Yvonne De Carlo, RIP

[dirac]

Yvonne De Carlo has died, age 84. She’ll always be here for some of us, though.

De Carlo died of natural causes Monday at the Motion Picture & Television facility in suburban Los Angeles, longtime friend and television producer Kevin Burns said Wednesday.

De Carlo, whose shapely figure helped launch her career in B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, rose to more important roles in the 1950s. Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies."

[richard53dog]

Yvonne De Carlo has died, age 84. She’ll always be here for some of us, though.

Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies."

She was the original singer of I'm Still Here in Follies and it has been said that Sondheim modeled the song

after the ups and downs of De Carlo's career(and life).

Whatever. I was pretty young but I saw her do this number and she stopped the show.

Her determination is evident on the Original Cast Album

RIP

[papeetepatrick]

Yeah, I was lucky enough to see her do the original 'I'm Still Here' and I always would tell people that she's one of the old-timers still with us. Given that, I would have thought she was older. We still have Deborah Kerr, Maureen O'Hara, and oldest of all, Anita Page, about 102 now. I hate to see all these characterful ladies go. It helps to know Norman Mailer is still with us too.

My sister saw Yvonne DeCarlo do 'Hello, Dolly!' in Valdosta, Georgia, sometime in the late 70's! I would have loved to have seen that, and I bet she was very good in it.

[dirac]

Yeah, I was lucky enough to see her do the original 'I'm Still Here' and I always would tell people that she's one of the old-timers still with us. Given that, I would have thought she was older. We still have Deborah Kerr, Maureen O'Hara, and oldest of all, Anita Page, about 102 now. I hate to see all these characterful ladies go. It helps to know Norman Mailer is still with us too.

My sister saw Yvonne DeCarlo do 'Hello, Dolly!' in Valdosta, Georgia, sometime in the late 70's! I would have loved to have seen that, and I bet she was very good in it.

Here is a more detailed obit. She was amusing in “The Captain’s Paradise,” as the article notes, although the movie was hurt by the casting of Alec Guinness, who was not the philanderer type. “Band of Angels” is a fine piece of camp.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/arts/tel...r=1&oref=slogin

[papeetepatrick]

“Band of Angels” is a fine piece of camp.

Oh, yes, 'Band of Angels.' I saw it at a drive-in and wouldn't shut up about it till my other sister said she'd had enough about 'that movie.' that's when drive-ins used to have sheets with the whole month on them and tiny ads spread through the run of each film.

[bart]

I also remember the original Follies. "I'm Still Here," rather than being a ful-blast show-stopper, was rather understated and sadly brave, just as a retired star of moderate talent would have done it in real life.

I still can't figure out whether this low-key, almost flat approach was a brilliant performance choice on De Carlo's part, or just a reflection of her real personality and technical abilities. But it is the one number I remember most fondly from that production.

[dirac]

“Band of Angels” is a fine piece of camp.

Oh, yes, 'Band of Angels.' I saw it at a drive-in and wouldn't shut up about it till my other sister said she'd had enough about 'that movie.' that's when drive-ins used to have sheets with the whole month on them and tiny ads spread through the run of each film.

It was an Ava Gardner reject - De Carlo got several of those.

[sidwich]

I can only say, I would have taken Lilly Munster as my mom over Donna Reed any day!