Tempest Storm (born Annie Blanche Banks;[1] February 29, 1928 – April 20, 2021), also dubbed "The Queen Of Exotic Dancers,"[2][3] was an American burlesque star and motion picture actress.
[5] At 14, she worked as a waitress in Columbus, Georgia, where she quickly married a U.S. Marine in order to emancipate herself from her parents; she had the marriage annulled after 24 hours.
Storm said in a 1968 interview with film reviewer Roger Ebert that after six months in that marriage, "I just left one day.
A patron suggested she consider striptease as a profession, and arranged an audition with Follies Theater talent manager Lillian Hunt.
[2] Storm was a regular performer for many years at El Rey, a burlesque theater in Oakland, California, as well as at clubs around the United States, including in Las Vegas.
She was featured in numerous men's magazines and burlesque movies, including French Peep Show (1950), Paris After Midnight (1951), Striptease Girl (1952), Teaserama (1955), and Buxom Beautease (1956).
Her fourth marriage was to Herb Jeffries, film and television actor as well as a popular music and jazz singer-songwriter, known for his baritone voice, with whom she had a daughter.
Storm commented on her final two marriages thusly, "A guy marries a girl in this business and he thinks he can handle it.