Yolande Donlan

2022-12-12T21:09:31Z

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{{Short description|American-British actress (1920–2014)}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Yolande Donlan
| image = Yolande Donlan pg351 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Donlan in 1951
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|06|02|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|12|30|1920|06|02|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[London]], [[England]], UK
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1940–1981
| spouse = {{Marriage|Phillip Truex|1944|1954|reason=divorced}}<br>{{Marriage|[[Val Guest]]|1954|2006|reason=died}}
| father = [[James Donlan]]
| website =
}}

'''Yolande Donlan''' (June 2, 1920{{spaced ndash}}December 30, 2014) was an American-British actress who worked extensively in the United Kingdom.

==Early life and career==
The daughter of [[James Donlan]], a character actor in [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] films of the 1930s, it is speculated by some that she had uncredited roles in films such as ''[[Pennies from Heaven (1936 film)|Pennies From Heaven]]'' (1936) and ''[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]'' (1938), but this has not been confirmed.

[[File:Yolande Donlan in The Devil Bat (1940).png|thumb|right|180px|Donlan in ''[[The Devil Bat]]'' (1940)]]

Her early credited roles include Frenchy, the maid in the horror film ''[[The Devil Bat]]'' (1940), with [[Bela Lugosi]], and other small roles often as similar French-accented maid characters. She played [[Carole Landis]]' maid in ''[[Turnabout (film)|Turnabout]]'' (also 1940) and one of [[Red Skelton]]'s concubines in ''[[DuBarry Was a Lady (film)|DuBarry Was a Lady]]'' (1942).

Donlan was a success as Billie Dawn in a touring production of ''[[Born Yesterday (play)|Born Yesterday]]'' by [[Garson Kanin]]. It was the start of bigger things for Donlan. [[Laurence Olivier]] flew to Boston to confirm the opinion of American reviewers and chose Donlan to star in his production of the play to be staged in London's [[West End theatre|West End]]. The production opened at the [[Garrick Theatre]] in January 1947 and was very well received.<ref name="Bergan"/> Donlan was initially denied a work permit to star in the lead in ''[[Peter Pan]]'' due to complaints from [[Equity (trade union)|Equity]], the actor's union, who felt that a British star should have the lead.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1953/dec/10/american-acting-permit|title = American (Acting Permit) (Hansard, 10 December 1953)}}</ref>

==Later life and career==
After her run in ''Peter Pan'' ended, Donlan remained in the United Kingdom and began accepting film work. After ''[[Traveller's Joy (film)|Traveller's Joy]]'' (1949), Donlan worked for the director [[Val Guest]] as the female lead in several films including ''[[Miss Pilgrim's Progress ]]''(1949) with [[Michael Rennie]], ''[[The Body Said No!]]'' (1950), with [[Michael Rennie]]; ''[[Mister Drake's Duck]]'' (1951), with [[Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.]], and ''[[Penny Princess]]'' (1952) in the title role co-starring with [[Dirk Bogarde]]. In 1950 British exhibitors voted her the most promising female newcomer.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55851326 |title=Hope tops list for popularity. |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |location=Adelaide |date=30 December 1950 |access-date=10 July 2012 |page=5 Supplement: Sunday Magazine |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Donlan married Guest in 1954, after their previous marriages had been dissolved.<ref name="Bergan"/> In total, Donlan appeared in eight films directed by her husband. The remaining films are ''[[They Can't Hang Me]]'' (1955), ''[[Expresso Bongo]]'' (1959) with [[Laurence Harvey]] and [[Cliff Richard]], ''[[Jigsaw (1962 film)|Jigsaw]]'' (1962) with [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]], ''[[80,000 Suspects]]'' (1963) with [[Richard Johnson (actor)|Richard Johnson]]. A further stage success came in 1959 in [[Jack Popplewell]]'s ''[[And Suddenly It's Spring]]'' opposite [[Margaret Lockwood]]. Other films she made, with other directors, include ''[[Tarzan and the Lost Safari]]'' (1957) and ''[[Seven Nights in Japan]]'' (1976), her last film role.

==Writing and last years==
Her autobiographical travelogue, ''Sand in My Mink'' (1955) is a humorous tale of holiday adventures taken across Europe with her husband.

Donlan's autobiography, ''[[Shake the Stars Down]]'' was published in 1976 (known as ''Third Time Lucky'' in the USA), which concentrates on her childhood years growing up in the household of her actor father James Donlan in the [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] of the 1930s. It also charts her early career as a dancer and actress.

Guest retired from directing in 1985 and the couple moved to the USA in the early 1990s, where they resided in [[Palm Springs, California|Palm Springs]] until his death in 2006. In later years, Donlan lived in Belgravia, London.

In 2004, a Golden Palm Star on the [[Palm Springs Walk of Stars]] was dedicated to her and Guest.<ref>[http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf |date=2012-10-13 }}</ref> She died in London on December 30, 2014.<ref name="Bergan">[[Ronald Bergan]] [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/05/yolande-donlan "Yolande Donlan obituary"], ''The Guardian'', 5 January 2015</ref>

==Selected filmography==
* ''[[Turnabout (film)|Turnabout]]'' (1940) - Marie
* ''[[Cross-Country Romance]]'' (1940) - Jennie - Diane's Maid (uncredited)
* ''[[The Devil Bat]]'' (1940) - Maxine
* ''[[Dark Streets of Cairo]]'' (1940) - Maggie Malone, aka Margo Molina
* ''[[Road Show (film)|Road Show]]'' (1941) - Nurse (uncredited)
* ''[[Under Age (1941 film)|Under Age]]'' (1941) - Lily Fletcher
* ''[[Life Begins for Andy Hardy]]'' (1941) - Drugstore Waitress (uncredited)
* ''[[Miss Pilgrim's Progress]]'' (1949) - Laramie Pilgrim
* ''[[Traveller's Joy]]'' (1949) - Lil Fowler
* ''[[The Body Said No!]]'' (1950) - Mikki Brent
* ''[[Mister Drake's Duck]]'' (1951) - Penny Drake
* ''[[Penny Princess]]'' (1952) - Lindy Smith
* ''[[They Can't Hang Me]]'' (1955) - Jill Wilson
* ''[[Tarzan and the Lost Safari]]'' (1957) - Gamage Dean
* ''[[Expresso Bongo#1959 film|Expresso Bongo]]'' (1959) - Dixie Collins
* ''[[Jigsaw (1962 film)|Jigsaw]]'' (1962) - Jean Sherman
* ''[[80,000 Suspects]]'' (1963) - Ruth Preston
* ''[[The Adventurers (1970 film)|The Adventurers]]'' (1970) - Mrs. Erickson
* ''[[Seven Nights in Japan]]'' (1976) - American Wife

==Theatre credits==
*1942 'Dodie' in "Goodnight Ladies", Blackstone Theatre, Chicago.
*1944 'Julie' in "School for Brides", Royale Theatre, New York.
*1947 'Billie Dawn' in "Born Yesterday" by Garson Kanin, Garrick Theatre, London.
*1948 "Rocket to the Moon" by Clifford Odets, St Martin's Theatre, London.
*1948 'Lucrece' in "Cage me a Peacock" (with [[Lionel Blair]]) by Noel Langley, Strand Theatre, London.
*1950 ''[[To Dorothy, a Son]]'' (with [[Richard Attenborough]] and [[Sheila Sim]]), Savoy Theatre, London.
*1953 "Redheaded Blonde", Vaudeville Theatre, London.
*1954 "It's Different for Men", Golders Green Hippodrome, London.
*1957 "Olive Ogilvy", Aldwych Theatre, London.
*1958 'Lizzie' in "The Rainmaker", Olympia Theatre, Dublin.
*1959 "Suddenly it's Spring" (with [[Margaret Lockwood]]), Duke of Yorks, London.
*1965 "Dear Wormwood" (with [[Donald Wolfit]] and [[Hywel Bennett]]), Golders Green Hippodrome, London.
*1971 "Chorus of Murder", (with [[Irene Handl]] and [[Robert Cawdron]]) Edinburgh.
*1972 "Cut-Throat" Theatre Royal, Windsor.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0232574|name=Yolande Donlan}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donlan, Yolande}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American expatriates in England]]
[[Category:Actresses from Jersey City, New Jersey]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]

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Yolande Donlan