A pre-Lillian Munster De Carlo
Posted on 01/10/2007 4:44:22 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj
'Munsters' Television Star Yvonne De Carlo Dies at 84 Famous actress Yvonne De Carlo has died at age 84. De Carlo was famous as Lily on the TV show The Munsters as well as Moses' wife in the movie The Ten Commandments. De Carlo passed away from natural causes in Los Angeles on Monday. De Carlo is survived by two children named Bruce and Bari.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Famous actress Yvonne De Carlo has died at age 84. De Carlo was famous as Lily on the TV show The Munsters as well as Moses' wife in the movie The Ten Commandments. De Carlo passed away from natural causes in Los Angeles on Monday. De Carlo is survived by two children named Bruce and Bari.
Yvonne De Carlo ( born Peggy Yvonne Middleton ) ( September 1, 1922 - January 8, 2007 ) was a Canadian-born American film and television actress, best known for her role as "Lily Munster" on the 1964-1966 CBS television series The Munsters.
The daughter of an ambitious but unsuccessful aspiring actress of Italian descent, Peggy Yvonne Middleton was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was taken to Hollywood at the age of fifteen by her mother. She was "Miss Venice Beach" 1938. Unable to find work, they returned to Canada until 1940, when they once again traveled to Hollywood. De Carlo supported herself working in a chorus while trying to find film work. She made her first film appearance in 1941, but could only find bit parts for the next few years.
She was a Paramount starlet but the studio apparently signed her mainly for her slight resemblance to Dorothy Lamour as it was common then for studios to sign lookalikes in order to remind the stars in question that they easily could be replaced should their behavior become difficult or their box-office appeal begin to wane. When she moved to Universal studios, she was utilized as a B-movie version of Maria Montez, one of the studio's reigning divas.
Her professional name, Yvonne De Carlo, was a combination of her middle name and her mother's maiden name.
Film career
Her break came in 1945 playing the title role in Salome, Where She Danced. Though not a critical success it was a box office favorite and De Carlo was hailed as an up and coming star. Of the role, she was less sure, saying of her entrance, "I came through these beaded curtains, wearing a Japanese kimono and a Japanese headpiece, and then performed a Siamese dance. Nobody seemed to know quite why."
In 1947 she played her first leading role in Slave Girl and then in 1949 had her biggest success. As the female lead opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, she played a femme fatale, and her career began to ascend. The 1957 film Band of Angels featured her opposite Clark Gable in an American Civil War story, along with Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
For the next several years, she was constantly working although many of the films failed to advance her career.
Cast in The Ten Commandments ( 1956 ) in a leading role ( as Zipporah, Moses' wife ), De Carlo was part of a major hit. The film was a huge success and De Carlo was among those to be praised for her restrained work.
The Munsters
However, her most famous role that led her to pop culture legacy is of Lily Munster in the cult television series The Munsters ( 1964-1966 ), which allowed De Carlo to demonstrate a comic flair that her films had failed to utilize.
Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.
Other entertainment activities
DeCarlo performed on Broadway, notably in the role of Carlotta Campion, introducing the song "I'm Still Here" in the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, of which show she was the last lead female performer to die ( having been predeceased by Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Fifi D'Orsay and Ethel Shutta ).
Trained in opera and a former chorister when she was a child in Vancouver, De Carlo possessed a powerful contralto voice and released an LP of standards called Yvonne De Carlo Sings in 1957. She sang and played the harp on at least one episode of The Munsters.
She also received recognition for her work in various low-budget horror movies, such as The Power, The Seven Minutes, House of Shadows, Sorority House Murders, Cellar Dweller, Mirror, Mirror, Blazing Stewardesses, and American Gothic.
De Carlo worked steadily in both film and television, playing her most recent role in the television production of The Barefoot Executive ( 1995 ).
Personal life
She was married to the stuntman Robert Morgan from 1955 to 1968, when they divorced; they had two sons, Bruce and Michael. Morgan had a daughter, Bari, from a previous marriage. De Carlo was a naturalized citizen of the United States. In her autobiography, published in 1987, she listed 22 lovers, including Aly Khan, Billy Wilder, Burt Lancaster, Howard Hughes, Robert Stack, and Robert Taylor.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.
Credit ( Biography ) Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_De_Carlo
A pre-Lillian Munster De Carlo
That's sad.
She was very pretty.
Morticia was hotter.
Mods, why was this moved to chat ? This is news.
see:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1765516/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1765466/posts
Why the hell were these articles all moved to chat, and not a single one in the main forum ? I don't bother searching that no-mans-land of chat. I'd not have bothered if something were up already, sheesh.
She was T3h H4wt.
Rest in peace.
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