Faith Domergue | |
---|---|
Born |
June 16, 1924 or June 16, 1925 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Died | April 4, 1999 Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
(age 73–74)
Cause of death | Cancer (unspecified) |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1941–1974 |
Spouse(s) | Teddy Stauffer (m. 1946–47) Hugo Fregonese (m. 1947–58) Paolo Cossa (m. 1966; d. 1996) |
Children | 2 |
Faith Marie Domergue /doʊmɜːrɡ/ (June 16, 1924 or 1925 – April 4, 1999) was an American television and film actress. Discovered at age eighteen by media and aircraft mogul Howard Hughes, she was signed to a contract with Hughes' RKO Radio Pictures and cast as the lead in the studio's thriller Vendetta, which had a troubled four-year production before finally being released in 1950.
Domergue went on to appear in a multitude of science fiction and horror pictures, such as Cult of the Cobra, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and The Atomic Man, all released in 1955, earning her a reputation as an early "scream queen." Domergue's later career consisted of B movies, television guest roles and European productions.
Domergue was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 16, 1924 or 1925 (sources differ) of part-Creole descent. She was adopted by Adabelle Wemet when six weeks old. When Faith was 18 months old, Adabelle married Leo Domergue.
The family moved to California in 1928 where Domergue attended Beverly Hills Catholic School and St. Monica's Convent School. While a sophomore at University High School, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers, and made her first on-screen appearance with an uncredited walk-on role in Blues in the Night (1941). The same year, she appeared on the cover of Photoplay as Faith Dorn; the name change, she later claimed, was "because Jack Warner was too stupid to pronounce Domergue."