Clarita Heath competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics, and at the 1937 World Championships, placed fourth in the downhill, the best finish by an American prior to World War II. Heath learned to ski while on a family trip to Kitzbühel, Austria, and she later became a ski instructor in Sun Valley. Her biggest victory came in 1942 in winning the Harriman Cup. Heath coached Ingrid Bergman for her ski scenes in the movie “Spellbound.” Heath’s first husband was William Reiter, a Navy pilot who died in the Pacific during World War II, while her second husband was Alex Bright, a top skier who was inducted into the US Ski Hall of Fame in 1959. Heath was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1968.
United States