Dianne Foster
| Dianne Foster | |
|---|---|
 Dianne Foster in The Last Hurrah (1958) | |
| Born |
Dianne Laruska October 31, 1928 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Occupation | Actress; painter, musician |
| Years active | 1951–1966 |
| Spouse(s) |
Andrew Allan (1951-?) (divorced) Joel Murcott (1954-1959) (divorced) 2 children Dr. Harold Rowe DDS (1961-1994) (his death) 1 child |
Dianne Foster (born October 31, 1928) is a Canadian actress of Ukrainian descent.
Stage
She began her career at the age of 13 in a stage adaptation of James Barrie's What Every Woman Knows.[1] In London in 1951, she appeared on stage in Agatha Christie's The Hollow and Orson Welles's Othello.[2]
Early years
Foster was born Dianne Laruska in Edmondton, Alberta, Canada.[3]
Radio
At 14 she began a radio career,[1] subsequently moved to Toronto, and became one of Canada's top radio stars, working with Andrew Allan, drama supervisor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on productions such as Stage '49.[4]
She appeared on Radio Luxembourg in a broadcast of The Lives of Harry Lime.[2]
Film
In March, 1952, her husband returned to Canada while she stayed in London, England, to honor her five-year contract with a British film company.
In 1953, she co-starred alongside Charlton Heston and Lizabeth Scott in the middling Bad for Each Other. In 1954, she was signed by Columbia Pictures and relocated to Hollywood, where her first appearance proper that year was with Mickey Rooney in Drive a Crooked Road.
In 1955, Foster appeared on the cover of Picturegoer and co-starred in two big films, Glenn Ford's The Violent Men and Burt Lancaster's The Kentuckian.
Although her film career continued, it was not on the same upward trajectory as before. In 1957 she co-starred in the biopic Monkey on My Back about boxer Barney Ross, Night Passage with James Stewart and The Brothers Rico with Richard Conte.
In 1958, she starred with Alan Ladd in The Deep Six, and that same year she appeared alongside Jack Hawkins in Gideon of Scotland Yard before her last really big picture, The Last Hurrah. It featured an all-star cast that included Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, and Basil Rathbone, and was nominated for two BAFTA awards.
In 1963, she made her last film appearance, in the Dean Martin vehicle Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?.
Television
In 1960, Foster was the title guest star in the episode "Lawyer in Petticoats" on the short-lived NBC western series Overland Trail starring William Bendix and Doug McClure. Foster also appeared in 1960 in three other NBC westerns Bonanza (as Joyce Edwards in "The Mill"), Wagon Train (as Leslie Ivers in "Trial for Murder: Part 2"), and Riverboat (as Marian Templeton in "Path of the Eagle").
There was a three-year absence before she next returned to the screen in King of the Roaring 20's - The Story of Arnold Rothstein.
Foster continued to appear in television programs, such as the Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Lord of Limbo," CBS's The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962–1963) and the ABC medical drama Breaking Point (1963–1964) and in The Fugitive. She guest starred in the ABC drama Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly. She made four guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1962 and 1965, and appeared in the "Caesar's Wife" episode of The Big Valley in 1966.
Later years
Foster retired from show business in 1966 to concentrate on rearing her three children. She still lives in California and is an accomplished pianist and painter.
Personal life
In 1951, Foster married Andrew Allan, a drama supervisor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in London.[2]
In 1954, she married Joel A. Murcott, a Hollywood radio-television scriptwriter, in Owensboro, Kentucky.[5] At 39, Murcott was 14 years her senior and had been married previously.
On February 14, 1956, she gave birth to twins: a son, Jason, and a daughter, Jodi.[6] That same year she also filed for divorce from Murcott. She asked for custody and $1 in token alimony. The couple reconciled, but it proved to be temporary as they separated twice more[5] before finally divorcing in 1959.
After her divorce from Murcott she married Dr. Harold Rowe, a Van Nuys dentist. On November 14, 1963, her son, Dustin Louis Rowe, was born in Los Angeles.
Selected filmography
- The Steel Key (1953)
- The Kentuckian (1955)
- The Violent Men (1955)
- The Last Hurrah (1958)
References
- 1 2 Lait, George (January 30, 1956). "There's No Easy Way to Stardom". Independent Press-Telegram. California, Long Beach. p. 89. Retrieved November 4, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 Narraway, Muriel (January 4, 1952). "Another Bright Star". The Lethbridge Herald. Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta. Canadian Press. p. 8. Retrieved November 4, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "(editor's note)". Screenland. 58 (8): 17. June 1954. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ↑ Letter, Mickey Macdonald, Edmonton AB to Alice Frick, Toronto ON, 1949.04.29 in Marguerite (Clifton) Macdonald fonds, City of Edmonton Archives (MS 609)
- 1 2 "Dianne Foster Files Third Divorce Suit". St. Petersburg Independent. Associated Press. May 27, 1959. p. 2-A. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ↑ "Mother of Twins". The Sandusky Register. Ohio, Sandusky. United Press. February 16, 1956. p. 2. Retrieved November 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.