Denise Darcel(1925-2011)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Hollywood has always welcomed with open arms exotic, sexy imports to
its gallery of glamour girls and serious actresses; look at how
Greta Garbo,
Ingrid Bergman,
Marlene Dietrich and
Sophia Loren have been embraced. Buxom and
alluring French siren Denise Darcel fell into the secondary ranks of
thick-accented, post-WWII hopefuls which would include a wave of other
temptations such as Märta Torén,
Viveca Lindfors,
Corinne Calvet and
Bella Darvi.
This particularly luscious Parisian was born Denise Billecard on
September 8, 1925, one of five daughters born to a baker and his wife.
The daughters were raised outside of Paris in a small town for a time,
but Denise eventually moved back to Paris after WWII as a young adult
and college student (University of Dijon). She was working as a dime
store cashier when she entered and won a beauty contest that resulted
in a lot of publicity for her as "The Most Beautiful Girl in France".
She capitalized on this by developing her own nightclub act and touring
around the Riviera with it -- blazing a name for herself.
Denise came to the United States as the wife of an American Army
captain, but the marriage soured quickly after about a year. She turned
to the movies. In her first, the war film
To the Victor (1948), she managed
to turn heads despite her small, unbilled appearance as a club singer.
She made the most of her sexy version of "La vie en rose" and, with
that, moved into a top femme acting role with the western
Thunder in the Pines (1948),
which had both pre-"Superman"
George Reeves and post-"Dick
Tracy" Ralph Byrd fighting for her attention.
She then was the sole femme in the successful war picture
Battleground (1949), providing sexy
distraction amid all the bombings. This alone pushed her sex symbol
status to its peak. As a result she provided a little extra steam in
the jungles with her exotic part in the
Lex Barker entry
Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950).
And then it was over. Despite providing more sexy cabaret entertainment
in the film
Young Man with Ideas (1952)
starring Glenn Ford, and grabbing
notice in such man-oriented action in
Westward the Women (1951) with
Robert Taylor,
Flame of Calcutta (1953) with
Patric Knowles and
Vera Cruz (1954) co-starring
Gary Cooper and
Burt Lancaster, Ms. Darcel's film career
fell completely away.
She never took herself or her image too seriously during her prime and
was known and admired for her fine sense of humor, playing the sexy
foil to such comic stars as Olsen and Johnson on stage -- in "Pardon My
French" (1950) -- and Milton Berle on TV.
She even hosted her own short-lived TV quiz show
Gamble on Love (1954) at one
point. But as far as movies were concerned, she returned only once more
to film the utterly forgettable and exploitative
7 Women from Hell (1961).
Hollywood folklore has it that Ms. Darcel gave the cold shoulder to the
heated romantic advances of both Columbia mogul
Harry Cohn and producer playboy
Howard Hughes, and thereby sealed
her own fate. While waiting out the snub, she left Hollywood and made
live appearances on stage, in dinner theaters and around the nightclub
circuit, appearing in such plays and musicals as "Oh, Captain!" (1958),
"The Little Hut" (1961) and "Can-Can" (1961).
She once was an opening act for singer/dancer
Joel Grey, and made even more money the more
she playfully revealed herself to her paying customers. But she was
never invited back to Hollywood. Married and divorced five times in
all, the vivacious Ms. Darcel remained close to her two sons, Chris and
Craig, and made ends meet later by working as a Las Vegas
casino dealer. She died of an aneurysm on December 23, 2011, at age 86.
its gallery of glamour girls and serious actresses; look at how
Greta Garbo,
Ingrid Bergman,
Marlene Dietrich and
Sophia Loren have been embraced. Buxom and
alluring French siren Denise Darcel fell into the secondary ranks of
thick-accented, post-WWII hopefuls which would include a wave of other
temptations such as Märta Torén,
Viveca Lindfors,
Corinne Calvet and
Bella Darvi.
This particularly luscious Parisian was born Denise Billecard on
September 8, 1925, one of five daughters born to a baker and his wife.
The daughters were raised outside of Paris in a small town for a time,
but Denise eventually moved back to Paris after WWII as a young adult
and college student (University of Dijon). She was working as a dime
store cashier when she entered and won a beauty contest that resulted
in a lot of publicity for her as "The Most Beautiful Girl in France".
She capitalized on this by developing her own nightclub act and touring
around the Riviera with it -- blazing a name for herself.
Denise came to the United States as the wife of an American Army
captain, but the marriage soured quickly after about a year. She turned
to the movies. In her first, the war film
To the Victor (1948), she managed
to turn heads despite her small, unbilled appearance as a club singer.
She made the most of her sexy version of "La vie en rose" and, with
that, moved into a top femme acting role with the western
Thunder in the Pines (1948),
which had both pre-"Superman"
George Reeves and post-"Dick
Tracy" Ralph Byrd fighting for her attention.
She then was the sole femme in the successful war picture
Battleground (1949), providing sexy
distraction amid all the bombings. This alone pushed her sex symbol
status to its peak. As a result she provided a little extra steam in
the jungles with her exotic part in the
Lex Barker entry
Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950).
And then it was over. Despite providing more sexy cabaret entertainment
in the film
Young Man with Ideas (1952)
starring Glenn Ford, and grabbing
notice in such man-oriented action in
Westward the Women (1951) with
Robert Taylor,
Flame of Calcutta (1953) with
Patric Knowles and
Vera Cruz (1954) co-starring
Gary Cooper and
Burt Lancaster, Ms. Darcel's film career
fell completely away.
She never took herself or her image too seriously during her prime and
was known and admired for her fine sense of humor, playing the sexy
foil to such comic stars as Olsen and Johnson on stage -- in "Pardon My
French" (1950) -- and Milton Berle on TV.
She even hosted her own short-lived TV quiz show
Gamble on Love (1954) at one
point. But as far as movies were concerned, she returned only once more
to film the utterly forgettable and exploitative
7 Women from Hell (1961).
Hollywood folklore has it that Ms. Darcel gave the cold shoulder to the
heated romantic advances of both Columbia mogul
Harry Cohn and producer playboy
Howard Hughes, and thereby sealed
her own fate. While waiting out the snub, she left Hollywood and made
live appearances on stage, in dinner theaters and around the nightclub
circuit, appearing in such plays and musicals as "Oh, Captain!" (1958),
"The Little Hut" (1961) and "Can-Can" (1961).
She once was an opening act for singer/dancer
Joel Grey, and made even more money the more
she playfully revealed herself to her paying customers. But she was
never invited back to Hollywood. Married and divorced five times in
all, the vivacious Ms. Darcel remained close to her two sons, Chris and
Craig, and made ends meet later by working as a Las Vegas
casino dealer. She died of an aneurysm on December 23, 2011, at age 86.