Martha O'Driscoll Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi

Martha O'Driscoll (March 4, 1922 – November 3, 1998) was an American film actress from 1937 until 1947. Her mother was a financial partner in the Hollywood Mar-Ken School. The school's director, Mrs. Bessire, had a son, William Kent Bessire. The two women decided to name the school after their children—Mar came from Martha and KEN from Kent. The school remained open until the early 1960s. Trained in singing and dancing, O'Driscoll was discovered by choreographer Hermes Pan in a local theater production in Phoenix, which led to unbilled bits in musical movies from 1935. They moved to... MORE

Martha O'Driscoll (March 4, 1922 – November 3, 1998) was an American film actress from 1937 until 1947. Her mother was a financial partner in the Hollywood Mar-Ken School. The school's director, Mrs. Bessire, had a son, William Kent Bessire. The two women decided to name the school after their children—Mar came from Martha and KEN from Kent. The school remained open until the early 1960s. Trained in singing and dancing, O'Driscoll was discovered by choreographer Hermes Pan in a local theater production in Phoenix, which led to unbilled bits in musical movies from 1935. They moved to Hollywood in 1935, but Pan was out of town, so they answered an advertisement for dancers and O'Driscoll was given a role in Collegiate (1935), a musical. Betty Grable had an early leading role in the film and its songwriters, Mack Gordon and Harry Revel, played themselves as co-chairmen of the school's music department. She was groomed in more visible parts and began pitching products for Max Factor and Royal Crown Cola, among many others, in magazine ads, while such endorsements promoted her upcoming pictures in return. She had other small dancing roles in Here Comes the Band, The Big Broadcast of LESS