Ilona Massey
| Ilona Massey | |
|---|---|
Ilona Massey, 1941
|
|
| Born |
Ilona Hajmássy June 16, 1910 Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Budapest, Hungary) |
| Died | August 20, 1974 (aged 64) Bethesda, Maryland, USA |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1935-1959 |
| Spouse(s) | Nick Szavazd (m.1935-1936; divorced) Alan Curtis (m.1941-1942; divorced) Charles Walker (m.1952-1954; divorced) Donald Dawson (m.1955-1974; her death) |
Ilona Massey, born Hajmássy, (June 16, 1910 – August 20, 1974) was a Hungarian film, stage and radio performer.
She was born in Budapest, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Hungary). Billed as "the new Dietrich", she acted in three films with Nelson Eddy, including Rosalie (1937), and with Lon Chaney Jr. in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) as Baroness Frankenstein. In 1943, she appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1947, she starred with Eddy in Northwest Outpost, a musical film composed by Rudolf Friml. In 1949, she starred in Love Happy with the Marx Brothers. She played Madame Egelichi, a femme fatale spy, and her performance inspired Milton Caniff in the creation of his femme fatale spy, Madame Lynx, in the comic strip "Steve Canyon". Caniff hired Massey to pose for him.
In 1950, Massey was one of the stars of the NBC spy show Top Secret on radio. In 1952 she began starring in Rendezvous on ABC television. The program was described in a magazine article as "a mystery-drama with plenty of glamour thrown in."
Beginning on November 1, 1954, she hosted DuMont's The Ilona Massey Show, a weekly musical variety show in which she sang songs with guests in a nightclub set, with music provided by the Irving Fields Trio. The series ended January 3, 1955, after 10 episodes.
...
Wikipedia