Barbara Britton

Barbara Britton (born Barbara Maurine Brantingham, September 26, 1919 – January 17, 1980) was an American film and television actress. She is best known for her Western film roles opposite Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Gene Autry, and for her two-year tenure as inquisitive amateur sleuth Pam North on the television and radio series, Mr. and Mrs. To the North.

In 1941, while appearing in a Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, a photo of Britton was used on the front page of a local newspaper. A talent scout took notice, and she was soon signed to a Paramount Pictures contract. (Another source says that a talent scout spotted her as the lead in the production of The Old Maid at the end of college, and three weeks later she was signed by Paramount Pictures as a log mode.")

That same year, she appeared in her first two films: the William Boyd Western the Secrets of the Wasteland and Louisiana Purchase starring Bob Hope. Her first major film appearance was a small role in the John Wayne film Reap the Wild Wind (1942).