William Engelbert Jr.

William E. Engelbert Jr.
Born 15 Jan 1918
New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota
Died 18 Aug 2006
Chico Butte, California
Nationality US
Spouse(s) Lynne Roberts (m 1941-1944)
Dorothy Riley (m 1947-2006, her death)

William Edward Engelbert Jr. (15 January 1918 in New Ulm, Minnesota 18 August 2006 in Chico Butte, California) was the first husband of B-movie heroine Lynne Roberts.

Early years

William Engelbert, Jr was the son of William Engelbert, a real estate salesman, and Florence Engelbert. William Jr. graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1936 and attended the University of Southern California for two years. He served in the US Army during World War II as an aircraft inspector, and was stationed in the Philippines after their liberation.[1]

Marriage to Lynne Roberts

Engelbert first saw Lynne Roberts in one of her pictures in 1940 and decided she was the woman for him. But instead of attempting to crash her studio, he obtained her address, 115 N. Kilkea Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90048,[2] where she lived with her parents and brother. Engelbert drove past her house daily. One morning, he saw the family next door moving out. Whereupon Engelbert moved in, got an introduction and wooed and won the pretty actress—all within a month. They married January 5, 1941. On April 6, 1942, their son was born. Scenario writers at Twentieth Century-Fox were put to work preparing an untitled original screen play, based on this real life romance. The studio liked the script and planned to film it, although no film was ever made.[3] Engelbert and Lynne Roberts divorced, December 14, 1944. Lynne Roberts' second marriage to Louis John Gardella also ended in divorce. In court, Gardella's attorney argued that the couple's Arizona wedding was invalid because Roberts was not legally divorced from William Engelbert Jr., although Roberts claimed she had a Mexican divorce decree.[4]

Later life

After his divorce from Lynne Roberts, Engelbert married Dorothy Riley, June 22, 1947, of Dunsmuir, Calif. They lived in Mt. Shasta City, Redding and Chico, where he was chiefly employed in auto sales. Engelbert died in Chico Butte, California.

References

  1. Chico Enterprise-Record (Chico, CA) – Wednesday, August 23, 2006
  2. 1940 United States Federal Census
  3. Real Life Romance to Be Filmed. The Milwaukee Journal – Jul 26, 1942
  4. Daytona Beach Morning Journal – May 25, 1951
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.