In Remembrance: Kasey Rogers

     Kasey Rogers, the actress best remembered as one of the murder victims in Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train, has passed away on June 6, 2006 in Los Angeles, CA. She was 80.

     Born Imogene Rogers on December 15, 1925 in Morehouse, MO, Rogers was nicknamed Casey – in reference to the baseball poem “Casey At The Bat” – due to her hitting ability in grade school baseball. She would later change the C to a K. As a child her family moved to Burbank, where she began acting in junior and senior high school plays. Spotted by a talent agent, she landed a screen test and ultimately a job as a contract player with Paramount Studios.

     At Paramount, Rogers had her name changed to Laura Elliott, under which she appeared in 22 films including Special Agent (1949), Girl’s School (1950), Denver And Rio Grande (1952) and About Mrs. Leslie (1954). Following the end of her Paramount contract, Rogers reverted to using her own name. She would make numerous television appearances, guest starring on a number of series. After two small roles in 1959’s Ask Any Girl and The Gunfight At Dodge City, she made her final film appearance as a lead in the 1964 drama Naked Flame.

     Rogers would go on to make her mark in two seminal 1960s televisions series- the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place and the comedy Bewitched. She also appeared in such series as Bat Masterson, Cheyenne, Maverick, Perry Mason, 77 Sunset Strip and Adam-12. In the 1970s Rogers began racing motorcycles competitively ultimately establishing a woman’s racing organization – the PowderPuffs Unlimited Riders and Racers Association – in 1974.