'Town Tamer' : Tinseltown Tomboy Terry Moore

Child actress Terry Moore was all set to become a major star of the comic fantasies of the 1940s had they continued into the 1950s, but alas, they didn't. She had more luck in crime cinema, acting in film noir thrillers like 'Shadowed' (1946), 'Two Of A Kind' (1950), 'Gambling House' (1951) and 'Shack Out On 101' (1955).

The original noir cycle had also petered out by the close of the decade, with Richard Fleischer's 'Violent Saturday' (1955) and Robert Wise's 'Odds Against Tomorrow' (1959) bookending the period where Moore's career transitioned. She did, however, star in one of the great British crime movies of the decade, the evocative pulp thriller 'Portrait Of Alison' (1955).

Like her contemporary Carroll Baker, Moore was an experienced performer held in limbo by the studio system. She enjoyed enduring support from her friend Glenn Ford and acted alongside old stagers like Fredric March, Fred Astaire, Dana Andrews and Burt Lancaster. She was also cast with a new breed of dangerous-to-know actor including Audie Murphy, Lee Marvin, Robert Wagner and Sal Mineo (she dated Mineo's friend James Dean in the early 1950s).

Moore was meant to be paired in a musical with her friend Elvis Presley, but instead ended up with Pat Boone.