Chase McDonald

born: 02 February 1907 Waco, Texas, United States of America

died: 15 December 1948 Los Angeles, California, United States of America (intrathoracic tumor, age 41)

Brunette American actress. On 28 April 1928, she married Homer Van Pelt (1905-1973), a cameraman for MGM; he later had a prominent career as a still photographer. They remained together until her passing 20 years later. Chase has no occupation in the 1930 and 1940 U.S. Censuses, but her death certificate gives her occupation as inspector for a manufacturing plant. Chase Helen Van Pelt died at 11am on 15 December 1948 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been for three weeks, from an "intrathoracic tumor (type not determined)," which she had for a year and a half; an operation on 2 December 1948 revealed chronic pleuritis. She was cremated through Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Real name: Chase Helen McDonald

Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

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1926 A Punch In The Nose [?] 1927 Duck Soup Train passenger 1927 Bigger And Better Blondes Waitress 1927 Us Woman in queue (later sitting on bench) Acknowledgements: https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:M2MK-X88 (1910 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:MHYT-LPR (1920 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:K8N2-DRD (1928 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:XCD4-QXW (1930 Census #1) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:XCDC-DG5 (1930 Census #2) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:K97K-H1H (1940 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:VPQ1-B3B (CA Death Index) https://www.familysearch.org/a rk:/61903/1:1:QGF7-QFQX (death certificate) https://www.findagrave.com/mem orial/236351173 (Find a Grave) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/381482064/ (Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug 1924) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/380609217/ (Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr 1925) https://www.newspapers.com/sea rch/results/?date=1925&keyword =%22chase+mcdonald%22+%22glima %22&sort=paper-date-asc (Newspapers.com, search) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/682856131/ (Hollywood Daily Citizen, 04 May 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/380313681/ (Los Angeles Times, 28 Jul 1926) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LA EVEX19260803-02.1.24 (Los Angeles Evening Express, 03 Aug 1926) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DN LA19260902.1.4 (Illustrated Daily News [Los Angeles, CA], 02 Sep 1926) https://www.newspapers.com/sea rch/results/?date=1926&keyword =%22chase+mcdonald%22+%22jack+ riley%22&sort=paper-date-asc (Newspapers.com, search) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DN LA19270201.1.12 (Illustrated Daily News [Los Angeles, CA], 01 Feb 1927) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/380412987/ (Los Angeles Times, 01 Feb 1927) https://archive.org/details/cs crm_002026/page/n12/mode/1up? q=%22chase+mcdonald%22&view= theater (Southern Pacific Bulletin, Mar 1927) https://www.newspapers.com/new spage/700454736/ (Van Nuys News, 28 Aug 1941) https://www.newspapers.com/sea rch/results/?date-end=1948&dat e-start=1928&keyword=%22chase+ van+pelt%22®ion=us-ca&sort= paper-date-asc (Newspapers.com, search) Robert Demoss (information) Jesse Brisson (identification in Duck Soup, Bigger And Better Blondes, Us) This page was last updated on: 30 September 2025