Gloria Mildred DeHaven (July 23, 1925 – July 30, 2016)
was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California,
to vaudeville headliners Carter and Flora DeHaven. Her parents made sure their
daughter would be educated at the very best private schools. They also indulged
her ambition to be in show business by packing her off to the Mar-Ken
Professional School in Hollywood (1940-42). Diminutive of stature and
dark-haired, budding musical star Gloria (her nickname then was
"Glo")
enjoyed collecting perfume, reading (her favourite book being
Daphne Du Maurier) and listening to the big bands (particularly Tommy Dorsey).
With her father's help (who was assistant director and a
friend of Charles Chaplin), she finagled her first movie appearance -- an un-credited bit part in Modern Times (1936). Her first visible role was in the
George Cukor-directed Susan and God (1940). A contemporary newspaper article
quipped that the winsome lass was "a backstage baby, never a child
star". Always a popular pin-up with American servicemen in World War II,
Gloria was featured on the cover of 'Yank' magazine in June 1944.
In the first place, Gloria concentrated on her singing
career. She developed her own nightclub act over the years and also enjoyed considerable success as a solo vocalist with the orchestras of Bob Crosby, Jan
Savitt and Muzzy Marcellino. It was her singing which prompted
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to sign her under contract in 1940. During the following
decade, she made decent strides as a soubrette and was regularly featured as
second lead in cheerful light musicals. The pick of the bunch were Thousands
Cheer (1943), Step Lively (1944) (on loan to RKO, giving Frank Sinatra his
first screen kiss), Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Summer Stock (1950) and
Three Little Words (1950). 
She was
awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard on
Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960. Also during the early 1960s, DeHaven recorded for the small
Seeco label, where she appeared on the 1962 compilation album
Gloria Lynne and
Her Friends. She was also heard on four of the Revisited compilations produced
by Ben Bagley.
Gloria never quite managed to get first tier assignments
and her career waned as musicals ceased to be a bankable commodity. In the
early 1950s, she attempted stronger dramatic roles but with only moderate
success. By 1955, she had wisely turned to the stage for occasional appearances
on Broadway. She played Diane opposite Ricardo Montalban in the musical version
of Seventh Heaven. She also toured in a summer stock production of No, No,
Nanette.
She was one of the numerous celebrities who appeared in
box office bomb Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and
guest-starred on television series, such as Gunsmoke (1955), Mannix (1967),
Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969), The Love Boat (1977), Fantasy Island (1977), Hart to
Hart (1979), Murder, She Wrote (1984) and Touched by an Angel (1994).
Gloria died of a stroke in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 30,
2016, one week after her 91st birthday.
DeHaven was married four times to three men. Her first
husband was actor John Payne, star of The Restless Gun, whom she married in
1944 and divorced in 1950. Her second husband was real estate developer Martin
Kimmel. They were married in 1953 and divorced the following year.
She was
married to Richard Fincher, son of a Miami Oldsmobile dealer, from 1957 until
1963. They remarried in 1965 and divorced again in 1969. She had two children with Payne, daughter
Kathleen Hope (born 1945) and son Thomas John (born 1947) as well as two
children with Fincher, son Harry (born 1958) and daughter Faith (born 1962).
(Edited mainly from IMDb bio by I.S.Mowis &
Wikipedia)
