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Elaine was born on January 15, 1917, in East Liverpool, Ohio, to engineer Allen B. Riley, owner of the local Riley Electrical Company, and his wife Pearl. Like many aspiring actresses, she pursued Hollywood through beauty contests, winning 'Miss Chic' at the Cleveland exposition and placing runner-up for 'Miss Ohio' in 1937. For a time, Elaine performed as a vocalist with a dance band around Pittsburgh, using the stage name 'Elaine Gray.' At eighteen, she moved to New York, began modeling for fashion designer G.W. Cohen, and appeared on the cover of Glamour magazine for the first time. Over the next six years, she studied dress design at the prestigious Traphagen School of Fashion, modeled for John Robert Powers and Hattie Carnegie, and advanced from secretary to personnel manager at New York radio station WINS.
Hollywood soon called. In 1943, a talent scout discovered Elaine, and she signed with RKO. Her first year in film was modest, with mostly uncredited roles as hat check girls, secretaries, and chorines—far from her dream of starring in musical comedies like Carole Lombard. Paramount then signed her, and by the mid-1940s, Elaine had established herself as a leading lady in Hopalong Cassidy westerns such as The Devil's Playground (1946). She occasionally took supporting roles in higher-profile films, including the acclaimed thriller The Big Clock (1948) starring Ray Milland. Appearing on the cover of Yank magazine as a popular wartime pinup boosted her career, and she remained visible through appearances at the Hollywood Canteen, visits to army camps, and entertaining wounded servicemen at Birmingham hospital in Van Nuys. From the early 1950s, she comfortably settled into westerns on television, frequently guest-starring on shows like The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Range Rider (1951), and Hopalong Cassidy (1952).
Outside of acting, Elaine enjoyed horse riding, swimming, and golf. She was married to actor Richard Martin, known for his role as the comic sidekick to Tim Holt in a long-running RKO western series, until his death in 1994. In 2004, she received the Golden Boot Award for her distinguished contributions to the western genre. Elaine passed away in December 2015 at the age of 98.
