THELMA WHITE, ACTRESS IN 1930S

Played Drug Peddler In 'Reefer Madness'

LOS ANGELES - Actress Thelma White, best known for playing a drug addict in
"Reefer Madness," a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film that resurfaced
decades later as a cult classic, has died. She was 94.

She died of pneumonia Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital
in Los Angeles' Woodland Hills section, her godson, Michael Homeier said.

Ms. White played a hard-boiled blond named Mae who peddles "demon weed" to
unsuspecting youths in the low-budget cautionary tale written by a
religious group about the dangers of marijuana. In the film, she lures high
school students to her apartment for sex and drugs, turning them into
hopeless addicts who shoot their girlfriends, run over pedestrians and go
insane.

A musical and comedy actress who made more than 40 movies with the likes of
W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, and others, Ms. White was horrified when RKO
studios picked her for the film. She had little choice but to accept the
role because of her contract.

"I'm ashamed to say that it's the only one of my films that's become a
classic," Ms. White, told the Los Angeles Times in a 1987 interview. "I
hide my head when I think about it . . . a dreadful film."

Born Thelma Wolpa in Lincoln, Neb., in 1910, Ms. White was a carnival
performer as a toddler, progressed to vaudeville, radio and movies, then
worked as an agent and producer for many years.