M. Isabel Draesemer was born on March 26, 1913 in San Francisco. As a young girl, Isabel loved the stage, and at age 16, won a Shakespearean contest in her local school district. But rather than move into acting, Isabel found careers in radio production and talent management. In 1938, she owned and operated Draesemer Radio Productions, writing radio scripts and teaching a course in radio broadcasting.

By 1947, she decided to become an actor's agent and founded The Isabel Draesemer Agency, where she guaranteed her place in history when she discovered a teenaged college student and a future Hollywood icon named James Byron Dean. Isabel needed to find a new face for a Pepsi ad, so she gathered up several students from UCLA and picked Dean. After encouraging him to move to New York where stage work would be more plentiful, James Dean went on to become one of Hollywood's most enduring legends.

Isabel coached a number of actors to stardom, including Hugh O'Brian, Buddy Ebsen, Joey Lawrence, Roger Perry, and Tex Terry. "I had sworn I would never marry an actor" she said, but in 1964 while coaching the career of b-movie stuntman and 'heavy' Edward Earl 'Tex' Terry, Isabel Draesemer became Isabel Terry. When Tex retired from the movie business in 1972, the couple moved to Mansfield, Indiana and then to Tex's hometown of Coxville, Indiana. Nestled in Indiana's famous Parke County with its collection of covered bridges, the Terry's owned and operated "Tex's Longhorn Tavern". Tex and Izzy enjoyed their retirement years in Coxville and were quite a popular couple in the area.

Isabel passed this life on April 1, 2002 at age 89, and joined her husband in their final resting place on the hilltop of the Coxville Cemetery.

Visit the Fairmount Indiana Historical Museum in James Dean's hometown.

 copyright 2005