John Trent, a darkly handsome aviator-turned-actor-turned-aviator, is best known for starring in the "Tailspin Tommy" adventure movies during the 1930s.
Born LaVerne Browne on December 5, 1906, in Orange, California, he initially pursued a career in law, attending the University of Southern California (USC) and completing his law studies before switching to attend the Hancock School of Aeronautics and flying school.
As a commercial pilot for TWA, he was noticed by a Paramount executive, who offered him a screen test. Trent was put on contract, given the moniker "John Trent," and began his acting career with a stipulation that TWA would keep him on reserve in case his acting career didn't work out.
Despite having no training and few natural instincts in acting, Trent started off slowly in bit parts, gradually growing in visibility but remaining overlooked in most second-lead or supporting "B" movie roles.
Paramount cast him opposite Ann Dvorak in the comedy She's No Lady (1937),but he proved to be a rather wooden leading man.
Monogram Pictures gave him the green light to star in four films based on the comic strip aviator "Tailspin Tommy," co-starring Marjorie Reynolds and Milburn Stone.
Trent was a natural for the part of the obsessed youthful pilot, and the four films he starred in for Monogram were Mystery Plane (1939),Stunt Pilot (1939),Sky Patrol (1939),and Danger Flight (1939).
However, his wooden performances in other films sealed his fate, and he eventually went behind the scenes as a flight instructor in Monogram's Wolf Call (1939) and Paramount's I Wanted Wings (1941),before returning to civilian life as LaVerne Browne.
Married to wife Marian since 1933, they had one daughter, Barbara. Trent died on May 12, 1966, at the age of 59, due to cancer in a Torrance, California hospital.
