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Joanna Douglas was born on 11 April 1983 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. She is an actress, known for Crimson Peak (2015), Warehouse 13 (2009) and Saw 3D (2010). She has been married to J.K. since 2012. They have three children.- Stacey Dash was born in the Bronx, New York. Stacy knew that she wanted to act, and from an early age began to act professionally. She made regular appearances on The Cosby Show (1984), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), and also St. Elsewhere (1982). At 21 she made her feature film debut in Enemy Territory (1987), which was quickly followed by Moving (1988), in which she played Richard Pryor's teenage daughter. Four years later she was in Mo' Money (1992), with Damon Wayans. In 1994 she starred with Mark Wahlberg in Renaissance Man (1994). In 1995 she did the provocative erotic thriller Illegal in Blue (1995) and later that year got her big break when was cast as Dionne in the hit comedy Clueless (1995). She went on to star in the UPN sitcom Clueless (1996) that was based on the movie, and which lasted for two years. During that time she completed Oliver Stone's Cold Around the Heart (1997) and also the independent film Personals (1999). After leaving "Clueless" in 1999, Stacey seems to be moving along nicely. She has recently appeared in The Painting (2001) and Paper Soldiers (2002).
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Elisa's film career began when she played the role of Amber in the Paramount Pictures feature-film -Clueless (1995). She went on to play Amber for three seasons in the follow-up television series. She then went on to three seasons of the ABC and then WB TV-series Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), playing Morgan Cavanaugh. She's also had recurring roles on Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990), Judging Amy (1995-2005) , and Jack & Jill (1999-2001). Among many film roles, she was most notably featured alongside Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan in the comedy feature-film A Night at the Roxbury (1998) . And last year co-starred in the film A Golden Christmas (2009), with Andrea Roth, Nicholas Brendon, Bruce Davison and Alley Mills. Elisa stars in the indie film A Valentine's Date (2011), a romantic comedy set to be released in February of 2011. She stars opposite Emmy winner Tom Skerritt, John Schneider and Brad Rowe. Elisa also co-stars in the Warner Bros/CW web series The Lake (2009), which reunites her with 90210 pal Jason Priestley, who directs the series. Elisa begins shooting the second season in Fall 2010. Last Christmas, Elisa starred in the ABC Family movie The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009) (cable's number one program in its time slot, & was the seasons most watched cable movie in total viewers), opposite Dean Cain, Gary Valentine and Mindy Sterling. Elisa also co-stars in the sequel The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation (2010), which will air Christmas, 2010. Elisa is the star of the NBC Universal Digital Studio hit web series In Gayle We Trust (2009), created by Brent Forrester. Also a writer, Elisa premiered her one-woman show, "Sweet Dreams" - which she is now developing into a book - in 2008 at The Geffen Playhouse, LA. Elisa's piece Already Perfect was published in Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul II, and she regularly works as a mentor with young women who have eating disorders. Originally from Northport, Long Island, Elisa grew up studying acting, dance and photography, as well as riding horses competitively. She graduated from The New School University in NYC, where she studied dramatic literature, acting and writing. She lives in Los Angeles.
In 2021, Elisa's first book, "Wake Me When You Leave", was published by Llewellyn Worldwide and Penguin Randomhouse Audio. The book is in development as a film which will be her directorial debut.- Actress
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Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother named Christian Dunst, born in 1987. Her father is German, from Hamburg, and her mother, who is American, is of German and Swedish descent.
Her career began at the age of 3 when she started modeling and appearing in commercials. She made her feature film debut with an uncredited role at age 6 in the 'Oedipus Wrecks' segment of Woody Allen's 1989 film New York Stories (1989). She received her first film credit in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990). Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where her film career took off.
In 1994, she made her breakthrough performance in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), alongside such stars as Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, the MTV Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress. In 1995, she was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Over the next few years, she made a string of hit movies including Little Women (1994), Jumanji (1995) and Small Soldiers (1998).
In 2000, she received rave reviews for her role as "Lux Lisbon" in Sofia Coppola's independent film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) and proved her status as a leading actress in the comedy hit, Bring It On (2000). She also graduated from Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles in June of that year.
In 2002, she landed one of her best known roles as Peter Parker's love interest, Mary Jane Watson, in Spider-Man (2002). She continued her role in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
She went on to land roles in such films as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), and in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown (2005). She also played the title character in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006).
Dunst won the Best Actress Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Justine in Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011). In 2012, she appeared in Walter Salles' film adaptation of On the Road (2012) and the independent comedy Bachelorette (2012). She also has several films in production, including The Two Faces of January (2014).
Her charity work includes designing a necklace to raise funds for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as well as supporting various cancer charities.- Actress
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Eliza Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Judith (Rasmussen), a political science professor, and Philip R. Dushku, a teacher and administrator. Her father is Albanian and her mother is American (of Danish, Irish, English, and German descent). She was discovered at the end of a five-month search throughout the United States for the perfect girl to play the lead role of Alice opposite Juliette Lewis in the film That Night (1992). Since then, she has been in several films and has worked with actors such as Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Reiser, and Jim Belushi. Born in Boston on December 30, 1980, she has studied the piano, drums, and several types of dance (jazz, tap, and ballet). Her previous acting experience includes numerous amateur presentations at the Watertown Children's Theater where she was part of the company since she was in the first grade. In addition to acting, she is sometimes seen on stage at the Children's Theater signing for the deaf.- Alisen Down was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. After graduating high school, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California and from there went to England to study with the British American Academy in Oxford.
Since then has had lead, recurring and guest star roles on several Television series and movies, such as "Cold Squad" for which she won both a Leo and a Gemini award, "DaVinci's Inquest", "The Dead Zone", "Stargate SG-1" and "Stargate Universe", "Smallville", "Flashpoint", "Shattered", "The 'L' Word","The Life" for which she was nominated for another Gemini, "The Killing", "Murdoch Mysteries", CBC's "Cracked", R.L. Stein's "The Haunting Hour", "Lost Girl" as Trick's Wife, 'Isabeau', and "Supernatural" among many others. She also had a two year run on "Mysterious Ways" as 'Miranda' for NBC and PAX which earned her a Leo nomination and recurred for 2 seasons on "Battlestar Galactica" as 'Jean Barolay'. Alisen starred for three years in "Robson Arms" as 'Sault Ste. Marie', a character that was nominated for another two Leos. Alisen was a series lead in Fox's highly anticipated "Gracepoint" and starred for 4 seasons on SyFy's "12 Monkeys", recently named a "show you should be watching" by Entertainment Weekly. - Actress
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CSA Best Actress nominee Romina D'Ugo is a first-generation Canadian, and proud daughter to Italian immigrant parents. Originally from Toronto, Romina grew up dancing competitively and professionally since the age of 9. Her career as an actor began with her supporting role in the Universal Pictures film How She Move. She became a household name when she earned a spot as one of the Top 20 dancers on season 1 of the hugely popular series So You Think You Can Dance.
Lead, Supporting, and Guest Starring roles include Funkytown opposite Justin Chatwin, Godfather of Harlem (EPIX), Coyote (Paramount), Designated Survivor (NBC/Netflix), 12 Monkeys (SYFY/NBC), Rookie Blue (ABC/Global), Nikita (CW), Nurses (NBC/Global), and Law & Order: SVU (NBC).
Notably, Romina was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Canadian Screen Awards for her starring role in the movie Turn The Beat Around in 2010. She also choreographed for Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne in the DC Comics feature film Suicide Squad.
Romina went on to star in the internationally acclaimed dramatic comedy I Like Movies, which made its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews.
She has most recently completed production for the sardonic feature film Sacred Creatures; a co-Italian production in Chieri, Italy (starring opposite Olivia Luccardi, Tony award nominee James Cusati-Moyer, and Italian star Antonio De Matteo), set to run the 2024 film festival circuit this Summer/Fall.- Actress
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Courtney Deelen is an award winning director, actor and producer based in Toronto, Canada. A Norfolk County native with a degree in Musical Theatre Performance who was once a famed Dawson City Gertie Girl and now Co-Founder of DEELEN with TROUBLE, Inc. Her latest short film, The Last of Ian Campbell premiered at the Oscar and BAFTA qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival and was recently acquired by CBC for distribution. You can now stream it via CBC Gem.
Courtney is a proud member of both ACTRA Toronto and the CMPA, who's on-screen credits include: Good Witch, Suits, Murdoch Mysteries, Becoming Burlesque, Reign and 12 Monkeys. She had the pleasure of co-producing the acclaimed CFC's Actors Conservatory Showcase in 2018, is a faculty member of St. Clair College's Music Theatre Performance program, a grant recipient of the Ontario Arts Council, and a finalist of both the Cayle Chernin Awards ( 2018 / 2021 ) and the 2019 TAWC short film creation lab.
While not juggling dog-mom duties to her boys Gus and Moose, Courtney is busy developing her feature film, and 9-episode web-series through her production company, DwT.- Actress
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Maria de Medeiros is the oldest of three daughters by the pianist, maestro and composer António Vitorino D'Almeida and Maria Armanda Esteves. Her sisters are Inês de Medeiros, stage actress and film and stage director and Ana Medeiros, violinist, composer, and music teacher.
Studied at Lycée Français Charles Le Pierre, Lisbon, and when she was 15 years old, she acted in her father's movie, Silvestre. Went to Paris in 1984, aiming to take a college degree in the Beaux Arts, and ended by taking Philosophy, and Drama instead, at the National Schools of Arts and Theatre Techniques.
Lived and filmed in Portugal, and abroad, then she returned to Paris, where she is established since 1987. She married a Catalonian (Spain), and has two daughters. She acquired the French nationality because of her children, and because she has a French culture as well as a Portuguese one. She is fluent in Portuguese, French, English, German, Italian and Spanish.- Actress
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Holly Deveaux (born in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actress with documentary film-maker parents. She was determined to be an actor since a very young age, and at thirteen finally began auditioning and securing roles. Throughout high school, Deveaux worked on a series of projects. 'Victoria Day' was her first leading film role, premiering at Sundance Film Festival. Following that, she secured the lead role of the Family Channel TV Show 'Baxter'.
Deveaux then went on to have leading roles in series such as Netflix's 'Hemlock Grove', CTV's 'Spun Out', HBO's 'Less than Kind', and many more. Her next independent film, 'Big Muddy', premiered to positive reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her performance in the Emmy-nominated television film 'The Phantoms' garnered praise from The Globe and Mail's John Doyle, who remarked: "Outstanding is Deveaux as Tess, the most complex and troubled of the teenagers. Deveaux (last seen in Less Than Kind) is luminous, her pale face subtly registering every hurt, every worry and every insult that comes her way..."
Since then, Deveaux has secured a series of roles and continues to work in Canada and the US, most recently on CBS's 'Macgyver' and Hulu's 'Future Man', where she played the role of Marilyn Monroe.
Her hobbies include acting, horseback riding, and reading. She also coaches kids and teenagers through LB Acting Studio in Toronto, Ontario, and is determined to help young actors and their parents feel secure and in-control while they navigate entertainment industry.- Actress
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Bebe Daniels already had toured as an actor by the age of four in a stage production of "Richard III". She had her first leading role at the age of seven and started her film career shortly after this in movies for Imperial, Pathe and others. At 14 she was already a film veteran, and was enlisted by Hal Roach to star as Harold Lloyd's leading lady in his "Lonesome Luke" shorts, distributed by Pathe. Lloyd fell hard for Bebe and seriously considered marrying her, but her drive to pursue a film career along with her sense of independence clashed with Lloyd's Victorian definition of a wife. The two eventually broke up but would remain lifelong friends. Bebe was sought out for stardom by Cecil B. DeMille, who literally pestered her into signing with Paramount. Unlike many actors, the arrival of sound posed no problem for her; she had a beautiful singing voice and became a major musical star, with such hits as Rio Rita (1929) and 42nd Street (1933). In 1930 she married Ben Lyon, with whom she went to England in the mid-'30s, where she became a successful West End stage star. She and her husband also had their own radio show in London, and became the most popular radio team in the country--especially during World War II, when they refused to return to the US and stayed in London, broadcasting even during the worst of the "blitz".
They later appeared in several British films together as their radio characters. Her final film was one in that series, The Lyons Abroad (1955).- Actress
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A prominent German film actress born on 30 September 1887 at Madiven, Java, the daughter of a forest ranger in the service of the Dutch authorities. Sent at the age of ten to Baden-Baden to study, she later entered the cinema thanks to her marriage in 1917 to the actor Fritz Dagover who was 25 years her senior. They divorced in 1919 but not before he had introduced her to director Robert Wiene and other notables of German cinema. She made her screen debut in Fritz Lang's Harakiri (1919). Immediately after she appeared in Wiene's classic expressionist film, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (aka The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)). Apart from three trips -- one to Sweden in 1927, another to France in 1928-9 and one to Hollywood in 1931 -- most of Lil Dagover's career and fate was linked to that of the German cinema, where her role was usually that of the frail, menaced heroine. She continued to star in a great number of films during the Nazi era. Among her best performances were her roles in Congress Dances (1931), in Gerhard Lamprecht's The Higher Command (1935) and in Veit Harlan's The Kreutzer Sonata (1937). She also acted in the Deutsches Theatre Berlin, the Salzburg Festival, at forces shows and at war theaters. At one time, she was reported to have been a close friend of Adolf Hitler. In 1944, she received the War Merits Cross. Dagover continued her career in post-war Germany, playing many supporting parts until the late 1970s.- Mildred Davis was born on 22 February 1898 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for A Sailor-Made Man (1921), Safety Last! (1923) and Dr. Jack (1922). She was married to Harold Lloyd. She died on 18 August 1969 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
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Kat Dennings was born Katherine Victoria Litwack in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, to Ellen (Schatz), a speech therapist and poet, and Gerald Litwack, a molecular pharmacologist. She is the youngest of five children. Her family is of Russian Jewish descent. Kat was predominantly home-schooled, graduating at the age of fourteen. Her family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California to support Kat acting full-time.
After work doing commercials, she began work in television, starting with a role on HBO's Sex and the City (1998), following up with roles on Raising Dad (2001), The Scream Team (2002), Everwood (2002), Without a Trace (2002) and ER (1994), among others.
Kat made the move to the big screen with supporting roles in Raise Your Voice (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Big Momma's House 2 (2006). She later achieved a level of fame with roles in The House Bunny (2008) and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).
Kat continues to act in feature films and is an avid video blogger. Since 2011, she has starred with Beth Behrs in the CBS television series 2 Broke Girls (2011).- Actress
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Geraldine Dvorak was born on 1 January 1904 in Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for No Limit (1931), The Story of Mr. Hobbs (1947) and Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950). She died on 25 April 1985 in Orange County, California, USA.- Actress
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Her father was a police lieutenant and imbued in her a military attitude to life. Marlene was known in school for her "bedroom eyes" and her first affairs were at this stage in her life - a professor at the school was terminated. She entered the cabaret scene in 1920s Germany, first as a spectator then as a cabaret singer. In 1923, she married and, although she and Rudolf Sieber lived together only 5 years, they remained married until his death. She was in over a dozen silent films in increasingly important roles. In 1929, she was seen in a Berlin cabaret by Josef von Sternberg and, after a screen test, captured the role of the cabaret singer in The Blue Angel (1930) (and became von Sternberg's lover). With the success of this film, von Sternberg immediately took her to Hollywood, introducing her to the world in Morocco (1930), and signing an agreement to produce all her films. A series of successes followed, and Marlene became the highest paid actress of her time, but her later films in the mid-part of the decade were critical and popular failures. She returned to Europe at the end of the decade, with a series of affairs with former leading men (she had a reputation of romancing her co-stars), as well as other prominent artistic figures. In 1939, an offer came to star with James Stewart in a western and, after initial hesitation, she accepted. The film was Destry Rides Again (1939) - the siren of film could also be a comedienne and a remarkable comeback was reality. She toured extensively for the allied effort in WW II (she had become a United States citizen) and, after the war, limited her cinematic life. But a new career as a singer and performer appeared, with reviews and shows in Las Vegas, touring theatricals, and even Broadway. New success was accompanied by a too close acquaintance with alcohol, until falls in her performance eventually resulted in a compound fracture of the leg. Although the last 13 years of her life were spent in seclusion in her apartment in Paris, with the last 12 years in bed, she had withdrawn only from public life and maintained active telephone and correspondence contact with friends and associates.- Actress
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Dana DeLorenzo was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio and showed an innate love of comedy and performance at an early age. At age 3 she made up knock-knock jokes and recorded them on her Fischer-Price tape recorder solely to listen back and make herself laugh. At some point she started doing impressions. She landed her first paying gig at 11 yrs old performing Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First" with her younger brother in a weekly variety show.
DeLorenzo graduated from DePaul University in Chicago and soon after became an on-air personality and producer on The Mancow Show. She continued to perform in various theater productions around Chicago, and in 2008 formed an Amy Winehouse tribute band called House of Winehouse. The band performed at various festivals and venues including Pridefest Milwaukee and House of Blues Chicago. DeLorenzo garnered international acclaim for her uncanny portrayal of the singer, including a feature in The Chicago Tribune and was voted Best Tribute Band by The Chicago Reader in 2010.
Later that year DeLorenzo moved to Los Angeles, and soon after appeared in various TV shows (Californication, Workaholics, 2 Broke Girls) and films (A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas, The Mad Ones). She gained attention with her first recurring role on television playing Beth the CBS Executive on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. DeLorenzo returned to the stage to perform in the original LA production of The Best of Craigslist Live! and in sold-out tours in Chicago at The Royal George Theatre as well as the prestigious Joe's Pub in New York City. DeLorenzo continued down the comedy road and returned to doing impressions on PopTV's Impress Me opposite Ross Marquand (The Walking Dead).
DeLorenzo's breakout role came when she was cast alongside Bruce Campbell in the horror-comedy series Ash Vs. Evil Dead, a continuation of the cult-classic movie trilogy The Evil Dead written and directed by Sam Raimi. DeLorenzo won the approval of fans and critics alike originating the role of Kelly Maxwell, the foul-mouthed demon-slaying sidekick to the show's titular anti-hero. Her performance in the series nabbed her back-to-back nominations for a Fangoria Chainsaw Award and an iHorror Award nomination for Best Actress in a Horror Series. In 2018 DeLorenzo was the recipient of the Artemis Women in Action Next Wave award.
Since wrapping the final season of Ash Vs. Evil Dead, DeLorenzo had another dream come true when she landed a guest-starring role on the reboot of Will & Grace. She later recurred in the critically-acclaimed series Perpetual Grace, LTD., and won over audiences playing Kat Dennings' Jersey-Italian sister Barbra in the female-driven comedy Friendsgiving. DeLorenzo also was an associate producer and played a the role of Mandy in the dark comedy indie, The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood, and had a guest starring role on Tacoma FD.
DeLorenzo crossed more off her bucket list when she lent her vocal talents to various animated projects, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, King Tweety, and the Netflix animated children's series, Ask The StoryBots. DeLorenzo was thrilled to have the opportunity to vocally reprise her role of Kelly Maxwell along with star Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead: The Game.- Allison Dunbar was born on 31 July 1972. She is an actress, known for StartUp (2016), Quick Draw (2013) and 2 Broke Girls (2011). She has been married to Ron Perlman since June 2022. She was previously married to Sean O'Donnell.
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In a situation that closely recalls the Fannie Hurst story "Imitation of Life" in which a girl strives to pass for white, beautiful light-skinned African-American actress/singer/dancer/bandleader Dona (pronounced "dough-nuh") Drake, for the sake of her career, denied her heritage and passed for white (in her case Mexican) for the duration of it. While it did not make her a true star, her zesty talents and charm went a long way in the field of war-time music. Unlike the story, Dona, however, did not abandon her parents or deny her parentage.
Dona was born Eunice (nicknamed "Una") Westmoreland in Jacksonville (some references say Miami), Florida, on November 15, 1914, of African-American parents (Joseph Andrew Westmoreland and Novella Smith Westmoreland). A gifted child musically, her father moved his family and later opened a restaurant in Philadelphia. Five year old Eunice started to perform and play musical instruments there as entertainment. Following schooling, she moved to the Big Apple where (billed as Una Villon) she caught the fetching eye of Broadway and nightclub talent ("Murder at the Vanities" (1930)) and worked as various chorines on stage, nightclubs and Earl Carroll revues. Claiming she was Latino, she even went so far as to learn Spanish.
In 1935 Dona changed her name to Rita Rio to emphasize her "ethnicity" and spiced up her image even further when she earned a featured spot in Eddie Cantor's film Strike Me Pink (1936). While it did not lead to more film work, it did enable her to form her own glitzy and glamorous all-girl band, Rita Rio and Her Rhythm Girls [aka The Girlfriends], which toured successfully.
On her own, Dona did a few short films and two-reelers, sang on the airwaves and revved up her image signing on radio. Good friend Dorothy Lamour assisted in getting her signed up to Paramount, where the studio changed her name to "Dona Drake" and built up her Latino background by sending out studio resumes that she was christened Rita Novella, was of Mexican, Irish and French descent and born and raised in Mexico City. Dona's first picture for the studio was in the Dorothy Lamour vehicle Aloma of the South Seas (1941). She then pepped up the Bob Hope starrer Louisiana Purchase (1941) as well as an Arab girl in the Hope/Crosby/Lamour comedy Road to Morocco (1942). Unable to break out of her typecasting as a spicy singing support, her contract was dropped after a sparkling big band singing lead loanout to Monogram entitled Hot Rhythm (1944). Around this time she married the Oscar- and Emmy-winning costume designer William Travilla.
Dona freelanced in Without Reservations (1946), co-starred with Kent Taylor in Dangerous Millions (1946) and was featured in Another Part of the Forest (1948) (as a girlfriend to weaselly Dan Duryea), Beyond the Forest (1949) (as Bette Davis' Indian maid), The Girl from Jones Beach (1949) (as Eddie Bracken's paramour) and as the gold-digging second lead in So This Is New York (1948). After her marriage and a daughter, Nia Novella, was born, she toned down her filmmaking but returned in the mid-1950s to some film and TV parts before retiring in 1957 due to health and emotional issues (heart ailment, seizures/epilepsy). She and Travilla separated in 1956, but never divorced and still appeared together at functions on occasion. Dona died of pneumonia and respiratory failure in 1989 with Travilla dying one year later.- Actress
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Yvonne De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was three when her father abandoned the family. Her mother turned to waitressing in a restaurant to make ends meet--a rough beginning for an actress who would, one day, be one of Hollywood's elite. Yvonne's mother wanted her to be in the entertainment field and enrolled her in a local dance school and also saw that she studied dramatics. Yvonne was not shy in the least. She was somewhat akin to Colleen Moore who, like herself, entertained the neighborhood with impromptu productions. In 1937, when Yvonne was 15, her mother took her to Hollywood to try for fame and fortune, but nothing came of it and they returned to Canada. They came back to Hollywood in 1940, where Yvonne would dance in chorus lines at night while she checked in at the studios by day in search of film work. After appearing in unbilled parts in three short films, she finally got a part in a feature.
Although the film Harvard, Here I Come! (1941) was quite lame, Yvonne glowed in her brief appearance as a bathing beauty. The rest of 1942 and 1943 saw her in more uncredited roles in films that did not quite set Hollywood on fire. In The Deerslayer (1943), she played Wah-Tah. The role did not amount to much, but it was much better than the ones she had been handed previously. The next year was about the same as the previous two years. She played small parts as either secretaries, someone's girlfriend, native girls or office clerks. Most aspiring young actresses would have given up and gone home in defeat, but not Yvonne. She trudged on. The next year, started out the same, with mostly bit parts, but later that year, she landed the title role in Salome, Where She Danced (1945) for Universal Pictures. While critics were less than thrilled with the film, it was at long last her big break, and the film was a success for Universal. Now she was rolling.
Her next film was the western comedy Frontier Gal (1945) as Lorena Dumont. After a year off the screen in 1946, she returned in 1947 as Cara de Talavera in Song of Scheherazade (1947), and many agreed that the only thing worth watching in the film was Yvonne. Her next film was the highly regarded Burt Lancaster prison film Brute Force (1947). Time after time, Yvonne continued to pick up leading roles, in such pictures as Slave Girl (1947), Black Bart (1948), Casbah (1948) and River Lady (1948). She had a meaty role in Criss Cross (1949), a gangster movie, as the ex-wife of a hoodlum. At the start of the 1950s, Yvonne enjoyed continued success in lead roles. Her talents were again showcased in movies such as The Desert Hawk (1950), Silver City (1951) and Scarlet Angel (1952). Her last film in 1952 was Hurricane Smith (1952), a picture most fans and critics agree is best forgotten.
In 1956, she appeared in the film that would immortalize her best, The Ten Commandments (1956). She played Sephora, the wife of Moses (Charlton Heston). The film was, unquestionably, a super smash, and is still shown on television today. Her performance served as a springboard to another fine role, this time as Amantha Starr in Band of Angels (1957). In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Yvonne appeared on such television series as Bonanza (1959) and The Virginian (1962). With film roles drying up, she took the role of Lily Munster in the smash series The Munsters (1964). However, she still was not completely through with the big screen. Appearances in such films as McLintock! (1963), The Power (1968), The Seven Minutes (1971) and La casa de las sombras (1976) kept her before the eyes of the movie-going public. Yvonne De Carlo died at age 84 of natural causes on January 8, 2007 in Woodland Hills, California.- Actress
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Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born on July 23, 1925 in Los Angeles to vaudeville headliners Carter and Flora DeHaven. Her parents made sure their daughter would be educated at the very best private schools. They also indulged her ambition to be in show business by packing her off to the Mar-Ken Professional School in Hollywood (1940-42). Diminutive of stature and dark-haired, budding musical star Gloria (her nickname then was "Glo") enjoyed collecting perfume, reading (her favorite author being Daphne Du Maurier) and listening to the big bands (particularly Tommy Dorsey). With her father's help (who was assistant director and a friend of Charles Chaplin) she finagled her first movie appearance -- an uncredited bit part in Modern Times (1936). Her first visible role was in the George Cukor-directed Susan and God (1940). A contemporary newspaper article quipped that the winsome lass was "a backstage baby, never a child star".
First and foremost, Gloria concentrated on her singing career. She developed her own nightclub act over the years and also enjoyed considerable success as a solo vocalist with the orchestras of Bob Crosby, Jan Savitt and Muzzy Marcellino. It was her singing which prompted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to sign her under contract in 1940. During the following decade she made decent strides as a soubrette and was regularly featured as second lead in cheerful light musicals. The pick of the bunch were Thousands Cheer (1943), Step Lively (1944) (on loan to RKO, giving Frank Sinatra his first screen kiss), Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Summer Stock (1950) (a typical role, as sister to the nominal star, in this case Judy Garland) and Three Little Words (1950) (in which she played her own mother, Flora Parker DeHaven, singing the Ruby & Kalmar standard "Who's Sorry Now?"). New York Times critic Bosley Crowther commented in in June 1944: "It's a toss-up between June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven as to which is the lovelier girl. Both sing and dance with springtime crispness and have such form and grace as are divine." Always a popular pin-up with American servicemen in World War II, Gloria was featured on the cover of 'Yank' magazine that very same month.
Gloria never quite managed to get first tier assignments and her career waned as musicals ceased to be a bankable commodity. In the early 1950s she attempted stronger dramatic roles but with only moderate success. By 1955, she had wisely turned to the stage for occasional appearances on Broadway. As late as 1989 she sang in cabaret at the Rainbow & Stars in New York. There was also a screen comeback of sorts with recurring roles in the soap operas Ryan's Hope (1975), As the World Turns (1956) and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976). She was one of the numerous celebrities who appeared in box office bomb Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and guest-starred on television series, such as Gunsmoke (1955), Mannix (1967), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), The Love Boat (1977), Fantasy Island (1977), Hart to Hart (1979), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Touched by an Angel (1994).
After a long absence, Gloria returned to motion pictures and scored a hit as Jack Lemmon's love interest in the romantic comedy Out to Sea (1997). She died of a stroke in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 30, 2016, one week after her 91st birthday.- Actress
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Megan Davis is known for Hot Take: The Depp/Heard Trial (2022), American Horror Story (2011) and Bones (2005).- Actress
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Danielle Darrieux was born in 1917 in Bordeaux, France, to Marie-Louise (Witkowski) and Germain Jean Darrieux, a physician. She was raised in Paris. She was only fourteen when she auditioned for a secondary role in Le bal (1931): she got the part, and the producer offered her a five-year contract. She had her first romantic lead in La crise est finie (1934) and scored an international hit with the historical drama Mayerling (1936) in which she played Marie Vetsera opposite Charles Boyer. In 1938, she went to Hollywood to appear in the fine comedy The Rage of Paris (1938) but quickly returned to Paris.
Darrieux remained in France during the Occupation and was one of the leading actresses during this period, starring in major hits such as Premier Rendez-Vous (1941). In 1945, she appeared both on stage (in "Tristan et Isolde") and on screen (in Au petit bonheur (1946)). In the next three decades, she found several important roles, in films like La Ronde (1950), The Earrings of Madame De... (1953) -- in which she gave her best performance, as a society lady torn between her husband and her lover -- and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
In 1970, she replaced Katharine Hepburn on Broadway in "Coco." Afterwards, she made occasional screen and stage appearances. But she made a triumphant comeback in 2002, playing Catherine Deneuve's mother in the international hit 8 Women (2002).
She died on October 17, 2017 in Bois-le-Roi, Eure, France. She was 100.- Dora Doll was born on 19 May 1922 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Touchez pas au grisbi (1954), Maniac Killer (1987) and The Young Lions (1958). She was married to François Deguelt and Raymond Pellegrin. She died on 15 November 2015 in Nîmes, Gard, France.
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India de Beaufort was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Run Fatboy Run (2007), Slumberland (2022) and Kimi (2022). She has been married to Todd Grinnell since 29 August 2015. They have one child.