Gail Gilmore

Gail Gilmore, who was born Gail Gerber, began her professional life as a member of Les Grandes Ballets Canadiennes. While in the midst of that career, she became interested in acting and moved to Hollywood in 1962. She quickily landed roles in five television series, all of them broadcast in 1964. Between 1964 and 1965, she also appeared in six movies. Gilmore co-starred with Elvis Presley twice, playing a vacationing coed in Girl Happy (1965) and a dancing gypsy in Harum Scarum (1965). In 1965, Gilmore met Terry Southern who had written the screenplay for The Loved One. Southern had already written the risque novel Candy, and the screenplay of a classic counter-culture film, Dr Strangelove, but would go on to write The Cincinatti Kid, Barbarella, Casino Royale, The Magic Christian and Easy Rider. They left Hollywood after The Magic Christian (1969) and End Of The Road (1970) and lived together in New York and later in Connecticut. Gilmore returned to dance and taught ballet. Terry Southern died in 1995. More than a decade later she teamed up with the writer Tom Lisanti to write the book Trippin’ with Terry Southern, which was released in July of 2009. Gilmore was 76 when she died of lung cancer.