Actress. She received notoriety as an American actress during the 1940s to the 1960s. Although considered a talented, beautiful blond actress with large bright eyes and a square jawline, a tragic auto accident changed her career forever. Born the middle daughter of the three "beautiful Walker girls," she was four when her father died and mother was left managing the household on the wrong side of the tracks with her young daughters. After theatrical success in high school performances, she got a lead in the play "Jane Eyre" in a stock company opportunity. Going to New York City, she could not find any acting work except at a shirt manufacturing company, in an office where the boss chased her around the desk, and a loathed modeling job. Finally, she received the position as understudy for the role of Dorothy McGuire in Rose Fanken's "Claudia," but never stepped on the stage. After receiving praises for her role in the Broadway presentation of "Jason," she was signed with Paramount Pictures in 1942. Settling into the apartment provided by the studio, her first film appearance the same year was opposite new film star, Alan Ladd in the comedy "Lucky Jordan." This followed with "The Good Fellow" in 1943 and "Abroad with Two Yanks" in 1944. She was perfect for a pin-up model for photographs in advertisements in "Life" magazine. She then had other advertisements including for Royal Crown Cola and wearing a big smile and a man-tailored jacket for some new miracle fabric. She was impressing her fans and critics alike with her roles in "The Man in Half Moon Street", "Brewster's Millions" and "Murder, He Says" in 1945. By the end of 1946, she had appeared in a total of eleven movies earning her the reputation of being a confident and poised beauty that could play both comic and serious roles equally. She had a very short marriage before divorcing studio attorney, Robert Blumhofe. She was beginning to question what the studio planned for her career and moved from their well-decorated apartment to a smaller, more affordable one. Sources state that she had learned the "tranquilizing benefits of vodka" and supposedly introduced the drink to fellow Paramount starlet Gail Russell, who became an alcoholic. She was not pleased with the scripts being offered to her, hence refused the roles and firmly requested better roles while feuding with other actors. Instead of the studio suspending her for a month without pay for not complying to their demands, which was the usual way studio punished their actors under contract, Paramount fired her. She began to do freelancing in B-movies for an income appearing in "Murder in the Music Hall" and "Her Adventurous Night" in 1946. Later that year, her career was back on track with her signing a contract with 20th Century-Fox, making her first Fox films with "Cluny Brown" in 1946 and "The Homestretch" in 1947. Like so many of her Hollywood colleagues, she had been very supportive of World War II (WWII) by participating in few fifty-city tours selling war bonds; donated blood fourteen times; her apartment had at time been an open canteen to the military providing hot meals; and was credited with making more than a dozen appearances for the military. On New Years Eve of 1946 near midnight, she was giving three hitchhiking soldiers a ride from Palm Springs to Los Angeles when her car hit the median near Redlands, California, causing her to lose control of the car. The convertible flipped several times, sliding 600 feet down the road, and killing 21-year-old Pfc. Robert E. Lee. The other two soldiers, Philip Mercado and Joseph Montaldo, were also injured. Listed in serious condition, she obtained a fractured pelvis, collarbone and several toes and was hospitalized for almost two months. She was charged with manslaughter in the death of Lee but by March of 1947, she was cleared of charges for insufficient evidence. Later, she was sued for $150,000 by the two other soldiers, who testified that she may have been drinking and was driving at 90 miles an hour; she had previously stated that she was driving the convertible at 45 mile an hour, thus she was not found guilty. The press was not kind to her with repeating headlines about the accident, Lee's death, and the trials. At this point, she was replaced in her current role "Heaven Only Knows" by Marjorie Reynolds, which cost the studio over $100,000 reshooting her scenes. Publicly, she expressed her regret that the accident had happened, sorrowful of Lee's death, and hope that others learned to be more careful while driving. It was clear that the accident had marked her for the rest of her life. In 1947, she had a role in "Nightmare Alley" co-starring with Tyrone Power followed by a supporting role co-starring Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara in "The Homestretch," which was directed by H. Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone, her boyfriend at the time of the accident. It was his car that she was driving the night of the accident. At this point in her career, critics state the tragedy marked a beginning of her best work in the darkness of noir films such as "Call Northside 777" in 1948, "My Dear Secretary" with Kirk Douglas in 1948, co-starring with Brian Donlevy, Ella Raines & Charles Coburn in the 1949 film "Impact," "Problem Girls" in 1953, and "The Big Combo" in 1955. Neither she nor her acting career ever completely recoup from the auto accident. By 1949, her three-year relationship with Humberstone was over, and in April of 1949 she married department store fur executive Edward Nicholas DuDomaine, who was fourteen years her senior; they divorced in June of 1953. DuDomaine attempted to keep her from acting. In 1955, she retired from the screen, but did make a few television appearances until 1960 in shows such as the half-hour crime series "Dragnet" and "Lockup" or in the "20 th Century-Fox Hour." From August 10-22, 1959, she did rally for a stage performance in " Once More, with Feeling " at the La Jolla Playhouse. About the same time, a group of her actress friends including Dinah Shore and Hugh O'Brien staged a benefit for her when her house burned to the ground. By this time she was struggling financially. After having a radical surgery, Helen Walker died of cancer of her jaw bone. She shares her marker with her father. Karen Lorraine Hannsberry's 2009 "Femme Noir: Bad Girls of Film" gives a factual account of her life.