Vivian Grow, 84; Pageant Winner Was B-Movie Actress

Vivian Austin Grow, 84, a B-movie leading lady whose career was cut short by health problems in the late 1940s, died of natural causes Aug. 1 in a Los Angeles hospital.

A former Miss Hollywood and Miss Los Angeles, Grow was born Vivian Coe in Hollywood in 1919. She appeared as a dancer, stunt double and bit player before being cast as the feminine lead opposite Don “Red” Barry in the 1940s Republic serial “Adventures of Red Ryder.”

As Vivian Austin under contract to Universal and as Terry Austin under contract to Eagle Lion Films, she appeared in movies such as “Trigger Trail,” “Boss of Boomtown,” “Twilight on the Prairie,” “Honeymoon Ahead,” “She Gets Her Man” and “Philo Vance’s Gamble.”

Grow nearly died of kidney failure in the late 1940s, followed by debilitating eye problems that she suffered with the rest of her life.

Her first marriage was to Beverly Hills automobile dealer Glenn Austin, who died in 1967. Her second husband, Dr. Kenneth Grow, who performed operations that improved her vision, died in 1993.