Tina Carver

Born: 1922-03-24

Smoky-voiced, sultry Tina Carver began her career in the post-war stages of Germany and France. Having married an Indiana academic who served the High Commission for Occupied Germany in a legal capacity, her acting opportunities were confined to entertaining troops under the auspices of the Special Services. Nonetheless, she had both the looks and the talent to secure leads in quality plays like "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Miranda". In 1953, she joined a theatrical ensemble in Bad Godesberg, while her husband ran a drama workshop on the side. However, her marriage subsequently went on the rocks, resulting in an acrimonious divorce and a return to the States. Tina's screen career got off to a start with steady radio and television work in New York. In 1954, she moved to California for guest spots on two fashionable crime shows, The Whistler (1954) and The Lone Wolf (1954). This exposure resulted in several small supporting roles in feature films, and she was eventually signed under contract by Columbia. Her first role saw her third-billed, as partner-in-crime to a racketeer (played by Pat O'Brien) in Inside Detroit (1956), an expose of corruption in the Auto Workers Union. This solitary lead, in what was a relatively decent minor film noir, was unaccountably followed by a return to supporting roles in bottom-of-the-bill second-raters, like Uranium Boom (1956) and The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957). There was also an uncredited bit in the A-grade boxing drama The Harder They Fall (1956), starring Humphrey Bogart. It begs the question, who did Tina upset to drop from starlet to bit player within a year? It got worse: upon leaving Columbia, Tina took another step down the ladder to Allied Artists, where she was cast opposite Tod Andrews in the laughable creature feature From Hell It Came (1957). The monster in this typical 50's 'mutation by radiation' offering, was a walking tree stump, created by Paul Blaisdell, who later breathed life into various other beasts for Roger Corman. While this film has since attained something of a cult following (perhaps, because it is so bad, that it becomes enjoyable on a comedic level), a contemporary reviewer allegedly wrote about 'From Hell, it Came'.. .and to Hell it can go". For the remaining four years of her short tenure in Hollywood, Tina acted exclusively on the small screen, guesting in a handful of popular TV shows like Perry Mason (1957) and Bronco (1958). In January 1958, her five-year-old daughter. Katherine. was struck and killed by a car in the school zone where she was playing. As a result of her ongoing grief over this tragic accident, she lost interest in acting. She passed away in 1982 after a short illness.


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The Harder They Fall

as Mrs. Benko (uncredited)
Released: 1956-05-08

Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his...

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A Bullet for Joey

as Counter Girl (uncredited)
Released: 1955-04-15

Raoul Leduc is a police inspector trailing a spy who plots to kidnap an important American...

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The Man Who Turned to Stone

as Big Marge Collins
Released: 1957-03-01

A new social worker at a girls' reformatory discovers that her charges are being used by a group...

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Inside Detroit

as Joni Calvin
Released: 1956-01-01

Gus Linden, former racketeer head of a Detroit local of the United Automobile Workers of...

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From Hell It Came

as Dr. Terry Mason
Released: 1957-08-25

A wrongfully accused South Seas prince is executed, and returns as a walking tree stump.

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Hell on Frisco Bay

as Bessie Coster
Released: 1955-12-31

A cop framed for a murder he did not commit hunts the San Francisco waterfront for the Mob...

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A Cry in the Night

as Marie Holzapple
Released: 1956-08-17

A police captain's emotions get in the way when his daughter is kidnapped.

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Chain of Evidence

as Claire Ramsey
Released: 1957-01-06

A police lieutenant fights to prove a boy's innocence after he's accused of murder. The fourth...

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Uranium Boom

as Gail Windsor
Released: 1956-03-02

Ex-lumberjack Brad Collins (Dennis Morgan) and mining engineer Grady Mathews (William Talman)...

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Perry Mason

as Sylvia Bain
First aired: 1957-09-21

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most...

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