Grace McDonald

After making Honeymoon Ahead (1945), Grace fell in love with a Marine and retired to be his wife.

Grace was game for straight acting parts as well, playing opposite Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in the comedy It Ain't Hay (1943), and also appearing in the dramas Murder in the Blue Room (1944) and Destiny (1944).

Between 1942 and 1945 there was a pert, sweet-faced "B"-level cutie who knew how to swing with the best of them at Universal. The beautiful dancer/singer might have gone on to better things but ended her career abruptly for marriage and never looked back.

The titles certainly said it all -- Give Out, Sisters (1942), Behind the Eight Ball (1942), How's About It? (1943) and Hat Check Honey (1944). She also appeared frequently in vehicles designed for The Andrews Sisters.

Her first film, Dancing on a Dime (1940), stumbled a bit and she didn't make another film for two years when Universal decided to sign her up. Though her musicals were obviously hep and had lots of pep, they were pretty much assembly-line productions intended to boost the morale of a war-weary nation.

Grace McDonald, who was born in New York City on June 15, 1918, struck out into the local vaudeville scene at a young age with her equally talented brother, Ray McDonald. As a brother-sister dance team similar to the Astaires, their specialty proved to be tap. The twosome made it to Broadway with the hit musical "Babes in Arms" and stole part of the show with their version of "I Wish I Were in Love Again. " This gave them a one-way ticket to Hollywood, where Ray got picked up by MGM and Grace by Paramount.