Actress.  Pearl Louise Allbritton was the youngest child born to Pearl Caroline Greer and Lawrence Leonard Allbritton, Sr.  When she was a baby, the family relocated to Wichita Falls, Texas. Her mother died when she was 16 years-old leaving her father to be only parent while managing a 100,000 acre ranch and a business. For a couple of years, she attended the University of Oklahoma studying journalism but left with the goal of an acting career.  Along with being a tall, vivacious blond beauty, she had a talent for acting that some critics compared to Carol Lombard’s, especially in the roles of a “screwball comedy”. She gained acting experience with positive reviews at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.  This was followed by her having roles in two unsuccessful Columbia Studio films. In hope that she would return home, her father discontinued financing her pursuit of an acting career. At this point, she signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios, which enabled her to continue to stay in California and pursue her acting career. Before World War II, she had a couple of radio parts on “Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater” and gained recognition with her face gracing magazine ads for Frederies True-Curl, a hair care company.  During World War II, she toured with an USO group and “gave show after show, many of them to the accompaniment of the thunder of enemy guns”. The horror movie, “Son of Dracula”, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. in 1943 may have been her most notable film. In 1947, she had a role in the film “The Egg and I” starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride being introduced as “Ma and Pa Kettle”.  This successful film went on to become the “pilot” for nine more “Ma and Pa Kettle” movies. Her other roles included “Pittsburg” in 1942 starring Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, and John Wayne and two “screwball comedies” in 1943 “Fired Wife” with Dianna Barrymore and “Good Morning, Judge” starring Dennis O’Keefe.  In 1944 she had another comedy in “San Diego, I Love You” with her larger role opposite Jon Hall. Three more comedies followed in 1948: “Sitting Pretty” starring Robert Young and Maureen O’Hara; “An Innocent Affair” starring Fred MacMurray; and “Walk a Crooked Mile” starring Dennis O’Keefe.  Including her bit parts, she appeared in a total of 24 movies before retiring in 1949.  For some unpublished reason, the last movie was never released.  Although memorable, her career was short-lived and according to some critics, it may have been mismanaged. In 1946, she married CBS news reporter Charles Collingwood, and after retiring, she enjoyed traveling the globe with her husband while he was on assignments. From 1954 to 1955, she appeared in a TV daytime program, “Concerning Miss Marlow”. She died from bone cancer of the spine at home in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. (bio by: Linda Davis)  Family links:  Parents:  Leonard Lawrence Allbritton (1878 – 1957)  Pearl Caroline Greer Allbritton (1882 – 1936)  Spouse:  Charles Cummings Collingwood (1921 – 1985)  Sibling:  Lawrence Leonard Allbritton (1913 – 1985)*  Louise Allbritton (1920 – 1979) *Calculated relationship