Todd’s Serial Blog

Kathryn Adams was a minor actress at Universal during the forties.  She made many brief appearances in such films as The Invisible Woman (1940), Hellzapoppin’ (1941) and Saboteur (1942).  Her biggest role was in the Universal serial Sky Raiders (1941) as the secretary of hero Donald Woods who is trying prevent spies from stealing his new plane.  She has to fend off the attentions of co-hero Robert Armstrong because she only has eyes for Woods, if he would only see it.

After appearing in Blonde For a Day (1946), Adams married Hugh Beaumont and retired from acting to raise their children, while he went on to become forever known as Wally and The Beaver’s dad on TV.  During this time she also earned her degree in psychology and became an author of several books.

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Steve Darrell got his start in acting at the Pasadena Playhouse in the mid to late thirties and made his  Hollywood debut in a minor role in Angels With Dirty Faces (1938).    After appearing in Code of the Secret Service (1939) and They Died With Their Boots On (1941) he eventually became known for playing western villains in such B westerns as Lightning Raiders (1945), Terrors on Horseback (1946) and Riders of the Lone Star (1947).

His only serial was playing Frank James, helping his brother Jesse (played by Clayton Moore) atone for their past crimes by getting a silver mine up and running to pay back their past victims in Republic’s The Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (1948).  Needless to say in order to do this they had to battle a band of outlaws lead by the mine’s crooked foreman who want the wealth for themselves.

During the following two decades Darrell would alternate between films like Tarantula (1955) and Joe Dakota (1957), and appearing on such TV shows as Gene Autry, Laredo, and Daniel Boone.  He retired from acting in the late sixties.

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