Fifi D'Orsay, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Fifi D'Orsay
Acting

Fifi D'Orsay
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1904-04-16,Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Gender
Female
Biography
Fifi D'Orsay was born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Canada, to a father who was a postal clerk. The couple had a large family, with Fifi having 11 siblings. She was educated at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Montreal before graduating and finding work as a secretary. As a young typist she wished to become an actress, and moved to New York City. Once there she found work with the Greenwich Village Follies, after an audition in which she sang "Yes! We Have No Bananas" in French. When asked where she was from, she told the director she was from Paris, France, and that she had worked in the Folies Bergère. The impressed director hired her, billing her as "Mademoiselle Fifi". While working in the Follies, she became involved with Ed Gallagher, a veteran actor who was half of the successful Broadway comedy team of Gallagher and Shean. Gallagher and D'Orsay put together a vaudeville act, and he coached her in the art of show business. After touring in vaudeville, she headed to Hollywood and adopted the surname "D'Orsay" (after a favorite perfume). Soon after she began working in films, often cast as the "naughty French girl" from "gay Paris". She became a U.S. citizen in 1936, just as her career as a film star came to a sharp halt when she walked out on her contract at Fox Studios and was blacklisted. While never becoming a major top-billing name, she found steady work - appearing with such stalwarts as Bing Crosby and Buster Crabbe. For years she worked in both film and vaudeville; pacing her appearances in film with continued performances in vaudeville. When age put an end to the glamour roles, she took jobs in television; including 2 appearances each on ABC's Adventures in Paradise (as a mother superior in the episode "Castaways"), and the CBS legal drama Perry Mason (in the episode "The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather" and in the episode “The Case of the Bountiful Beauty”)- as well appearing in the CBS sitcom Pete and Gladys. She was a contestant on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life, and at the age of sixty-seven she bookended her career with a return to the Broadway stage in the Tony Award-winning musical, Follies.

Filmography

4.421

Nabonga
1944-01-25

5.211

The Gangster
1947-11-25

Going Hollywood

5.533

Going Hollywood
1933-12-22

10

On the Level
1930-05-18

Delinquent Daughters

5.4

Delinquent Daughters
1944-07-15

Mr. Lemon Of Orange

7

Mr. Lemon Of Orange
1931-03-22

6

Wonder Bar
1934-03-31

They Had to See Paris

6.375

They Had to See Paris
1929-09-18

Women Everywhere

5.333

Women Everywhere
1930-06-01

The Life of Jimmy Dolan

6.2

The Life of Jimmy Dolan
1933-06-03

The Girl from Calgary

5

The Girl from Calgary
1932-10-23

10

Hot for Paris
1929-12-22

What a Way to Go!

7.125

What a Way to Go!
1964-07-02

Those Three French Girls

4.714

Those Three French Girls
1930-10-10

5.4

Dixie Jamboree
1944-08-15

Three Legionnaires

8

Three Legionnaires
1937-07-10

Wild and Wonderful

7

Wild and Wonderful
1964-06-09

The Stolen Jools

5.629

The Stolen Jools
1931-04-04

Women of All Nations

3.286

Women of All Nations
1931-05-31

7

Piano Mooner
1942-12-11

Young as You Feel

9

Young as You Feel
1931-08-06

That's Entertainment, Part II

7

That's Entertainment, Part II
1976-05-16

5.143

Submarine Base
1943-07-20

The Art of Love

5.5

The Art of Love
1965-06-30

Assignment to Kill

6

Assignment to Kill
1968-05-01

The Grim Reaper

0

The Grim Reaper
1961-06-13

7.706

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

7.8

Combat!
1962-10-02

7.9

Bewitched
1964-09-17

General Electric Theater

6.833

General Electric Theater
1953-02-01

6.675

Thriller
1960-09-13

Adventures in Paradise

6.143

Adventures in Paradise
1959-10-05

Pete and Gladys

6.25

Pete and Gladys
1960-09-19

Mr. & Mrs. North

5

Mr. & Mrs. North
1952-10-03

The Mike Douglas Show

5.8

The Mike Douglas Show
1961-12-11

Adventures in Paradise

6.143

Adventures in Paradise
1959-10-05

This Is Your Life

6.5

This Is Your Life
1952-10-01

7.11

The Lucy Show
1962-10-01

7.706

Perry Mason
1957-09-21