Priscilla Lane was a popular singer and actress in the 1930s and 1940s, best known for her roles in films such as The Roaring Twenties, Saboteur, and Arsenic and Old Lace. She was the youngest of the Lane Sisters, a musical trio that performed with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. She had a sparkling personality, a beautiful voice, and a charming screen presence. But her life was cut short by lung cancer, which claimed her life on April 4, 1995, at the age of 79. How did Priscilla Lane develop lung cancer, and what were the symptoms and treatments of her disease? Here is a brief overview of Priscilla Lane’s cause of death.
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Early Life and Career
Priscilla Lane was born as Priscilla Mullican on June 12, 1915, in Indianola, Iowa. She was the youngest of five daughters of Dr. Lorenzo Mullican, a dentist, and his wife Cora Bell Hicks. She grew up in a large house with 22 rooms, some of which were rented to students attending nearby Simpson College. Priscilla and her sister Rosemary started singing and dancing at an early age, and traveled to Des Moines every weekend to study with a renowned dance teacher named Rose Lorenz according to Wikipedia.
When Priscilla was 16, she moved to New York with her sister Rosemary to join their older sister Leota, who was appearing in a musical revue. Priscilla enrolled at the Fagen School of Dramatics, where she was discovered by a talent agent named Al Altman. He invited her to screen test for MGM, but she was rejected along with other aspiring actresses such as Katharine Hepburn and Margaret Sullavan according to Wikipedia.
In 1932, Priscilla and Rosemary joined their other sister Lola to form the Lane Sisters, a vocal group that performed with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians on radio and stage. They also appeared in several short films and feature films with Waring’s band, such as Variety Show (1937) and Men Are Such Fools (1938). Priscilla soon became a star in her own right, and signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1938 according to Wikipedia.
Hollywood Stardom
At Warner Bros., Priscilla Lane starred in several musicals and comedies, such as Four Daughters (1938), Four Wives (1939), Four Mothers (1941), Daughters Courageous (1939), Brother Rat (1938), Brother Rat and a Baby (1940), The Return of Doctor X (1939), Dust Be My Destiny (1939), and Million Dollar Baby (1941). She also co-starred with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, such as James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart in The Roaring Twenties (1939), Errol Flynn in Four’s a Crowd (1938), Ronald Reagan in Brother Rat (1938) and Brother Rat and a Baby (1940), John Garfield in Four Daughters (1938) and Dust Be My Destiny (1939), Jeffrey Lynn in Four Daughters (1938), Four Wives (1939), Four Mothers (1941), Daughters Courageous (1939), Million Dollar Baby (1941), It All Came True (1940), Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939), No Time for Comedy (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Saboteur (1942), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) according to Wikipedia.
Some of her most memorable roles were in the films directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra. In Saboteur (1942), she played the heroine who helps Robert Cummings stop a Nazi spy ring from sabotaging American war efforts. In Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), she played Cary Grant’s fiancée and bride who discovers that his eccentric family is involved in serial killing according to Wikipedia.
Personal Life and Retirement
Priscilla Lane married twice in her life. Her first husband was Oren Haglund, an assistant director at Warner Bros., whom she married in 1939. They divorced in 1942 after three years of marriage according to Dead or Kicking. Her second husband was Joseph A. Howard, a U.S. Army Air Corps colonel whom she met while entertaining troops during World War II. They married in 1942 and had four sons: Joseph Jr., James, William, and Thomas according to Wikipedia.
Priscilla Lane retired from show business in 1948, after appearing in her last film, Bodyguard (1948). She devoted herself to her family and her husband’s career, which took them to various places around the world. She also supported several charitable causes, such as the American Cancer Society, the March of Dimes, and the Red Cross according to Wikipedia.
Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Death
Priscilla Lane was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 1990s, after experiencing symptoms such as coughing, chest pain, and weight loss. She underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy to treat her disease, but it was too late to stop the spread of the cancer. She died on April 4, 1995, at Wingate, a nursing home in Andover, Massachusetts. She was 79 years old according to Dead or Kicking.
Priscilla Lane’s death was mourned by her family, friends, fans, and colleagues. She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her husband, who had died in 1976. She was survived by her four sons and several grandchildren according to Deseret News.
Priscilla Lane was one of the most talented and charming stars of Hollywood’s golden age. She left behind a legacy of memorable films and songs that continue to entertain and inspire generations of viewers and listeners. Her cause of death was lung cancer, a disease that affects millions of people around the world. Her story is a reminder of the importance of early detection and prevention of lung cancer, as well as the need for more research and awareness on this deadly disease.
