Denise Darcel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Darcel in 1949 | |
| Born | Denise Billecard (1924-09-08)8 September 1924[1] Paris, France |
| Died | 23 December 2011(2011-12-23) (aged 87) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1948–1963 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 sons (Chris and Craig) |
Denise Darcel (néeBillecard, 8 September 1924 – 23 December 2011) was a French-American vaudevillian, actress and singer, who from 1948 and 1963, appeared in films inHollywood, and briefly on the stage, television and radio.[2]
Born asDenise Billecard[3] inParis, she was one of five daughters[4] of a French baker,[5] and she was college educated,[6] studying at theUniversity of Dijon.[4] According to a friend, whom she met in Paris duringWorld War II, she was a passenger in anL-5 Stinson light observation aircraft onVJ Day to see the celebration from the air. The pilot, James Helinger Sr., aUS Army Air Corpsglider pilot (a friend) was at the controls, while they flew under several bridges along theSeine and finally, under theEiffel Tower, with the crowds below.[7]
A winner of the title "The Most Beautiful Girl in France,"[8] Darcel was a cabaret singer in Paris after World War II before being spotted by Hollywood. Denise came to the United States in 1947[9] and became an American citizen in 1952.[3]
On 15 February 1952 she was named "Miss Welder of 1952" by the National Eutectic Welders' Club. Presenting her with a scroll as "the girl we would like most to weld with" was R. D. Wasserman, President of the Eutectic Welding Institute. Wasserman hoped that her photograph would inspire women throughout the nation to join the ranks of the labor force and support the war effort in Korea.[10]
Darcel's debut on the legitimate stage came in 1950, when she appeared inPardon Our French, premiering 5 October at theBroadway Theatre.[11]
In 1950, Darcel had aVaudeville act, which was panned by at least one reviewer. About Darcel's performance 5 May 1950, at the Strand in New York, theBillboard review said: "Denise Darcel showed her well-stacked chassis ... but her heavily accented English sounded like so much gibberish; it got laughs instead of attention. ... her singing is inadequate, her over-use of hands and arms is clumsy and she shows herself completely at a loss in handling hecklers."[12]
Her first film appearance of note was inBattleground (1949). She made quite an impression inTarzan and the Slave Girl (1950) oppositeLex Barker, then co-starred withRobert Taylor inWestward the Women (1952) andGlenn Ford inYoung Man with Ideas (1952). In 1953, she was seen in the swimming musicalDangerous When Wet, which starredEsther Williams (1953). Her most important film wasVera Cruz (1954) where she played the female lead oppositeGary Cooper andBurt Lancaster. Her last film (1961) wasSeven Women from Hell.[13]
Darcel appeared on various TV shows in the 1950s. In 1954, she was hostess/MC ofGamble on Love, a summer program on theDuMont Television Network. Darcel asked questions of married couples who sought to win the grand prize of a mink coat. A review in Billboard described her as "Gallic to the point of unintelligibility."[14] Also in 1954, Colonel Productions produced a pilot ofChez Denise, a 30-minute "comedy-intrigue" program starring Darcel, which apparently did not sell.[15]
After her film and television career began to wane, Darcel, aged 41, became anecdysiast (stripper),[13] appearing in West Coast theatres inSan Francisco,Las Vegas,Oakland, and Los Angeles. She retired from stripping after a few years and returned to the cabaret circuit, making a few appearances on television. In 1991,[16] she was cast as "Solange La Fitte" in the Los Angeles 20th anniversary revival of the musicalFollies, produced by the Long Beach Civic Light Opera. She would later repeat the role of Solange in 1995 for revivals inHouston andSeattle.
Darcel's first husband, William Shaw,[13] was an American Army captain whom she married in 1947.[4] Darcel obtained a Mexican divorce from Peter Crosby 12 August 1951.[17] She married Robert Atkinson 24 April 1961.[18] They had two sons, Christopher[19] (born 17 November 1961[20]) and Craig. Husband George Simpson died in 2003.[4]
In the early 1950s, Darcel was linked romantically with singerBilly Eckstine.[21][22][23] In 1993,Jet magazine reported, "Eckstine's hot romance with actress Denise Darcel cooled off after their photo appeared on cover ofLife Magazine, causing a White backlash."[24]
Online music store iTunes made Darcel's album,Banned in Boston (recorded in 1958[4]), available for purchase alongside actressLizabeth Scott's album,Lizabeth.
On 23 June 1968, Darcel was arrested inMiami, Florida, and charged with shoplifting women's undergarments valued at $38.94 ($350 today). She was released on $500 bond.[25] She was found guilty and fined $300 ($2,710 today) in a trial 10 July 1968.[26]
Darcel and her husband, Robert Gerard Atkinson, filed bankruptcy petitions inSan Bernardino, California, in 1963. The petitions listed "total assets of $1,508 ($15,490 today) and individual and joint debts of $88,904 for her and $62,223 for him."(total of $1,552,000 today)[27]
In September 2009, she was honored with the Cinecon Career Achievement Award, presented in Hollywood at a banquet held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel. Prior to the ceremony, a new 35mm color print of her 1953 film,Flame of Calcutta, was screened at theEgyptian Theatre. After the screening, at the banquet, she cheerfully announced to the audience, "I'm back".
The world's oldest drag queen, Walter W. Cole took thestage name ofDarcelle XV, in honor of Denise Darcel.
In 1968, Denise was name Queen of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.
Darcel died in December 2011, aged 87, after emergency surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm.[28][29]
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Quick as a Flash | NA[30] |
| 1985 | Musical Comedy Theater | Going Hollywood[31] |
| 1952 | Lux Radio Theatre | Westward the Women[32] |
| 1951 | Martin & Lewis Show | NA |
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | This Is Show Business | 21 May episode[33] |
| 1951 | Don McNeill's Breakfast Club | 7 November episode[34] |
| 1954 | Droodles | 21 June episode[35] |
| 1963 | Combat! | 19 November 1963 "A Distant Drum" |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
