Gail Davis

Gail Davis (born Betty Jeanne Grayson, October 5, 1925 – March 15, 1997) was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley. 2Life and career 3Early years The daughter of a small town physician, Davis was born in a Little Rock, Arkansas, hospital, but was raised in McGehee until her family moved to Little Rock.She had been singing and dancing since childhood. After graduating from Little Rock High School, she studied at the Harcum Junior College for Girls in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, before completing her education at the University of Texas at Austin. She had a younger sister, Shirley Ann Grayson (August 26, 1937 – February 23, 1971). 3Film Betty Jeanne and her husband, Bob Davis, moved to Hollywood to pursue a film career. She told an interviewer how she acquired her professional acting name. "I went under contract to MGM around 1946. They told me 'we can't have a Betty Davis, because of Bette Davis, and we can't have a Betty Grayson because of Kathryn Grayson'.... Then a guy in the casting department said 'how about Gail Davis?' So that's where it came from."In 1947, she made her motion picture debut in a comedy film short. She then appeared in minor roles in another four films, the first being The Romance of Rosy Ridge, then landed a supporting role under star Roy Rogers in a 1948 Western film, The Far Frontie