Arlene Dahl

Arlene Dahl
in No Questions Asked (1951)
Born	Arlene Carol Dahl (1925-08-11) August 11, 1925 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Occupation	Actress, columnist
Years active	1947-1999
Spouse(s)	Lex Barker (m. 1951–d. 1952) Fernando Lamas (m. 1954–d. 1960) Christian R. Holmes (m. 1960–d. 1964) Alexis Lichine (m. 1964–d. 1969) Rousevelle W. Schaum (m. 1969–d. 1976) Marc Rosen (m. 1984)
Children	Lorenzo Lamas (b. 1958) Christina Carole (b. 1961) Rousevelle Andreas (b. 1970)

Arlene Carol Dahl (born August 11, 1925) is an American actress and former MGM contract star, who achieved notability during the 1950s. She is the mother of actor Lorenzo Lamas.

Early years

Dahl was born in 1925 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Idelle (née Swan) and Rudolph S. Dahl, a Ford Motor dealer and executive. She is of German and Norwegian descent. After graduation from Washburn High School, she held various jobs, including performing in a local drama group and briefly working as a model for department stores. Dahl's mother was involved in local amateur theatre. As a child, Dahl took elocution and dancing lessons and was active in theatrical events at Margaret Fuller Elementary School, Ramsey Junior High School and Washburn Senior High School. Dahl briefly attended the University of Minnesota.

Career

It is an oft repeated myth that Dahl was voted the Rheingold Beer Girl of 1946. (The 1946 Rheingold Girl was Rita Daigle.) Other actresses, including Tippi Hedren, Hope Lange, and Grace Kelly, have had the same myth mentioned in articles about their careers.

Dahl began her acting career in 1947. She reached the peak of her popularity and success in the 1950s. Some of her films include: Reign of Terror (1949), Three Little Words (1950), Woman's World (1954), Slightly Scarlet (1956), and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959).

Personal life

In 1948, Dahl had a brief relationship with then U.S. Representative John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Later, in the early 1950s, she met actor Lex Barker; they wed on April 16, 1951 and divorced the following year, and Dahl went on on to marry another matinee idol, Fernando Lamas. (Barker married Lana Turner.) In 1958, Dahl and Lamas had their only son, Lorenzo Lamas. Shortly after giving birth to Lorenzo, Dahl slowed and eventually ended her career as an actress, although she still appeared in movies and on television occasionally.

Dahl later worked as a beauty columnist and as a writer. She founded Arlene Dahl Enterprises, which marketed lingerie and cosmetics. She eventually became an astrologer and wrote a syndicated column on the subject.

She is a Republican; during the House Un-American Activities Committee's hearings she was one of many conservative notables who listed names.

Family

Dahl and Lamas divorced in 1960, and Dahl later remarried. Aside from Lorenzo Lamas, Dahl has two other children: a daughter Christina Carole (born August 3, 1961) by third husband Christian R. Holmes, and a second son, Rousevelle Andreas (born December 8, 1970), by her fifth husband, Rousevelle W. Schaum. She has six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and divides her time between New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida.

Television

Dahl was both a mystery guest and a panelist on the CBS game show What's My Line?. In 1953, she hosted ABC's anthology series The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. In 1960, she played the part of Lucy Belle in the episode "That Taylor Affair" of the NBC western series Riverboat, alongside Darren McGavin.

Dahl appeared on ABC's soap opera One Life to Live from 1981 to 1984 as Lucinda Schenck Wilson. Lucinda was planned as a short-termed role (she guest-starred from late 1981 to early 1982 and in late 1982], but Dahl was later offered a one-year contract to appear on the show from September 1983 to October 1984. During this time, her son, Lorenzo Lamas was a cast member with Jane Wyman and Abby Dalton on CBS's Falcon Crest night-time soap opera. Dahl's last film, which followed a hiatus of more than two decades, was Night of the Warrior (1991), also starring Lorenzo Lamas.

Filmography

• Life with Father (1947)
• My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
• The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
• A Southern Yankee (1948)
• Some of the Best (1949) (short subject)
• Scene of the Crime (1949)
• Reign of Terror (1949)
• Ambush (1950)
• The Outriders (1950)
• Three Little Words (1950)
• Watch the Birdie (1950)
• Inside Straight (1951)
• No Questions Asked (1951)
• Caribbean (1952)
• Desert Legion (1953)
• Jamaica Run (1953)
• Sangaree (1953)
• Here Come the Girls (1953)
• The Diamond Queen (1953)
• Woman's World (1954)
• Bengal Brigade (1954)
• Slightly Scarlet (1956)
• Wicked As They Come (1956)
• Fortune Is a Woman (1957)
• She Played with Fire (1958)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
• Kisses for My President (1964)
• The Ponies (1967)
• The Pleasure Pit (1969)
• Land Raiders (1969)
• Night of the Warrior (1991)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)

Television work

• The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (host from 1953–1954)
• Opening Night (1958) (canceled after a few weeks)
• Deadly Dream (1971)
• One Life to Live (cast member from 1981–1982, 1982, 1983-1984)
• All My Children (cast member in 1995)

Bibliography

• Always Ask a Man: Arlene Dahl's Key to Femininity. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. 1965. OCLC 4511224. 
• Arlene Dahl's Lovescopes. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. 1983. ISBN 0-672-52770-7. 
• Beyond Beauty. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1980. ISBN 0-671-24555-4. 

External links

• Arlene Dahl at the Internet Movie Database
• Arlene Dahl at the Internet Broadway Database
• Arlene Dahl at Brian's Drive-In Theatre
• Photographs and literature at Virtual-History.com