Biography

Loretta King (August 20, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress, best known for the brevity of her career and her relationship with director Ed Wood. Loretta King was the star of Ed Wood’s 1955 film “Bride of the Monster,” with Bela Lugosi. She played investigative newspaper reporter Janet Lawton. King appeared in several episodes of Hallmark Television Playhouse the same year, but then quickly retired from film work. After her 1970 marriage to Herman Hadler, Loretta King re-emerged briefly as an actress. She appeared in two films under the name Loretta Hadler. Loretta King was portrayed by actress Juliet Landau in the 1994 Tim Burton bio-pic, “Ed Wood.” Interviewed in the 1996 documentary, “The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr,” Loretta disputed many of the anecdotes that other people had told of her Ed Wood period. She denied that she was ever allergic to water, or that she received her “Bride of the Monster” role in exchange for financing the film. Both of these allegations had been dramatized in 1994’s “Ed Wood.” In 1994, King was portrayed in the Tim Burton bio-pic, Ed Wood, by actress Juliet Landau.