Helen Walker was an American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.
Career
Walker was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and made her film debut in 1942. She earned a solid reputation playing leading roles in comedies – a "reactress" to comic leads, as she described it. Walker's film debut came in 1942's Lucky Jordan, a comedy about a gangster who ends up drafted in the Army, where Walker's character reports him AWOL. In the farce Brewster's Millions, her sweetheart inherits $8 million, but can't keep it unless he can spend a million of it within a specified time. Walker also played the romantic interest of Fred MacMurray in the popular comedy Murder, He Says in 1945. After a promising start in Hollywood, Walker was involved in a 1946 car wreck. A hitchhiker was killed, and Helen and two others were seriously injured. She was charged with drunk and reckless driving. She was subsequently acquitted and made a comeback, but her career never fully recovered. Her final big-screen appearance was in Joseph H. Lewis's film noirThe Big Combo in 1955. She retired from acting at the age of 35 and died in North Hollywood, California from cancer at the age of 47.
Auto accident
She had just finished making what would become her most well-known film, 1947's Nightmare Alley, and was filming Heaven Only Knows when an auto accident drastically disrupted Walker's career. On December 31, 1946, while driving the car of director Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone from Palm Springs to Hollywood, she gave a ride to three hitchhiking soldiers named Robert E. Lee, Philip Mercado, and Joseph Montalvo. Near Redlands, California, the car hit a divider and flipped over, killing Lee and causing serious injuries to Walker and the other two passengers. Mercado brought a civil suit for $150,000 against her. Montalvo suited for $100,000. Walked was also upon manslaughter charges for Lee's death. The cases crumbled due to several factors. Walker's attorney was able to block assertions that she was driving drunk. The two plaintiffs were arrested on unrelated charges. Mercado was fingered as a suspect in an armed robbery and arrested. Montalvo admitted to a 1944 narcotics charge and was arrested. Her criminal trial for manslaughter ended with a dismissal on the motion of San Bernardino CountyDistrict Attorney Jerome B. Kavanaugh.
Personal life
According to Yvonne de Carlo, Walker, "the good natured but tough talking starlet", took Gail Russell "under her wing and introduced her to the tranquilizing benefits of vodka" when they were Paramount contractees together. Russell subsequently became an alcoholic. She was married to Paramount studio lawyer Robert Blumofe, and department store executive Edward DuDomaine. When her house burned in 1960, other actresses held a benefit to assist her. A Democrat, she supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.
