Helen Marion Walker (July 17, 1920 – March 10, 1968) was an American actress. Biography 1920–1940: Early life Helen Marion Walker was born July 17, 1920 in Worcester, Massachusetts, the daughter of Irish-American parents. According to Walker, she grew up "quite poor." Her father, who managed a grocery store, died when she was six years old, and she and her two sisters went to live on a farm in Upton, Massachusetts. Her mother took a job working in a department store but later suffered a nervous breakdown. Walker's initial acting experience came in high school, performing in school plays. She won a scholarship to the Erskine School of Dramatics in Boston and completed one semester of studies, but she withdrew after completing her first play, embarrassed by her performance. 1941–1946: Career beginnings and film After dropping out of the Erskine School of Dramatics, Walker began to appear in local stock theater. On Broadway, she portrayed Lisa Otis in Jason (1942). She married Paramount lawyer Robert Blumofe on November 19, 1942 in Tijuana, Mexico, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1946. Walker made her film debut in 1942's Lucky Jordan, a comedy starring Alan Ladd. She earned a solid reputation playing leading roles in comedies as what she termed a "reactress," a straight man to comic leads in films such as Brewster's Millions and Murder, He Says, both released in 1945. According to Yvonne de Carlo, Walker, "the good natured but tough talking starlet," took Gail Russell "under her wing and introduced her to the tranquilizing benefits of vodka" when they were both under contract to Paramount. Russell subsequently became an alcoholic. 1947–1955: Auto accident and career decline Walker had just finished filming Her Adventurous Night (1946) and was set to begin Heaven Only Knows when an auto accident drastically disrupted her career. On December 31, 1946, while driving a convertible coupe belonging to director Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone from Palm Springs to Hollywood on U.S. Route 99, she picked up three hitchhikers: first, a soldier named Robert E. Lee, and later 18-year-old students Philip Mercado and Joseph Montalde. Near Redlands, California, the car slid off the road into a dirt division strip and rolled for more than 300 feet, flipping over as many as seven times and ejecting all four passengers. Lee was killed as his head struck the pavement, and Walker and the other two passengers were seriously injured.