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Yvonne DeCarlo
Yvonne DeCarlo was born Peggy Yvonne Middleton in
Vancouver, British Columbia on September 1, 1922. Her father
abandoned the family in 1925; afterward, DeCarlo's mother worked as
a waitress to support the family. Nonetheless, she took great
interest in her daughter's budding talents as a dancer. In the late
1930's, DeCarlo and her mother made their way to Hollywood. Soon,
DeCarlo found work as a chorus girl, and began making the rounds at
casting calls, trying to get into the movies.
By the time she celebrated her 19th
birthday, she had begun landing small film roles, first at Columbia
Studios and then Paramount. She appeared in about 20 films between
1941 and 1944, but only in small roles and bit parts. DeCarlo had to
wait four years for her breakthrough role in the 1945
Universal Studios Technicolor film Salome, Where She Danced.
Finally, at Universal, she found success and meaty film roles. Her
next big role was in 1947's Song of Scheherazade.
DeCarlo's career picked up when Maria Montez left Hollywood behind,
but unfortunately, DeCarlo found herself typecast in costume epics
and musicals that were quickly losing favor among movie-going
audiences. Her starring role in the 1948 western Black Bart
helped DeCarlo bridge the gap between costume dramas and the western
genre, although she portrays an exotic European beauty, much as she
had in earlier roles.
DeCarlo's success in Black Bart
helped change her image, so much so that she soon became typecast in
westerns. Throughout the 1950s, she made scores of westerns,
including Tomahawk (1951), Silver City (1951), and Shotgun
(1955). And she even appeared in the pilot episode of the
TV series Bonanza in 1959. Probably her best remembered
role in the 1950s was in The Ten Commandments (1956) as
Sephora. In addition to her acting career, DeCarlo released
several albums in the 1950s, highlighting her pleasant singing voice
which she had previously showcased in her 1940s musicals.
DeCarlo married actor and stuntman
Robert Morgan in 1955. Morgan appeared with DeCarlo in Death
of a Scoundrel (1956), and he also acted in at least one
episode of The Munsters. With the birth of her two sons in the late
1950s, she cooled her acting career, taking on only a few guest
roles on television shows such as Bonanza. By 1963, she was once
again active in Hollywood, making a couple of films before being
cast as 'Lily Munster' in the CBS-TV series The Munsters.
After The Munsters ceased production
in the spring of 1966, most of the cast members reunited for the
theatrical release Munster, Go Home!. DeCarlo then went back to
westerns, acting in Hostile Guns (1967) and
Arizona Bushwhackers (1968). But after DeCarlo's divorce
from Robert Morgan in 1968, she took a few years off, not
resurfacing until 1971, when she was cast in the Broadway musical
Follies with Alexis Smith and Gene Nelson. That same year, she
returned to the silver screen in two films, The Seven Minutes
and The Delta Factor. Since the early 1970s, however,
DeCarlo's screen appearances have been more sporadic in nature. Her
last film appearance was in the 1993 film The Sorority House
Murders, and her last TV appearance was in the made-for-TV
film Here Come the Munsters in 1995.
Actress Yvonne De Carlo, dressed for
her role as Lily Munster in the film "Munster, Go Home," poses in
her car in the parking lot outside Universal Studios on March 25,
1966. De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in "The
Ten Commandments" but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's
slapstick comedy "The Munsters," died Monday, Jan. 8, 2007, in
suburban Los Angeles. She was 84. (AP Photo/Mike Smith)
Yvonne
DeCarlo Movies: The Barefoot Executive (1995) Here Come the
Munsters (1995) Mirror, Mirror (1991) Cellar Dweller (1988) American
Gothic (1987) Bad Girls in the Movies (1986) Play Dead (1986)
Vultures (1983) The Munsters' Revenge (1981) Nocturna (1981) House
of Shadows (1980) Guyana, Cult of the Damned (1980) Satan's
Cheerleaders (1977) Good Idea! (1975) It Seemed Like a Good Idea at
the Time (1975) The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974) The Mark of
Zorro (1974) The Power (1968) Arizona Bushwhackers (1968) Hostile
Guns (1967) Arizona Bushwackers (1967) Munster, Go Home (1966) A
Global Affair (1964) Law of the Lawless (1964) McLintock! (1963)
Timbuktu (1959) The Sword and The Cross (1958) Band of Angels (1957)
Death of a Scoundrel (1956) The Ten Commandments (1956) Raw Edge
(1956) Magic Fire (1956) Flame of the Islands (1955) Shotgun (1955)
The Captain's Paradise (1954) Passion (1954) Border River (1954)
Tonight's the Night (1954) Sea Devils (1953) Scarlet Angel (1952)
The San Francisco Story (1952) Hurricane Smith (1952) Fort Algiers
(1952) Tomahawk (1951) Silver City (1951) Hotel Sahara (1951) The
Desert Hawk (1950) Buccaneer's Girl (1950) Calamity Jane and Sam
Bass (1949) The Gal Who Took the West (1949) Criss Cross (1948)
Casbah (1948) Black Bart (1948) River Lady (1948) Bandido Apaixonado
(1948) Brute Force (1947) Song of Scheherazade (1947) Slave Girl
(1947) Salome, Where She Danced (1945) Frontier Gal (1945) Road to
Morocco (1942)
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