Singer/actress Constance Moore, a lovely, underrated gem of a leading lady from the '30s and '40s, died on September 16 of heart failure at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills. She was 85.

She was born as Mary Constance Moore in Sioux City, Iowa, on January 18, 1920, but was raised in Dallas, Texas. She started voice lessons while still in grade school, harboring ambitions as an opera singer. She was still a teenager when she got a break as a band vocalist on a local radio show when she was only 17. Soon, her rich, supple contralto voice caught the attention of a Universal Studios talent scout, and within a year, she was whisked away to Hollywood.

The studio offered her a contract, and in 1938, she was featured in no less than eight programmers, often in roles labeled "autograph seeker," and "girl #2" in titles such as Prison Break (1938), and Wives Under Suspicion (1938). However, her petite good looks and bubbly personality weren't going to keep her in routine fare for long, and by next year, she scored two coups: first as the gorgeous young daughter of W.C. Fields's in the rollicking comedy You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939); and the role that has kept her a cult favorite among the comic serial set for decades – Wilma Deering – the faithful sidekick to Buster Crabbe in the popular Buck Rogers serial (1939).

Her stock rose a little during the '40s, being used effectively in, of course, musicals Las Vegas Nights (1941); but she also showed dramatic grit in I Wanted Wings (1941) opposite Ray Milland and William Holden; and displayed neat comic touch behind Fred MacMurray and Rosalind Russell in the jaunty comedy of manners Take A Letter Darling (1942). After her Universal contract expired, she moved over to Republic Pictures and the pleasant films kept coming: the engaging musicals Show Business and Atlantic City (1944); the early Jane Powell vehicle Delightfully Dangerous (1945); and her final film with the studio, The Hit Parade of 1947 (1947) with Eddie Albert.

She opted for semi-retirement after 1948 to raise her family. She appeared sporadically over the years: Otto Preminger's interesting thriller The 13th Letter (1951); and two failed sitcom pilots Window on Main Street (1961-62) with Robert Young and The Young Marrieds (1964-65). She was married to Hollywood agent John Maschio from 1939 until his death in 1998. Moore is survived be her son Michael; daughter Gina Marks; sister Betty Kelly; two grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

by Michael T. Toole