Hollywood star of several MGM musicals, Gloria DeHaven, died on Saturday, 30 August, in Las Vegas. It was a week after her 91st birthday. The actress and singer, had suffered a stroke three months ago. She is survived by her four children.
She debuted as an actress in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), playing the role of a child in the film. She was nine years old then. DeHaven eventually shot to fame as a contract star for American film studio MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), performing alongside well-known bands of the 50s – Jan Savitt and Bob Crosby. It is believed that in the musical Step Lively (1944), DeHaven gave a young Sinatra his first on-screen kiss. She remained in musicals until it fell out of fashion in the late 1950s.
DeHaven starred in Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Summer Holiday (1948) with Mickey Rooney, Yes Sir That’s My Baby (1949) with Donald O’Connor, Summer Stock (1950) with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, and So This Is Paris (1955) with Tony Curtis. She also portrayed her own mother, a vaudeville star named Flora Parker, in the 1950 musical Three Little Words with Fred Astaire, who was a known star back then.
However, her most famous film was Best Foot Forward (1943) along with Lucille Ball. DeHaven later became a TV star, featuring in TV shows such as As the World Turns and Ryan’s Hope. Her last film was opposite Jack Lemmon in Out At Sea (1997).
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In an interview once, DeHaven spoke about what got her into the show business at the age on nine. “Chaplin needed two kids to play Paulette Goddard’s ragamuffin sisters (for Modern Times). All we had to do was wear tattered clothes, eat bananas and do big takes. I thought, ‘If this is show business, count me in!'” she told Toronto Star in 1989.
DeHaven was married four times, including once to actor John Payne and twice to businessman Richard Fincher. All her marriages ended in divorce.
Feature Image Courtesy: Variety.com