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Abigail Tommye Adams Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Margaret Thomas Adams) |
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| 11 January 22 | is born in Greenville, South Carolina, to Mr. and Mrs. Adams, nee Lemmons. She's named for her great-grandfather, Thomas Aycock, Governor of North Carolina. |
| ? | is raised in Greensboro, North Carolina |
| 41 | attends the University of North Carolina. During her freshman year, Harry Conover selects her as the "Typical American Girl," so she goes to New York to become a Conover model. |
| wins first place in a singing-models contest, the prize for which is a two-week engagement at New York's Stork Club |
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| ? | is signed as understudy to Ella Logan in Sons O'Fun on Broadway |
| ? | meets actor Lyle Talbot in Washington, D. C. |
| December 41 | actor Lyle Talbot announces their wedding will be early next year in Omaha. He's on the Columbus, Ohio, stage in Separate Rooms. |
| ? | makes her screen test at MGM opposite Lee Bowman |
| 22 January 42 | marries actor Lyle Talbot in Omaha, Nebraska. He's 41; she's 20. |
| c. Fall 42 | her marriage to Talbot is annulled. Talbot's next will be actress Patricia Stacy. |
| January 43 | is a romantic duo with singer-actor Tony Martin, now in the Army |
| April 44 | once rumored to be engaged to actor Mickey Rooney, she's about to divorce the man she wed instead of Rooney |
| May 44 | on a furlough, Tony Martin proposes to her, and she considers |
| November 44 | is the current inspiration of concert pianist José Iturbi. Spanish-born Iturbi is 26 years her senior. |
| ? | is engaged to Iturbi when she meets 20th Century-Fox producer George Jessel, the ex of actresses Norma Talmadge and Lois Andrews and a pal of Darryl F. Zanuck. He's 23 years her senior. |
| March 45 | she and George Jessel say farewell to romance, and she has herself a new swain |
| October 45 | is again Jessel’s enthusiasm |
| December 45 | is expected to marry Frank Shields, actor and amateur tennis player, when his divorce is final |
| January 47 | is with Jessel again |
| May 47 | wears an engagement ring from Jessel, but no date has been set for the wedding. "We are going to go steady for a while and see what happens," says thrice-married Jessel. |
| Mid-December 47 | her pet dog Albert saves her from a fiery death in her Beverly Hills home. She says she had been asleep when Albert awakened her with loud barking. She found the entire room, including the bed covers, on fire. A smoldering cigarette is believed to have caused the fire. |
| April 48 | her affair with Jessel is said to have chilled for keeps |
| May 48 | proves to be still the long-time sweetie of Jessel, who spends his one day in New York with her. Recent rumors have linked him with actress Greer Garson. |
| August 48 | undergoes an operation in New York |
| November 48 | appears with Jessel on his TV show, "Holiday Star Revue" |
| December 48 | returns to New York from California and is found drinking Zombies at El Morocco with John Talbot |
| Early February 49 | while visiting her mother in Charlotte, North Carolina, she proudly wears Jessel's engagement ring, a heart-shaped diamond, on her left hand. She declares: "See, I have it now. I don't know when we'll be married. We haven't set the date yet." A few days later, Jessel comments on the two-year-old gem: "Just say we have no immediate plans - maybe some time in the future - if, in the meanwhile, she doesn't meet somebody younger, better looking and gayer." |
| February 49 | will go to England in May to make a picture with Paul Muni |
| Late February 49 | is back in Los Angeles and is seen at Ciro's with Jessel |
| March 49 | she and Jessel take a vacation from each other after too many tiffs |
| June 49 | is seen out with Jessel again. On his right arm he has Tommye, on his left eye, a monocle. |
| August 49 | is seen at Ciro's with Jessel. There they meet songwriter Phil Ohman and end up at the piano playing "One More Dance." |
| 50 | slashes her wrists |
| January 50 | asks New York friends to help her dispose of her furniture. The press wonders if she contemplates an elopement with Jessel. |
| March 50 | is an old friend of actor Montgomery Clift |
| April 50 | tells Jessel goodbye at the airport by whacking him over the head. Jessel's chauffeur immediately alerts every nightspot in town to be on the lookout for "Miss Warpath of 1950." The press has its field day. |
| May 50 | will try it as a singer with a name band. She is bored with Hollywood life and wants a career in jazz. |
| September 50 | the press hints she has written a screenplay on a very unusual subject |
| December 50 | she and Jessel exchange presents and kisses again |
| March 52 | opens at Ciro's. Jessel's so moved that he weeps. |
| June 52 | has an argument with Tonee Carrol over which one is entitled to be billed as the discovery of producer George Jessel. In the process, curvesome Tonee takes a swing at her. |
| August 52 | is Jessel's date on one of his last dates before leaving Los Angeles again. They do the Mocambo. |
| November 52 | is seen at the Bar of Music with architectural designer Lance Hay |
| December 53 | is a hopeful threesome at the Little Club with Joan Carter and Ruth Cosgrove. Joan is divorcing comedian Jack Carter; Ruth is marrying comedian Milton Berle; and she hopes to marry George Jessel. |
| 12 December 54 | is arrested for intoxication along with actors Broderick Crawford and Myron McCormick in West Los Angeles and booked at West Los Angeles County jail. She and Crawford are arrested as they seek to call a taxi from a Mandeville Canyon home. McCormick is arrested in the auto nearby. The trio tells the police they attended an all-night party, drove into Mandeville Canyon by mistake, and attempted to find their way out when the rented car hit a fence. When arrested, she is barefooted. Police say they found a pair of women’s shoes and a fur coat in the car. She tells officers that she is 37 and says her real name is Terra Hall, so she's booked under that name. Later the police claim her outrage "turned the air blue." The trio is jailed on charges of drunkenness and finally released on $20 bond each. |
| End December 54 | declares to give up Jessel after 11 years of waiting because she wants to be a loving housewife and not a playgirl. She tells the press in her luxurious Beverly Hills apartment: "George and I are through," and, "The wedding was called off." She claims: "I'm no playgirl. I was cold sober when I was arrested. We had been sitting around a friend's kitchen, reciting Shakespearean sonnets and reading T. S. Elliot poems." |
| 11 February 55 | George Jessel takes her to the races at Santa Anita and finds her in excellent spirts |
| 12 February 55 | Goes night-clubbing with Max Marks, drugstore owner |
| 13 February 55 | Marks tries phoning her in the morning. When she does not answer, he goes to her Beverly Hills apartment in the afternoon and finds her body in bed, clad in a blue nightgown. |
| 14 February 55 | Dr. Lester V. Laurion, police physician, says a preliminary investigation of the body indicated an overdose of sleeping pills, but no bottle or other container was found nearby |
| a friend of hers calls Jessel at the Hillcrest Country Club. He faints when he hears that she is dead. After his release from a doctor's care, Jessel says he escorted her to Santa Anita Friday and there was "no indication" that she was distressed. "She had a rather frustrated life," Jessel says, "but of course you don't know why people do those things. She used to take a lot of pills for insomnia," he adds. Jessel confirms that he was engaged to her about eight years ago but "not recently." He says he was supposed to have dinner with her last night. He had been worried because she was in the habit of taking sleeping pills, and he was trying to contact her mother, Mrs. Jean Buchanan , Charlotte, North Carolina, to suggest that Abigail take a vacation. The press notes she waited in vain for Jessel 11 years. |
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| 16 February 55 | the coroner states that she died from an accidental overdose of barbiturates, so there is no inquest. The press lists her age as 37. |
| ? | her body is flown back to Charlotte, North Carolina |
| 18 February 55 | her funeral service is held |
| is interred at Evergreen Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina, Section 4A, Lot 104 |
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| Author: | Cheryl Messina |
| Sources: The New York Times, The Great Bend Daily Tribune, Mansfield News-Journal, The Agitator, Nevada State Journal, The Lowell Sun, The Times Recorder, The Coshocton Tribune, Pottstown Mercury, The Daily Register, The Post-Standard, The Era, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, Statesville Daily Record, The Lethbridge Herald, Bedford Gazette, The Monessen Daily Independent, The Holland Evening Sentinel, Statesville Record & Landmark, Dixon Evening Telegraph, Newport Daily News, Fallen Angels by Kirk Crivello, Hollywood Babylon II by Kenneth Anger, www.Findagrave.com, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography | |