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Yvonne CarloCanadian-American actress, dancer and singer
Date of Birth: 01.09.1922
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Yvonne De Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo was a Canadian-American actress, dancer, and singer. She had a successful 60-year career, with her most successful period being the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her roles as Anna-Marie in Charles Lamont's dramatic western "Salome Where She Danced" and Sephora in the adventure drama about the life of biblical Moses, "The Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston. In the 1960s, De Carlo gained a new following when she played Lily Munster in the CBS television series "The Munsters" alongside Fred Gwynne.
Early Life and Career
Margaret Yvonne Middleton was born on September 1, 1922, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As a child, she was nicknamed "Peggy." Her mother, Marie De Carlo, was an actress, and her father, William Middleton, was a salesman. When Yvonne was three years old, her father left the family, and her mother, preoccupied with new admirers, did not have time for Yvonne. She was then raised by her Sicilian grandfather, Michael De Carlo, and her Scottish grandmother, Margaret Pervis.
Yvonne discovered her talent for singing in elementary school, where she had a powerful contralto voice. However, her mother, who recognized her talent, had already decided that Yvonne would become a dancer, not a singer. As a teenager, Yvonne was brought to Hollywood by her mother. She enrolled in a dance school and attended LeConte Middle School, while her mother took on various jobs, including waitressing. When their visas expired, they had to leave Los Angeles and return to Vancouver, Canada. They then traveled through several countries before finally settling back in Canada, where they struggled to find suitable work.
Yvonne attended King Edward High School, where she continued to focus on her passion for dancing, despite being told that her body was not flexible enough for ballet. At the age of 17, Yvonne began receiving invitations to participate in musical shows and theatrical revues. It was around this time that she added her mother's maiden name to her own, becoming Yvonne De Carlo.
After declining an offer to dance topless at the "Paramont Club," Yvonne returned to the United States in 1940. She broke into the entertainment industry by joining Nils Granlund's musical show. Immigration services initially deported Yvonne back to Canada, but thanks to the efforts of the show's host, she was allowed to return to America. In 1941, the Vancouver native began her acting career, appearing in films such as "Harvard, Here I Come!", "The Kink of the Campus," and "I Look at You." Her breakthrough came in 1945 when she starred in the western film "Salome Where She Danced." Although the film received mixed reviews from critics, it was a box-office success, making Yvonne a rising star.
Rise to Fame and Later Career
In 1947, Yvonne landed her first leading role as Francesca in the action film "Slave Girl." She reached new heights in 1949 with her role as the seductive Anna Dundee in the thriller "Criss Cross." Her career began to flourish, and in 1953, she starred alongside Alec Guinness in the comedy film "The Captain's Paradise." In 1957, she appeared in the melodrama "Band of Angels" with Clark Gable. Over the next few years, Yvonne consistently appeared in movies, although many of them did not propel her career further. By the early 1960s, she was becoming forgotten, and she fell into debt and depression after her 30-year film career unexpectedly ended.
However, Yvonne experienced a "rebirth" with her role in the initially obscure comedy series "The Munsters," which soon became one of the most popular sitcoms on American television. After two years of success, "The Munsters" was replaced by the series "Batman," and even the release of the film "Munster, Go Home!" couldn't prevent its ratings decline. Yvonne continued to act in theater productions, achieving significant success on Broadway. In the film industry, she increasingly appeared in thrillers and horror films, including the horror television film "The Munsters' Revenge," based on the TV series.
From 1955 to 1968, Yvonne was married to stuntman Robert Morgan, who had his leg amputated after being hit by a train during filming in 1962. The couple had two children together. In 1993, her mother passed away, and in 1997, her son Michael died under mysterious circumstances. Yvonne suffered a stroke due to the emotional stress, but managed to recover with the help of medical professionals. Yvonne De Carlo passed away on January 8, 2007, in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 84. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring her contributions to film and television.
