Yolande Donlan

Born: 1920-06-02

Yolande Donlan (born June 2, 1920 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American actress who has worked extensively in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of James Donlan, who was a hard working character actor in Hollywood films of the 1930s. It is thought that she had some uncredited roles in films including Pennies From Heaven and Love Finds Andy Hardy immediately following her father's death in 1938, but these have not been confirmed. Her early credited roles include Frenchy the maid in the horror film The Devil Bat in 1940 and she followed this up with several small roles, generally as similar French-accented maid characters. A notable stage success as Billie Dawn in a Boston production of Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin was the start of bigger things for Donlan. The production transferred to London's West End for a long run. Donlan was initially denied a work permit to star in the lead in Peter Pan due to complaints from Actors Equity who felt that a British star should have the lead. After it ended, Donlan remained in the United Kingdom and began accepting film work. After Traveller's Joy in 1949, Donlan worked for the director Val Guest in several films including Mister Drake's Duck, Penny Princess (in the title role) and The Body Said No. Donlan married Guest in 1954 and afterwards her film work included many of her husband's films such as Expresso Bongo and 80,000 Suspects, as well as a small number of films for other directors. In 1955 she penned the autobiographical travelogue, Sand in my Mink an amusing tale of adventures taken with her husband, across Europe, which makes a light hearted read of how travel used to be. A further stage success came in 1959 in Jack Popplewell's And Suddenly It's Spring opposite Margaret Lockwood. Her most recent film credit is Seven Nights in Japan from 1976. The same year saw publication of her autobiography, Shake the Stars Down, which concentrates on her childhood years growing up in the Hollywood of the 1930s. Guest retired from directing in 1985 and the couple moved back to the United States of America in the late 1980s, where they resided in Palm Springs until his death in 2006. Donlan now lives in Belgravia, London.


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Expresso Bongo

as Dixie Collins
Released: 1959-12-01

A seedy London promoter turns a naive, working-class teenager into a pop singing sensation.

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Turnabout

as Marie (as Yolande Mollot)
Released: 1940-05-17

Bickering husband and wife Tim and Sally Willows mutter a few angry words to a statue of Buddha...

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The Adventurers

as Mrs. Erickson
Released: 1970-03-25

The wealthy playboy son of an assassinated South American diplomat discovers that his father was...

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Dark Streets of Cairo

as Maggie Malone, aka Margo Molina
Released: 1940-12-01

A rapid series of murders occurs when a professor disrupts a tranquil Egyptian tomb by removing...

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Under Age

as Lily Fletcher
Released: 1941-04-23

Fresh out of reform school, a bunch of delinquent girls fall in with a gang of crooks and are...

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The Devil Bat

as Maxine
Released: 1940-12-13

Dr. Paul Carruthers feels bitter at being betrayed by his employers, Heath and Morton, when they...

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Cross-Country Romance

as Jennie
Released: 1940-07-12

A runaway heiress hides in a doctor's trailer for a rollicking trip to San Francisco.

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Jigsaw

as Jean Sherman
Released: 1962-08-21

A woman is found murdered in a house along the coast from Brighton. Local detectives Fellows and...

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Penny Princess

as Lindy Smith
Released: 1952-03-24

A tiny European country which for years has survived financially only through evading its bills...

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Seven Nights in Japan

as American Wife
Released: 1976-08-05

Handsome Prince George arrives on board his ship in Japan. Youthful, immaculate in naval uniform...

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80,000 Suspects

as Ruth Preston
Released: 1963-08-15

A doctor's already-shaky marriage is tested to an even greater extent when he has to contend...

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Tarzan and the Lost Safari

as Gamage Dean
Released: 1957-04-12

Tarzan leads five passengers from a downed airplane out of the jungle. En route white hunter...

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They Can't Hang Me

as Jill Wilson
Released: 1955-10-01

A murderer hopes to escape his death sentence by identifying the leaders of a spy ring.

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Mr. Drake's Duck

as Penny Drake
Released: 1951-09-21

Mr. Drake and his wife live a nice, quiet life on their Sussex farm, until one of their ducks...

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Traveller's Joy

as Lil Fowler
Released: 1950-12-25

A divorced couple, living hand-to-mouth in Stockholm, must first pay their hotel bill before...

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Miss Pilgrim's Progress

as Laramie Pilgrim
Released: 1949-11-29

An exchange factory worker from New Jersey joins a plot to save a village from the Town and...

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