![]() River Phoenix has been gone for more than two decades, yet his loss continues to be mourned by fans and those in the industry who lament what he could have become had he not passed away at only 23. No matter the reason that she took the role, De Carlo was a glamorous ghoul.Most of us know all about the young A-list stars who tragically passed away before their time. It made me ‘hot’ again, which I wasn’t for a while. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn’t have had otherwise. ![]() So why take the role if it was so shameful? De Carlo was extremely open about her money troubles throughout her life, she says that she took the role for money but it turned out to be so much more important than she realized. Everywhere I go, kids would be pointing at me and asking if I really was Lily Munster.’ She said, ‘So it’s come to this?’ She also said, ‘I couldn’t believe it, this has become my biggest hit. Bawden explained: She said when they put her in the green makeup, she burst into tears. Ten years prior to The Munsters she'd been a huge movie star, but now she was slumming it on TV. According to James Bawden, a former TV columnist, and the author of a series of interviews with some of Hollywood's hottest hitmakers, De Carlo was anything but enthused about playing a monster.īawden says that the first time De Carlo saw herself in full makeup she was devastated. The show was immensely popular, and in spite of De Carlo's trepidation about the role it wound up providing her an entirely new fanbase. The Munsters may have only run for two seasons between 19, but this spooky take on a "normal" family took on a life of its own almost immediately. She appeared in night club acts and even on the touring companies of Broadway Plays, but one job she took for the money turned her life around completely. De Carlo and her husband sued MGM, but in order to pay off legal fees De Carlo had to take whatever work she could find.Īside from a supporting role in McLintock!, De Carlo's work at this time was taken more out of necessity than love. She and Bob lived on her ranch in Coldwater Canyon where she looked over five acres of land and a stable of horses, and everything would have been peachy keen had Bob not been permanently crippled following an on set accident in How the West Was Won in 1963. ![]() I was accustomed to throwing something into suitcases of trunks and taking off on a whim. In 1956, she told the Spokesman- Review : She married stuntman Bob Morgan on on November 21, 1955, and she found the domestic life to be monotonous if no downright stifling. Hundreds of women read for the part, but it was De Carlo's "saintly" energy that earned her the role in this classic film.Īfter capping off a decade of stardom, De Carlo more or less retired from acting for a while. If there's any role that firmly plants her as a star in the golden age of Hollywood it's Sephora. Demille saw when he hired her to play Moses' wife in The Ten Commandments. She's in westerns, she's in straight comedies, she's in noir films - during this era her range was fully on display and it's that prowess in front of the camera that Cecile B. Salome opened the door for De Carlo and she spent the next decade making a meal out of any role she was offered.īetween 19 De Carlo worked nonstop. After years of struggling, De Carlo was finally a star. The film was a massive success despite being panned by critics. Following a rigorous series of auditions she was hired to portray Salome, the beautiful and sensual dancer accused of being a spy who flees Europe for America. It only took one year at Universal for things to turn around for De Carlo. In spite of only appearing in minor roles in films like For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) and Let's Face It (1943), she hadn't attained any kind of on screen notoriety outside of being "the test queen at Paramount." Like most young actresses at the time, De Carlo was shopped out to independent studios for parts in small films, but when it came to the big time she was consistently hired for minor roles, or many cases cut out of films altogether. According to her memoir, De Carlo screen tested for every Paramount movie between 19. ![]() De Carlo's wish came true in 1942 when she was hooked up with the brass at Paramount.
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