- Born
- Died
- Birth nameGloria Mildred DeHaven
- Height5′ 1″ (1.55 m)
- Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born on July 23, 1925 in Los Angeles 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 favorite author 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 uncredited 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".
First and foremost, 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) (a typical role, as sister to the nominal star, in this case Judy Garland) and Three Little Words (1950) (in which she played her own mother, Flora Parker DeHaven, singing the Ruby & Kalmar standard "Who's Sorry Now?"). New York Times critic Bosley Crowther commented in in June 1944: "It's a toss-up between June Allyson and Gloria DeHaven as to which is the lovelier girl. Both sing and dance with springtime crispness and have such form and grace as are divine." Always a popular pin-up with American servicemen in World War II, Gloria was featured on the cover of 'Yank' magazine that very same month.
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. As late as 1989 she sang in cabaret at the Rainbow & Stars in New York. There was also a screen comeback of sorts with recurring roles in the soap operas Ryan's Hope (1975), As the World Turns (1956) and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976). 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).
After a long absence, Gloria returned to motion pictures and scored a hit as Jack Lemmon's love interest in the romantic comedy Out to Sea (1997). She died of a stroke in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 30, 2016, one week after her 91st birthday.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
- SpousesRichard W. Fincher(January 19, 1966 - January 9, 1969) (divorced)Richard W. Fincher(January 19, 1957 - September 27, 1963) (divorced, 2 children)Martin Kimmel(June 21, 1953 - August 25, 1954) (divorced)John Payne(December 28, 1944 - September 21, 1951) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenFaith FincherKathleen Hope PayneThomas John Payne
- Parents
- RelativesCarter De Haven Jr.(Sibling)Rose De Haven(Aunt or Uncle)
- Her mole
- In Three Little Words (1950), De Haven portrayed Flora Parker DeHaven (her own real-life mother).
- She was Frank Sinatra's first screen kiss in the musical Step Lively (1944).
- In 1944, De Haven came into the makeup and hair department at MGM to wash her hair in prep for a scene she was going to shoot. Halfway into the endeavor she felt a hand push her head into the bowl and began washing her hair. When she was finished, she looked up and saw that it was Marlene Dietrich who had washed her hair. Dietrich had entered the room to pick up the gold paint she was using to cover her left leg in Kismet (1944) and figured that since she was there, she would give De Haven a quick hair wash since the studio beauticians had yet to arrive. De Haven was so stunned that she could hardly utter a thank you.
- She was friends with: Janet Leigh, Mickey Rooney, June Allyson, Ann Miller, Maria McDonald, Donald O'Connor, Virginia O'Brien and Tony Curtis.
- De Haven was reportedly taught elocution by Joan Crawford.
- I had the privilege of watching great actors at MGM. That was better than going to any class. Today kids struggle - they have to be waitresses and bartenders while waiting to get a break. Every hour at MGM was a joy! My years there were golden, a wonderful time! I will never regret one moment.
- [on writing an autobiography] I've been asked - twice, but the only books that sell a lot are kiss and tell. I don't want people flipping through the pages of my life.
- [on Nancy Reagan] She was genteel, a very private woman - and classy, not outgoing. She would leave the moment shooting ended - while a lot of us would hang out after work.
- [on Frank Sinatra] I still think that Frank Sinatra is bad-rapped. They're not so eager to tell about his generosity. We've been friends ever since that movie. I had a watch that my mother had given me, and I loved it. At the end of the film, Frank gave me a pinky ring that matched it perfectly. My mother said that I couldn't accept it, but Frank spoke to her. I have no idea what he told her, but he snowed her somehow, and I kept the ring.
- [on appearing, aged eleven, as Paulette Goddard's sister in Modern Times (1936)] It was silent, so we didn't have to talk. We just ate bananas and ran around in raggedy clothes and enjoyed it. I always kid about it and say I started in silent films.
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