(11 August 1925 - 29 November 2021)
The Hollywood actress Arlene Dahl, who has died aged 96, was one of the last stars from the Golden Age of American movies. She was very beautiful, often appearing in glamorous roles. She had a contract with MGM, playing opposite such stars as Van Johnson, Robert Taylor, Joel McCrea, Fred Astaire and Red Skelton. She was born in Minneapolis to Norwegian immigrants Rudolph and Idelle Dahl and became involved in theatre at school, taking elocution and dancing lessons and working in local amateur theatre. A job as a buyer in Chicago led to modelling work where she was spotted for the stage musical Mr Strauss Goes to Boston and while in another play she came to the attention of a Hollywood talent scout which led to a small role in Warner Bros' Life With Father with Irene Dunne and William Powell. Her first leading role was in My Wild Irish Rose (1947) with Dennis Morgan. At MGM she was in The Bride Goes Wild and A Southern Yankee. In Reign of Terror (aka The Black Book) she starred with Robert Cummings, followed by Scene of the Crime, Ambush, The Outriders and Three Little Words with Astaire and Skelton. She played the female interest in many films such as Caribbean Gold and Slightly Scarlet with John Payne, Desert Legion with Alan Ladd and Sangaree and The Diamond Queen, both with Fernando Lamas whom she later married. At Fox she worked with Rock Hudson on Bengal Rifles while in the UK she starred opposite Jack Hawkins in She Played With Fire (1957). She was also in Woman's World and Journey to the Centre of the Earth with James Mason and Pat Boone. Arlene Dahl also broke into television with a version of Casablanca for Lux Video Theatre and later Burke's Law, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, One Life To Live, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Air America, her last appearance, in 1999. From 1959 she became a beauty consultant, writing about and marketing lingerie and cosmetics. She is the author of three books on femininiy, lovescopes and beauty. She was married six times, first to the actors Lex Barker and Fernando Lamas, and Christian Rasmus Holmes III, Alexis Lichine, Skip Schaum and Marc Rosen. She has a son, the actor-producer Lorenzo Lamas, a daughter Christina Carole Holmes, and another son, Rounsevelle Andreas Schaum.
MICHAEL DARVELL
