Charlotte Austin

Interviewed about her father, Gene Austin, and her Western credits in "Wild Wild Westerners" by Tom Weaver (BearManor, 2012).

Owns and runs an antique shop in Pasadena specializing in romantic Victorian furnishings She has a grown daughter, is songwriting and recording again and completed a musical based on "The Trial of the Century". [1999]

Interviewed about her horror/sci-fi movies in "It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 1996).

Her 1958 film The Bride and the Beast (1958), written by Edward D. Wood Jr., was released on DVD, newly remastered, in the spring of 2002 by Retromedia. VCI's later DVD release of the movie featured an audio commentary with Austin, supporting player Trustin Howard (aka Slick Slavin), gorilla movie expert Bob Burns and interviewer Tom Weaver.

With the advent of Cinemascope, Twentieth Century-Fox sent a half-dozen preview scenes of How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) to distributors worldwide showcasing the new process. Austin played the nearsighted "Loco" in these previews, with the original cast (Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, David Wayne) playing their parts. In the completed film, Marilyn Monroe played the role of "Loco", with Charlotte playing the role of "Ding-Dong". Austin played the role of "Loco" again in the pilot for the TV series How to Marry a Millionaire (1957). Barbara Eden played the role in the final series. All cast members were replaced (with the exception of Lori Nelson), as was the director, John Rich (of All in the Family (1971)) fame.

Dramatic training and a screen test led to a contract at 20th Century-Fox for Charlotte in the early 1950s, when she had parts in the studio's How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Désirée (1954) and Daddy Long Legs (1955), and she co-starred (on loanout to Columbia) in the musical Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1952). Freelancing after the mid-'50s, she moved from musicals to monsters, perhaps most notoriously tackling half of the title role in the Edward D. Wood Jr.

Named for her birthplace (Charlotte, North Carolina), Charlotte Austin was the daughter of Gene Austin, a top crooner of the 1920s and 1930s and the composer of many popular songs.