Actor / Director Profile

There was a time when actress Catherine Craig was known in Hollywood other than for being Mrs. Robert Preston. She was born Catherine Kay Feltus on January 18, 1918, in Bloomington, Indiana, the daughter of a circus proprietor and cinema owner who piqued her initial interest in drama. Although she attended school in Bloomington, she spoke Spanish fluently as a result of her childhood trips with her family to South America. Graduating with honors from Indiana University in 1936, she was a speech instructor's assistant for a time while appearing on the local stage in Indiana. Eventually relocating to Los Angeles in search of a professional career, her well-modulated voice and crisp diction came in handy when radio work came her way. She met actor Preston when she was a fellow student at the Pasadena Playhouse. They married in 1940.Catherine was soon discovered by a 20th Century Fox talent agent and promptly apprenticed in such films as Doomed to Die (1940), Murder Over New York (1940) and Manhattan Heartbeat (1940). She eventually earned a contract at her husband's studio, Paramount, but still remained obscure with a trail of decorative bit roles in such dubiously-titled "B" hokum as Las Vegas Nights (1941), West Point Widow (1941), Parachute Nurse (1942), Showboat Serenade (1944) and The Bride Wore Boots (1946). In the post-war years the blue-eyed, chestnut-haired beauty finally began to earn more noticeable assignments such as her lifeboat survivor in Seven Were Saved (1947), her wealthy fianc￿enaced by a conniving Albert Dekker in the superb "B" crime thriller The Pretender (1947), and her innocent-eyed prairie flower opposite Randolph Scott in Albuquerque (1948). Her success was short-lived. By 1950 Catherine had drifted back to minor status and retired from films after a nothing part in No Man of Her Own (1950). Following a few stage endeavors, she completely abandoned the limelight in support of her husband's career. Preston died in 1987.