LOS ANGELES, Aug 1: Singer-actress Gloria DeHaven, the star of MGM musicals in the 1940s and a stalwart of show business for more than six decades, has died. She was 91.
DeHaven, who made her screen debut in Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” (1936), died on Saturday while in hospice care in Las Vegas, her daughter, Faith Fincher-Finkelstein, told The Hollywood Reporter.
DeHaven suffered a stroke about three months ago, she said.
DeHaven, a studio player at MGM, appeared in a number of top films with leading stars, including “Thousands Cheer” (1943) with Gene Kelly; “Two Girls and a Sailor” with June Allyson and Van Johnson; “Step Lively” with Frank Sinatra; “Summer Holiday” with Mickey Rooney; “The Doctor and the Girl” with Glenn Ford and Nancy Reagan; “Two Tickets to Broadway” with Janet Leigh and Tony Martin; and “The Girl Rush” with Rosalind Russell.
DeHaven also performed in numerous other movies, including “Best Foot Forward”, “Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby”, “Summer Stock”, “Down Among the Sheltering Palms”, “So This Is Paris” and “Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood”.
Her last movie appearance came as a lovely widow and romantic interest of Jack Lemmon’s character on the cruise-ship set “Out to Sea” in 1997.
DeHaven was married four times, including once to actor John Payne and twice to businessman Richard Fincher. All her marriages ended in divorce. (PTI)