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Rhonda Fleming
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rhonda Fleming (born August 10, 1923), nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor", is an American actress. Born in Hollywood, California as Marilyn Louis, Fleming made over forty films, mostly in the forties and fifties. Her most recent film was Waiting for the Wind (1990).
After appearing uncredited in a few films, she began getting bigger roles starting with top featured roles in David O. Selznick's Spellbound (1945), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and another classic thriller The Spiral Staircase (1946). She then co-starred with Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) based on a book by Mark Twain. Among her most famous movies are: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), While the City Sleeps (1956) and The Big Circus (1959). In 1953, she starred in Serpent of the Nile and became one of a number of leading Hollywood actresses to play the legendary Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra.
Although Rhonda Fleming was a very fine singer, this aspect of her talent was largely ignored by producers and by the public at large. She had sung with Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and her 78rpm Decca recording of "When Is Sometime" from that film was well received. In 1958, she recorded her only full album as a singer, simply entitled "Rhonda". It was a delightful album, blending then current songs like "Around The World" with standards like "Love Me Or Leave Me" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". Unfortunately, it wasn't promoted very well and the record sold poorly. Today, it is a collectible.
In retirement she has worked for charities, especially in the field of cancer care, and served on the committees of many related bodies. In 1991 she and her late husband, Ted Mann, set up the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic For Women's Comprehensive Care at the UCLA Medical Center. Fleming has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.