1923. She left films near the end of the silent era to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and dancing with Theodore Kosloff. The newly blonde Ms. Wells returned to films in 1932, briefly (and reluctantly) billed as Diane Duval until signed to a Paramount contract in 1933. A reigning queen of "B"-pictures throughout the 1930s, Jacqueline worked at Universal (The Black Cat [1934]), Monogram (The Mouthpiece [1934]) and Hal Roach (The Bohemian Girl [1936]) before settling into a 2-year tenure as all-purpose leading lady at Columbia. Feeling that her career was slowing to a halt, she reinvented herself, transforming from imperiled ingenue Jacqueline Wells to the self-assured, quip-for-all-occasions Julie Bishop. Though many of her roles under her new name were secondary, they attracted attention to her acting abilities, and even gave her an occasional opportunity to sing. Among her better "Julie Bishop" assignments were such roles as Mrs. Ira Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and John Wayne's wistful one-night stand in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). In 1953, Wells/Bishop co-starred with Bob Cummings on the 39-week TV sitcom My Hero. Julie Bishop is the mother of actress Pamela Shoop, her daughter by her third husband, Dr. Clarence Shoop.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide