LOS ANGELES , California ( CNN ) -- Gale Storm , whose acting and singing talents earned her three stars on Hollywood 's Walk of Fame , died Saturday , according to a Danville , California nursing facility where she was a patient . Storm was 87 . Storm got her first movie contract , a stage name and a husband when she won a radio talent show in Hollywood at the age of 17 . Her first TV show -- `` My Little Margie '' -- set the sitcom stage with Lucille Ball and other female stars in the 1950s , said Skip E. Lowe , a longtime friend who acted in some of Storm 's first movies in the early 1940s . `` She was a wonderful singer , '' said Lowe . `` She started as a singer and became known as an actress and singer . '' Born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington , Texas , in 1922 , she entered and won a CBS Radio talent show that offered a grand prize of a one-year movie contract with RKO Studio , according to her personal biography . She teamed up with the male winner , Lee Bonnell , whom she married and had four children with . The couple remained married for 45 years until his death in 1986 . `` We fell deeply in love and were married two years later , just as soon as my mother would allow it ! '' she wrote . The new name Gale Storm was also part of the prize , she said . Lowe , who interviewed her several times in recent decades on his cable TV show , said Storm was open about her bout with alcoholism . `` She was battling that bottle , '' Lowe said . Storm wrote about her alcoholism on her official Web site : . `` My successes have certainly not been without problems . During the 1970s I experienced a terribly low and painful time of dealing with alcoholism . I had Lee 's unfailing support through the entire ordeal . My treatment and recovery were more than rugged . '' Storm said she was `` fully recovered for more than 20 years . '' She also chronicled her alcoholism battle in an autobiography published in 1980 and titled `` I Ai n't Down Yet . '' Her work in movies in the 1940s when she starred in dozens of B-movies -- mostly Westerns -- was great preparation when television became big in the early 1950s , she said . Her first TV series , `` My Little Margie '' was a radio show transferred to TV as a summer replacement for `` I Love Lucy '' in 1952 . `` I was overwhelmed by the immediate success of it , '' she said . `` During the next four years , millions of people saw the 126 episodes of 'Margie ' on TV and listened to separate , live episodes on network radio , '' Storm said . Her next sitcom was `` The Gale Storm Show : Oh ! Susanna , '' airing from 1956 until 1960 . Storm played the social director on a cruise ship . Along with film , radio and TV , Storm recorded several top-10 pop hits for Dot Records in the 1950s . `` I was thrilled when my very first record , ' I Hear You Knockin ' , ' sold over a million copies and won for me the coveted 'gold ' record , '' she wrote . `` After that , my hit records included 'Dark Moon , ' 'Ivory Tower , ' 'Teen Age Prayer , ' and 'Memories Are Made Of This . ' '' Her three Hollywood Walk of Fame stars are for recording , radio and television , according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce . She acted in a few TV episodes in the 1980s , including `` The Love Boat '' and `` Murder She Wrote . '' Storm married Paul Masterson in 1988 after Bonnell died . Her second husband died in 1996 .
Her first TV show , `` My Little Margie , '' set the sitcom stage with Lucille Ball . Gale Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington , Texas . She grew up on a farm and attended high school at age 14.