Elena Verdugo

Who is Elena Verdugo?

Elena Verdugo is an American actress who began in films at the age of five in Cavalier of the West. Her career in radio, television, and film spanned six decades.

Verdugo made numerous film appearances through the 1940s, including several Universal horror films. While filming the Abbott and Costello comedy Little Giant, she met and married screenwriter Charles R. Marion, who also wrote for the comedy team's radio show. The couple had one son, Richard Marion, who later became an actor/director. He died of a heart attack in 1999, aged 50. Her second husband was Charles Rosewall.

Verdugo starred with Gene Autry and Stephen Dunne in the movie The Big Sombrero.

Verdugo had a flair for comedy, and she garnered much laughter and applause in the title role of the hit situation comedy Meet Millie on both radio and live television of the early 1950s. She co-starred in Thief of Damascus with Paul Henreid and John Sutton. She guest starred on The Bob Cummings Show in a 1958 episode entitled "Bob and the Ravishing Realtor," playing the part of the realtor. In 1963, she co-starred with Richard Egan and Roger Davis in the short-lived NBC half-hour Western dramatic series Redigo, actually the second season of Egan's earlier hour-long Empire. The program was set on a New Mexico ranch during the early 1960s. Verdugo appeared as herself in 1963 on the NBC game show Your First Impression.