Biography
Beryl Wallace, a striking figure born in Brooklyn, New York, was the oldest of nine children in a working-class Austrian-Jewish immigrant family. Her captivating looks and curvaceous figure naturally led her toward a career in entertainment, beginning with dancing. As a teenager, she responded to a casting call and secured a role in the 1928 production of the "Earl Carroll Vanities." Carroll renamed her "Beryl Wallace," and she soon featured in other daring shows known for their sensual and fantasy themes, some even involving frontal nudity. Beyond Carroll’s Vanities in 1930, 1931, 1932, 1935, and 1940, she appeared on Broadway in the musical comedy "Treasure Girl" (1928), Carroll's "Murder at the Vanities" (1932), and had a minor role as a model in "The Women" (1936).
Beryl, a dark-haired beauty with sharp pencil-thin eyebrows, began both a professional and personal relationship with producer and mogul Earl Carroll, who was at least sixteen years her senior. In Hollywood, she starred in his shows at the Earl Carroll Theatre and Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. She made her film debut in the 1934 adaptation of Carroll's Broadway play "Murder at the Vanities," then appeared in various small roles before co-starring with western lead Tom Keene in the Monogram Pictures release "Romance of the Rockies" (1937). Over her career, she acted in nearly two dozen B-movies, mainly action-adventure and western genres, alongside attractive leading men such as Kermit Maynard in "Rough Riding Rhythm" (1937), Larry J. Blake and Dick Purcell who vied for her in "Air Devils" (1938), Roy Rogers in "Sunset on the Desert" (1942), and Richard Dix in "The Kansan" (1943). Her final film roles included secondary female parts in "The Woman of the Town" (1943) and "Enemy of Women" (1944). Unfortunately, many of her film appearances were limited to uncredited roles or decorative parts.
Despite a modest film career, Beryl remained a star attraction in Earl Carroll's lavish musical revues. During World War II, she contributed by singing and hosting radio shows, entertaining troops at the Masquers Club, and dancing at the Hollywood Canteen. Though her film success was limited, she took pride in her status as a star of Carroll's spectacular productions.
In 1948, Earl Carroll was preparing to open a new, larger theater just a block away from his existing venue, aiming to rival New York’s Radio City Music Hall with an estimated cost of over $15 million. Tragically, on June 17, 1948, while flying from Los Angeles to New York City, Beryl and Carroll died in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. The plane was forced into an emergency landing, but crashed into a 66,000-volt transformer during its rapid descent and exploded. Following Carroll’s wishes, their ashes were interred together in the Garden of Memory at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Their crypt is topped by a large sculpture of Carroll’s hands holding a life-sized figure symbolizing the extraordinarily beautiful Beryl.
