There were a lot of talented and attractive actresses back in the day and the stunning Yvonne De Carlo was definitely one of them.
She catapulted to fame through starring in the CBS sitcom The Munsters, only for a tragic accident to suddenly halt her career.
The legendary Yvonne De Carlo was a sultry and versatile actress with a movie career spanning over six decades. Born in 1922, she’s definitely one of the most prominent celebrities to come out of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
As a young girl, De Carlo was abandoned by her father. She was raised by her mother in poor circumstances – but she always knew that she wanted to be an actress, and De Carlo wrote her own plays as a 13-year-old.
During her time in Hollywood, the blue-eyed brunette proved that she was the real deal – she could do it all. It wasn’t just the fact that her beauty was overwhelming, De Carlo seemed to be a very down-to-earth lady as well.
Her career in movies and television is a testimony to her strength of character and determination. Among many other things, she played Moses’ wife in the epic film The Ten Commandments – though she’s best known for her role on the tv series The Munsters.
No one could have played Lily Munster better than De Carlo – she really nailed the role of a vampire in the monster sitcom. To this day, many of us can still remember the famous line when Lily, the matriarch of the monster family, says, “I’ve never heard of anything so outrageous in all my LIVES!”
The show propelled Yvonne De Carlo towards TV stardom – the role defined her career, and she gained a whole new generation of fans. It could even be said that The Munsters actually renewed De Carlos’s career. She had a good run in Tinseltown even before the show – she was often called the most beautiful girl in the world, and the audience loved her.
But the truth is that De Carlo’s star quality had begun to fade around the time she was cast in the monster sitcom. The Canadian-American actress had turned 42 when she was offered the role of Lily. And no one could have guessed that The Munsters would be hailed as one of the best television series of all time.
“It meant security,” De Carlo later said. “It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn’t have had otherwise. It made me ‘hot’ again, which I wasn’t for a while.”
“But I never estimated it would become this cult thing. It took two hours of makeup to make me seem like that. It ran for two huge seasons, then CBS quarreled with the creators about reruns as we got canceled. A movie in color in 1966 [‘Munster, Go Home!’] showed off everything in reds and greens on my face. Boy, was I ugly.”
After The Munsters, De Carlo continued to appear both in TV series and on stage. As one of the most respected actresses in the business, she had fans in every generation and no problem finding new and exciting projects.
Unfortunately, De Carlo had a pretty tough time of things during the last years of her life. It all goes back to when the actress met stuntman Robert ”Bob” Morgan on set in 1955.
The couple obviously had some chemistry, but Morgan was married at the time and Yvonne didn’t want to take things further. According to herself, she had ”no intention of causing that marriage to break up.”
Her husband lost his leg
When Morgan’s wife died, he and De Carlo met again on the set of The Ten Commandments in Egypt. They fell in love, got married, and had two sons together, Bruce Ross and Michael.
But living with a stuntman and daredevil came with a price. Morgan and De Carlo struggled to make their marriage work, but everything changed when the former was hit by a moving log train while shooting the 1962 movie How the West Was Won.
The accident cost Morgan his leg. He almost died performing the stunt, and the traumatic experience would affect the whole family. After the incident, medical bills piled up and De Carlo worked extremely hard to support her family. Yvonne, who had basically retired from acting by that point, had to go back to work to pay the bills.
“Before the accident, we were on the verge of breaking up, but when they took me to the hospital I just choked up and only one thought filled my mind: I don’t want my husband to die,” she said.
The Hollywood couple stayed together until 1973.
Losing her son
Sadly, De Carlo would once again have to face unimaginable tragedy. In 1997, her son Michael died at age 39. According to his brother, Michael died of brain damage from a stroke.
Her son’s death was a heavy blow for De Carlo. She made her last film in 1995, and after her son’s death never returned to the entertainment industry. She herself suffered a minor stroke in 1998.
According to her other son, Bob Ross, the stroke resulted from the stress and grief De Carlo felt over Michael’s passing.
“It just preyed on her mind to the point that she had a stroke the following year,” James Bawden, a former TV columnist for the Toronto Star, said.
“All she would talk about was her son.”
Yvonne De Carlo cause of death
Yvonne De Carlo passed away in January 2007 at age 84. During the last years of her life, she lived in a semi-retirement home near Solvang, north of Santa Barbara.
Her cause of death was heart failure.
“I think she will best remembered as the definitive Lily Munster. She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she’s iconic,” her longtime friend and television producer Kevin Burns said at the time.
“But it would be a shame if that’s the only way she is remembered. She was also one of the biggest beauty queens of the ’40s and ’50s, one of the most beautiful women in the world. This was one of the great glamour queens of Hollywood, one of the last ones.”
Yvonne De Carlo is just pure legendary! She is what acting is all about and managed to reinvent herself all the time.
No matter her role, she was always on top of her game and portrayed her character in the most elegant and believable fashion. Rest in Peace!
Emotional last photo of Kris Kristofferson moves fans to tears
With Kris Kristofferson’s demise, a remarkable period has come to a close. He was not just a talented musician and composer, but also a poet who was able to express all of life’s true feelings, including love, loss, and everything in between.
Numerous hearts were moved by his poignant voice and strong remarks.
And now, his farewell image has his fans in tears.
The devastating news of Kris Kristofferson’s passing has left a void in my heart.
His influence on those of us who grew up listening to his music feels unreplaceable. Now that Willie Nelson is the last member of The Highwaymen still alive, we are reminded of a time that is passing away and that influenced American music and culture.
But Kristofferson’s life extended well beyond his membership in the storied country supergroup. His career took off in the 1960s, and he wrote timeless hits like “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and “For the Good Times.” He had roots in both Texas and Sweden. His lyrics were poetry that expressed the human predicament in all its unadulterated glory rather than merely lyrics to tunes.
Most guys would need twelve lifetimes to do what Kris did in just one. In addition to being a multi-platinum performer, he was a shining figure on screen, costarring with Barbra Streisand in A figure Is Born (1976), for which he won a Golden Globe.
“He was unique in his way.”
“I saw Kris perform for the first time at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles. “I knew he was something special,” Streisand, who costarred with him, wrote on Instagram. “He looked like the ideal fit for a script I was drafting, which became into A Star Is Born, because he was barefoot and strumming his guitar.”
In addition, Kristofferson was a Rhodes scholar, an Army ranger, a helicopter pilot, and most importantly, a storyteller. Channing Wilson, a country music musician from Georgia, stated it so beautifully on Instagram: “Kris, you left this world better than you found it.” His work touched generations of people.
Even more amazing than the pictures and music was Kris’s heart. He supported gender equality and civil rights as social justice causes. He continued to be involved in collecting money and publicity for causes like the United Farm Workers (UFW) even in his latter years.
Last Instagram picture On September 28, Chris went away quietly at home in Maui, Hawaii. The reason of death was not stated.
Fans immediately showered Kris’s Instagram with accolades, recounting how his music had impacted their own lives. But the image that really touched people was his final one, which was posted online by legendary country music performer Tanya Tucker in April of this year.
Kris and Tanya, who stand next to each other in the picture, symbolize the heyday of country music. Kris is grinning subtly while sporting a Muhammad Ali T-shirt. Even if his formerly rugged features have softened with age, the man’s spirit is still evident. The youthful, handsome man with a beard is no more, but what’s left is a legend – a man whose presence is palpable even in his advanced years.
Just a few months before he passed away, fans had one more chance to see the guy they adored in one farewell photo. Kris Kristofferson was defined by his quiet strength and his glint in his eye.
Thus, let’s remember this American icon by playing his timeless music throughout the day and offer our condolences and prayers to Kris’s family at this trying time.
Tell the people who knew Kris this tale, and let’s all join in honoring his amazing legacy.
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