Original Columbia Studios Press Release

      Issued October 11, 1955
 
 
 
 

             "One look at Cleo Moore and artists want her to pose.  But there is much more to this girl than her provocative beauty.

             In a way she is like those ancient Florentines, so many one-sided.  You might find her, nails in mouth, hammering away on a house under construction.  She is a builder.

             You might find her, as a group did recently, hanging a portrait of Jack Benny at the Hollywood Friar's Club for actors.  She is a painter.

             You might find her advising a professional l politician on politics.  A student of the subject, she is a former daughter-in-law of the late Huey Long.

             She was born in Baton Rouge, capital of Louisiana on Halloween, October 31, 1928, into a family active in the turbulent politics of that state.  She was just emerging from a childhood marked by a lively interest in the dramatic activities of the elementary and high schools she attended, when she became the bride, briefly,
of the youngest son of one of the most dramatic men in the country, the then 
Governor, Huey Long.  She was only 15, and  her marriage to Palmer Long ended
before the year was out.

              She rejoined her family just in time to go with them on a trek in 1946 to
Southern California, where her father, a building contractor, foresaw the tremendous construction boom that came to that era in the post-war period.

                Not seen was the effect the move was destined to have on Cleo.  An
ardent boxing fan, she was watching the fights at the Hollywood Legion Stadium when she was seen by a talent scout from RKO with the result that a few weeks later she was launched on her present career.  The part was a small one with Ida Lupino in ON DANGEROUS GROUND.

                Shortly thereafter, she mad her first picture for Columbia, this time a larger part, in the Sam Katzman production CONGO BILL.  Then came a role that made her a name at all the studios.  It was the highly dramatic role opposite Hugo
Haas in THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE for 20th Century-Fox..  After seeing that, Hollywood wanted  more of the same, and again she teamed with Haas in STRANGE FASCINATION, this time for Columbia, and for the first time on the screen she saw the glowing words "...starring Cleo Moore."  Signed by Columbia to a long-term contract, Cleo appeared in ONE GIRL'S CONFESSION, BAIT, and
WOMEN'S PRISON.  Currently she is playing her first solo starring role in OVER-EXPOSED.

                The same thing that has prompted artists to ask her to pose, has stimulated the same request in that breed  dedicated to beauties in bathing suits - the Hollywood still photographer, and thus Cleo's spectacular charms have blossomed in newspapers and magazines across the land, something she doesn't mind, providing it doesn't make people take their eyes of the ball, which is that she is an actress.
 

                Also in the intervals between roles  she has had the time to pursue  her old interests: oil painting, which she does constantly and with growing skill; her two business enterprises, building construction and property investments, which she shares with her father, Murphy Moore; furniture  design and landscaping, both of which she does professionally.  Meanwhile, her acting comes first, and in addition to dramatic coaching, she has studied to remove the last trace of the Southern accent to widen her scope of roles.

                She lives with her family, which includes her sister, Marilee, 17, and a
brother, Johnnie, 11, in the town of Tarzana, about 20 miles from Hollywood.  She is a "canary blonde", 5 feet 3 inches tall, 115 pounds with a 37-inch bust,
22-inch waist, 34 1/2-inch hips, and a 13-inch calf."

  - Columbia Studios, Hollywood, California
     Al Horwits, Director of Publicity