Fifi D'Orsay

Born: 1904-04-16

Fifi D'Orsay was born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Canada, to a father who was a postal clerk. The couple had a large family, with Fifi having 11 siblings. She was educated at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Montreal before graduating and finding work as a secretary. As a young typist she wished to become an actress, and moved to New York City. Once there she found work with the Greenwich Village Follies, after an audition in which she sang "Yes! We Have No Bananas" in French. When asked where she was from, she told the director she was from Paris, France, and that she had worked in the Folies Bergère. The impressed director hired her, billing her as "Mademoiselle Fifi". While working in the Follies, she became involved with Ed Gallagher, a veteran actor who was half of the successful Broadway comedy team of Gallagher and Shean. Gallagher and D'Orsay put together a vaudeville act, and he coached her in the art of show business. After touring in vaudeville, she headed to Hollywood and adopted the surname "D'Orsay" (after a favorite perfume). Soon after she began working in films, often cast as the "naughty French girl" from "gay Paris". She became a U.S. citizen in 1936, just as her career as a film star came to a sharp halt when she walked out on her contract at Fox Studios and was blacklisted. While never becoming a major top-billing name, she found steady work - appearing with such stalwarts as Bing Crosby and Buster Crabbe. For years she worked in both film and vaudeville; pacing her appearances in film with continued performances in vaudeville. When age put an end to the glamour roles, she took jobs in television; including 2 appearances each on ABC's Adventures in Paradise (as a mother superior in the episode "Castaways"), and the CBS legal drama Perry Mason (in the episode "The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather" and in the episode “The Case of the Bountiful Beauty”)- as well appearing in the CBS sitcom Pete and Gladys. She was a contestant on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life, and at the age of sixty-seven she bookended her career with a return to the Broadway stage in the Tony Award-winning musical, Follies.


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What a Way to Go!

as Baroness
Released: 1964-10-12

A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly...

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The Gangster

as Mrs. Ostroleng
Released: 1947-11-25

Based on the novel Low Company. One of the most peculiar film noirs of the 1940s stars Barry...

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Wonder Bar

as Mitzi
Released: 1934-03-31

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That's Entertainment, Part II

as (archive footage)
Released: 1976-05-16

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time...

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Nabonga

as Marie
Released: 1944-01-25

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The Stolen Jools

as Fifi D'Orsay
Released: 1931-04-04

Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended...

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Assignment to Kill

as Mrs. Hennie
Released: 1968-05-01

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The Art of Love

as Fanny
Released: 1965-06-30

Struggling artist fakes his own death so his works will increase in value.

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Going Hollywood

as Lili Yvonne
Released: 1933-12-22

The film tells the story of Sylvia, a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find...

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Those Three French Girls

as Charmaine (as Fifi Dorsay)
Released: 1930-10-10

An addled Englishman's efforts to save three young women from eviction land them all in jail and...

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Dixie Jamboree

as Yvette
Released: 1944-08-15

A medicine man on the last show boat on the Mississippi is mistaken by two gangsters as a...

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Delinquent Daughters

as Mimi
Released: 1944-07-15

A town is shocked when a high school girl commits suicide. A reporter and a cop team up to...

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The Life of Jimmy Dolan

as Budgie
Released: 1933-06-03

Champion boxer Jimmy Dolan has cultivated a wholesome image for himself, but he's a boozer and...

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Women Everywhere

as Lili La Fleur
Released: 1930-06-01

Charles Jackson, an American sea-captain and singing soldier-of-fortune, is arrested by the...

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Submarine Base

as Maria Styx
Released: 1943-07-20

Ship engineer Jim Taggert is rescued from a torpedoed tramp steamer by Joe Morgan, an American...

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They Had to See Paris

as Fifi
Released: 1929-09-18

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The Girl from Calgary

as Fifi Follette
Released: 1932-10-23

A French-Canadian girl is a champion bronc rider and is also a nightclub singer. An ambitious...

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Young as You Feel

as Fleurette
Released: 1931-08-06

Lemuel Morehouse, the owner of a profitable meatpacking company in Chicago, bemoans the fact...

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Piano Mooner

as Maid
Released: 1942-12-11

Harry is a workaholic piano tuner whose bride-to-be's brother threatens to kill him if he...

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Women of All Nations

as Fifi
Released: 1931-05-31

Marines Flagg and Quirt fought together in WWI and Panama. After some time in New York they go...

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Wild and Wonderful

as Simone
Released: 1964-06-09

Cognac, a pampered poodle and popular star on French television, creates marital problems for...

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On the Level

as Mimi
Released: 1930-05-18

An ironworker and his equally tough friend decide to leave New Orleans to work as beam-walkers...

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Hot for Paris

as Fifi Dupre
Released: 1929-12-22

A romantic adventure musical film directed by Raoul Walsh....The film is believed to be lost.

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Mr. Lemon Of Orange

as Julie La Rue
Released: 1931-03-22

A fast and uproarious farce of gunmen, gun molls, and the Swedish boy's night out.

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Bewitched

as uncredited
First aired: 1964-09-17

Samantha Stephens is a seemingly normal suburban housewife who also happens to be a genuine...

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Perry Mason

as Woman Witness
First aired: 1957-09-21

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most...

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Perry Mason

as Mrs. Davis
First aired: 1957-09-21

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most...

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The Mike Douglas Show

as Self
First aired: 1961-12-11

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that...

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The Lucy Show

as Madame Fifi
First aired: 1962-10-01

The Lucy Show is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962–68. It was Lucille Ball's...

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Adventures in Paradise

as Mother Superior
First aired: 1959-10-05

Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on...

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Adventures in Paradise

as Wanda
First aired: 1959-10-05

Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on...

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This Is Your Life

as Self
First aired: 1952-10-01

This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally...

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Pete and Gladys

as uncredited
First aired: 1960-09-19

Pete and Gladys is an American situation comedy television series starring Harry Morgan and Cara...

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Mr. & Mrs. North

as uncredited
First aired: 1952-10-03

Mr. & Mrs. North is an American comedy/mystery television series that aired on CBS from October...

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Combat!

as Mrs. Fouquet
First aired: 1962-10-02

Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The...

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Thriller

as Toinette
First aired: 1960-09-13

Thriller is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62...

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General Electric Theater

as Simone
First aired: 1953-02-01

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was...

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