Helen Gahagan in the 1920s
Helen Gahagan (25 November, 1900 - 28 June, 1980) was a United States actress and (under the name Helen Gahagan Douglas) a politician. She was also known as The Pink Lady.
Gahagan was born in Boonton, New Jersey. She became a well known star on Broadway in the 1920s. In 1931 she married actor Melvyn Douglas. Gahagan starred in one Hollywood movie, She, in 1935, playing The Ice Goddess ("She who must be obeyed").
In the 1940s she entered politics, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives from California for two terms. In 1950 she ran for the United States Senate, but was defeated by Richard Nixon in a race considered by her supporters to be a prototypical smear campaign.
Illeana Douglas is her grand-daughter.
