Sara Shane


Elaine Hollingsworth, known by the stage name Sara Shane, is a former actress who starred in film and television in the 1950s and early 1960s. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

Acting career

Shane secured a film contract with MGM and was featured in a few musicals. She "was dropped by the studio after six months." In 1953 she hired publicist Russell Birdwell, and began using the name Sara Shane. She secured a seven-year contract with Universal International pictures, but after two films took a sabbatical, which at the time was predicted as likely being brief.
A 1953 newspaper article reported that Hedy Lamarr prompted Shane to resume her career in film. Shane said of Lamarr, "She pushed me into a career again and got me out of my laziness." The article noted that Shane was "currently testing for the John Wayne picture, 'The High and the Mighty,' and the film version of 'Oklahoma.'" She returned to film and television work in 1955, most notably in the Clark Gable film The King and Four Queens. Her last film, 1959’s Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, in which she portrayed Angie, is considered her most memorable performance. She continued in television through 1964.
Among Shane's television appearances, she played the role of defendant Alyce Aitken in the 1961 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Envious Editor."

Business ventures

Shane left acting in 1964 to go into business. As of 2018, she is a director of Hippocrates Health Centre in Queensland, Australia and an author. In 1974, she published a non-fiction novel, Zulma, about a Mexican pre-op trans woman's experiences in the La Mesa Prison, based on her visit to the prison and her meeting with a trans woman named Zulma. In 2000, she published Take Control of Your Health and Escape the Sickness Industry. In 2008 she wrote, produced, and co-presented a DVD documentary entitled "One Answer to Cancer". The first half of the DVD is about the dangers of the pharmaceutical drug Aldara. The rest of the movie promotes the alternative cancer treatment, black salve; including detailed instructions on how to make it and apply it yourself.

Personal life

Shane married William Hollingsworth, a "wealthy real estate tycoon," in 1949. They divorced in 1957. The couple had a son, Jamie.

Filmography