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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Released: 1964-07-31

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

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Released: 1965-06-30

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Released: 1943-07-20

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Released: 1944-01-25

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Released: 1947-11-25

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Released: 1932-10-23

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Released: 1934-03-31

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Released: 1931-05-31

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Released: 1933-12-22

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Released: 1929-09-18

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Released: 1944-08-15

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Released: 1933-06-03

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Released: 1931-03-22

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Released: 1930-06-01

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Hot for Paris

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Released: 1929-12-22

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Released: 1931-08-06

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Those Three French Girls

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Released: 1930-10-10

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Released: 1930-05-18

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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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Bewitched

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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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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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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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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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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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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

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First aired: 1959-10-05

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Mr. & Mrs. North

as uncredited
First aired: 1952-10-03

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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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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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