Saturday, 14 January 2012

R.I.P.


Denise Darcel (1924-2012) who has died aged 87 was a voluptuous actress and singer who appeared in several films in the early 50s. She was one of several Continental imports whom Hollywood vainly hoped would equal the impact of the Garbos and Bergmans - others included Viveca Lindfors, Corinne Calvet, Micheline Presle, and those American-Italian sisters Pier Angeli and Marisa Pavan - perhaps only the likes of Lilli Palmer and Alida Valli and the later Romy Schneider and Claudia Cardinale really built their reputations as international stars following that raft of Italians like Mangano, Lollobridgida, Loren and Vitti; while Anita Ekberg cornered the sexbomb market!



Denise didn't make too many movies but was a well-known cabaret personality and singer in the 50s, perhaps her best movie was Aldrich's VERA CRUZ with Cooper (above) and Lancaster in '54. Her last film was a 20th Century Fox potboiler SEVEN WOMEN FROM HELL, circa 1961 where she was one of the 7 women (others were Patricia Owens and Yvonne Craig) escaping in the jungle from Japanese captors during WWII - Cesar Romero and John Kerr also popped up in this enjoyable farrago. Denise's torn blouse was prominently on display. It was an interesting career with spells as singer, cabaret artist and some enjoyable films.

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