Rhonda Fleming at the world premiere of Hurricane at Mann's Chinese Theatre, Thursday, April 12, 1979.
 
Rhonda Fleming on Wikipedia
Rhonda Fleming on the Internet Movie Database
www.rhondafleming.com
 
 
 
 
 
Rhonda Fleming
Forecourt Ceremony held on Monday, September 28, 1981
 
Born: Marilyn Louis, August 10, 1923, in Los Angeles, California
Age at the time of the ceremony: 58
Died: October 14, 2020, in Santa Monica, California, age 97
 
Rhonda Fleming was, once upon a time, a fairly well-known lead in Hollywood pictures. Due to her red hair, producers put her in color films; she became known as "The Queen of Technicolor." She appears in the Forecourt courtesy of her husband at the time, Ted Mann.

A local gal, Marilyn's mother had had a long career in showbiz, while her grandfather had been an actor and theatre owner in Utah. So naturally, she followed the magic footprints leading to the stage in high school. Upon graduating in 1941, she was picked up by the well-known agent Henry Wilson.

It took awhile, but after changing her name to Rhonda Fleming, she received a small part as a dance hall girl in the John Wayne picture In Old Oklahoma (released in December 1943), then, after several more bit parts, she got a showy role as a psychiatric patient in Spellbound (which played the Chinese in November 1945). This was followed with her having a scene where she gets mudered in the thriller The Spiral Staircase (released in February 1946), with Dorothy McGuire.

No good-looking redhead could flourish in Hollywood without appearing in a noir or two, and Fleming was the female lead in one of the best: Out of the Past (released in December 1947), with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas.

When she appeared in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (released in April 1949), with Bing Crosby, not only did she get second billing, but she sang a couple of duets wing der Bingle, the records of which, sold well. Back at R-K-O, she starred in the noir quicky Cry Danger (released in February 1951), with Dick Powell.

With a title like The Redhead and the Cowboy (released in March 1951), with Glenn Ford, you would think it's in color — but it isn't, and who can forget director William Castle's Serpent of the Nile (released in May 1953), with Fleming as a Technicolor Cleopatra, and Raymond Burr as Mark Anthony (!) ?

One of Fleming's best-known films is perhaps the 3-D film Inferno (released in August 1953), with Robert Ryan, which was followed by Paramount's effort at a 3-D musical Those Redheads from Seattle (released in October 1953), with Gene Barry.

Traveling to Italy, Fleming played Semiramide in La cortigiana di Babilonia - The Queen of Baylon (released in December 1954 in Italy, not until August 1956 in the US), with Ricardo Montalban, then came back to the US to star in a couple of noirs: The Killer is Loose (released in February 1956), with Joseph Cotton, and While the City Sleeps (released in May 1956), with Dana Andrews and directed by Fritz Lang.

Bouncing back to comedy, she co-starred in Alias Jesse James (released in March 1959), with Bob Hope. She then played a fast-talking publicist forThe Big Circus (released in July 1959), with Victor Mature.

After this, Fleming did guest spots on a number of television programs, including several western shows, like Death Valley Days, aired in syndication in December 1962, Wagon Train, aired over ABC, in December 1963, and The Virginian, aired over NBC, in April 1965.

She returned to Italy to make her last starring role in a theatrical film, Una moglie americana - Run for Your Wife (released in Italy in September 1965, not until September 1966 in the US), with Ugo Tognazzi. After taking a break from films for a bit, she returned to Hollywood and resumed her guesting on various television shows shot in town: McMillian & Wife, aired over NBC, in February 1974, Police Woman, aired over NBC, in October 1974, Kung Fu, aired over ABC, in April 1975, and Ellery Queen, aired over NBC, in October 1975.

It was while shooting a scene at Mann's Chinese Theatre for Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (released in May, 1976), with Bruce Dern, that Fleming met theatre owner and producer Ted Mann. They married in March 1977.

After her marriage to Mann, Fleming took it a bit easier. She guest starred on The Love Boat, aired over ABC, in November 1978, did the television movie Love for Rent, aired over ABC, in November 1979, with Annette O'Toole. Finally, she did a small role in her husband's production of the Get Smart feature The Nude Bomb (which played the Chinese in May 1980). She appeared in a short film produced by what seems to have been an arm of the Lutheran church, Waiting for the Wind (released in 1990), with Robert Mitchum.

With Ted Mann diying of a stroke in January 2001, Fleming had more time to appear on television. She was one of a huge number of celebs seen in Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, aired over CBS, in November 2001. She was the subject of her very own documentary, Rhonda Fleming: A Cinderella Story (released on DVD in October 2008), and has appeared several times on Praise the Lord over the Trinity Broadcasting Network, from 2003 to 2009. Fleming sat for interviews for the documentary The Many Faces of Cleopatra, (released on DVD in September 2009).

Re-married in 2003 to Darol Carlson, who passed away in 2017, Fleming lived in Century City until her health took a downturn, passing away at the age of 97 in October 2020.
 
 
Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Rhonda Fleming Forecourt block. Executed by John Tartaglia, Monday, September 28, 1981. 52 x 45 inches overall.
Mann's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Rhonda Fleming Forecourt ceremony, Monday, September 24, 1981. Rhonda Fleming admires her handiwork.
 
 
 
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