Suzan Ball

Una actriz que murió tragicamente de cáncer a los 21 años.  Y antes de eso ya había perdido una pierna.  Una de sus películas (la penúltima que hizo) se ha editado en Blu-Ray.  War Arrow, que se puede encontrar en internet como Asalto al fuerte Clark.  El argumento de la película parte de hechos reales: las incursiones de las tribus kiowas del jefe Satanta contra los colonos del territorio de Oklahoma y que culminarían con la llamada ''Masacre de la Caravana Warren'' (Warren Wagon Train Raid) ocurrida el 18 de mayo de 1871.



War Arrow, directed by George Sherman (now there is a name fit for a western specialist!), is typical of the B+ fare manufactured, sausage-style, by Universal-International in the early to mid 1950s with a host of contract players that here includes Jeff Chandler, Dennis Weaver, Charles Drake, Brad Jackson and Lance Fuller. And the studio's tragedy girl, Suzan Ball, whose dark-haired beauty lent itself well to play exotics like the Seminole Indian maiden in Arrow. That Dennis Weaver is cast opposite her as an Indian brave is another matter altogether. Not that Universal cared two hoots about realism; Suzan wears very non-native eye shadow and sports the typical pointy brassiere that was in style in the 1950s but perhaps not too widely used in the wild and woolly west of the 19th century. She was, however, convincing enough in her role as a Native American spitfire that director Sherman insisted on casting her again in Chief Crazy Horse (1955). By then, of course, she was suffering from the cancer that would kill her later that year.



Suzan Ball (b. Jamestown, NY, 1934) became one of Hollywood's most tragic starlets, dying at the ridiculous young age of 21. A distant cousin of Lucille Ball, Suzan had been a band singer and was rooming in a boarding house on La Brea when fellow boarder Mary Castle recommended her to Universal. She made her screen debut as, what else? a handmaiden in Aladdin and His Lamp (1952) for Monogram, and then did her first Universal Western, Untamed Frontier (1952), with Shelley Winters. Then came City Beneath the Sea (1953), where she met and fell head over heels for the womanizing Anthony Quinn, reportedly the love of her life. She was exotic again in East of Sumatra (1953) but injured her leg performing a native dance. She injured the same leg twice more, in a car accident and slipping and falling in her home and the wound refused to heal. In fact, during the filming of War Arrow she was informed by doctors that she had developed tumors in her leg. By then she was dating fellow Universal contract player Richard Long, a serious relationship that ended in marriage in April of 1954. The nuptials, alas, were postponed while doctors amputated the cancerous leg. Sadly, the cancer had already spread and she was dying. Never one to back down in a fight, though, Suzan insisted on business as usual and to Universal's dismay, her friend George Sherman refused to replace her in Crazy Horse, her final film. According to legend, her last days were extremely difficult on her husband, especially when her final whispered word was “Tony.” Meaning Anthony Quinn. Suzan Ball succumbed to cancer on August 5, 1955.

War Arrow 1953 720p BluRay x264 RUSTED [PublicHD]
War Arrow 1953 1080p BluRay x264 RUSTED [PublicHD]

Filmografía

• 1955 Chief Crazy Horse Black Shawl
  
• 1953 War Arrow Avis
  
• 1953 East of Sumatra Minyora
  
• 1953 City beneath the Sea Mary Lou Beetle, 'Venita'
  
• 1952 Yankee Buccaneer Countess Donna
  
• 1952 Untamed Frontier Lottie
  

El gran jefe (Chief Crazy Horse, 1955), con Victor Mature en una buena interpretación como Toro Sentado. tiene una historia interesante detrás: Sherman se obstinó en contratar a Suzan Ball para el papel de esposa de Mature, solidarizándose con la trágica situación e la joven actriz. A Ball le habían estirpado poco tiempo antes, tras el rodaje de Asalto al Fuerte Clark (War Arrow, 1953) también de Sherman, una pierna por culpa del cáncer. Por ello, en los planos cercanos, Ball balanceaba los hombros como si estuviese caminando, mientras que en los planos generales usaban a una doble cuando el personaje no estaba sentado. Ball murió poco después del rodaje al extenderse el tumor. Tenía 21 años.



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http://cartelesmix.es/?s=suzan+ball
http://esbilla.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/bandido-guapo-el-encapuchado-un-comic-book-del-oeste-en-technicolor/
http://forum.westernmovies.fr/viewtopic.php?t=14389
http://hjwollstein.blogspot.com.ar/2011/10/suzan-ball-war-arrow-1952.html
http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Ball,%20Suzan-Annex.htm