* Helena Carter; Model, Movie Actress of 1940s and ‘50s

Helena Carter, 76, a model and actress in motion pictures of the 1940s and 1950s. Born Helen Rickerts in New York City, she began her career as a model. Adopting the name Helena Carter, she made her film debut as Dora Drake in 1947’s “Time Out of Mind” starring Eddie Albert and Leo G. Carroll. Among Carter’s motion pictures were “Intrigue,” “Something in the Wind,” “River Lady,” “South Sea Sinner,” “The Fighting O’Flynn,” “Double Crossbones,” “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” “Fort Worth,” “The Golden Hawk” and “Bugles in the Afternoon.” The vivacious redhead made her final films in 1953--”The Pathfinder,” a cinematic version of James Fenimore Cooper’s tale of 1750s Indian and French warfare in which she starred opposite George Montgomery, and the sci-fi film “Invaders From Mars” in which she had top billing as medical doctor Pat Blake. Carter retired from the screen after her marriage to Michael Meshekoff, who preceded her in death. On Jan. 11 in Culver City.