Yvonne De Carlo was born with the birth name of Peggy Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia. While some sources have her first name as Margaret, most agree it is Peggy. Yvonne was three when her father abandoned the family. Her mother turned to waitressing in a restaurant to help make ends meet. A rough beginning for an actress who would, one day, be one of Hollywood's elite.
Her mother wanted her to be in the entertainment field and enrolled her daughter in a local dance school and also 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.
When Yvonne was 15 years old, her mother gathered her up and went to Hollywood to try her fame and fortune. With no break forthcoming, the two returned to Canada.
They returned 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 three short films, all uncredited, she finally made a film for the mainstream public. Albeit a lame film, HARVARD, HERE I COME (1942), she briefly appeared as a bathing beauty. 1942 and 1943 saw her in more uncredited roles, films that really didn't set the world on fire. In DEERSLAYER (1943), she played Wah-Tah. It was a role that didn't amount to much, but was so much better than the roles she had been handed in the past. Then comes 1944.
Again the results were about the same as the previous two years. Her roles were either secretaries, companions of some one, native girls, or office clerks. Most aspiring young actresses would have given up and gone home in defeat, but not Yvonne. She trudged on.
1945 started out the same, with mostly bit parts, but later that year, Yvonne landed the title role in the film SALOME, WHERE SHE DANCED. While the critics was less than thrilled with this movie, it was, at long last, a big role, and for Universal Studios, a big success. Now Yvonne was rolling. That film was followed by FRONTIER GAL as Lorena Dumont.
After an off year in 1946, Yvonne returned to the silver screen the next year as Cara de Talavera in SONG OF SCHEHERAZADE. It seemed to most that the only thing that was worth watching in the movie was Yvonne herself. Her next film was BRUTE FORCE.
Time after time, Yvonne won leading roles in SLAVE GIRL, BLACK BART, CASBAH, and RIVER LADY. In CRISS CROSS (1949), a gangster movie where Yvonne had a big and meaty role as the ex-wife of a hoodlum.
At the start of the 1950's 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 for '52 was HURRICANE SMITH, a film most fans and critics agree, is worth forgetting about.
In 1956, Yvonne appeared in the film that would immortalize her best, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. She played Moses (Charlton Heston) wife, Sephora. The film was, unquestionably, a super smash, which is still shown on television today. Her performance as Sephora launched her into another fine role as Amantha Starr in 1957's BAND OF ANGELS.
In the late 50's and early 60's Yvonne was appearing on such TV programs as BONANZA and THE VIRGINIAN.
With film roles vanishing, she took the role of Lily Munster in the smash series THE
MUNSTERS which first aired in 1964. Still Yvonne wasn't completely through with the big screen.
Appearances in films such as THE POWER (1968), THE SEVEN MINUTES (1971), and
HOUSE OF SHADOWS (1976), kept her before the eye of the movie going public. Yvonne's last
big screen appearance was 1993's SOROITY HOUSE MURDERS. On January 8, 2007, Miss De Carlo died at the age of 84.
Some very nice Yvonne De Carlo pictures can be found below!
Yvonne Pic 1
Yvonne Pic 2
Yvonne Pic 3
Yvonne Pic 4
Yvonne Pic 5
Yvonne Pic 6
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� 1998 Denny C. Jackson dejackso@iglou.com
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