ACTOR
Yvonne De Carlo
91 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (91)
- #001
Yvonne De Carlo considered The Ten Commandments (1956) her best film. She was nominated for a Laurel Award for Best Supporting Female Performance for her role. In her autobiography and her book about the film, she said it was a timeless film that her grandchildren would watch.
- #002
De Carlo took the role of Lily Munster on The Munsters (1964) to help pay her husband Bob Morgan's medical bills. Morgan, an actor and stuntman, had been nearly fatally injured during the filming of How the West Was Won (1962). By her own admission, De Carlo never thought the series would become so popular at the time. She also had mixed feelings about the show; she was grateful that it made her a focus of attention again, but felt its popularity tended to overshadow the rest of her career.
- #003
Italian actress Sophia Loren, who grew up watching De Carlo's early films, greatly admired her. In 1965 Loren told columnist Dick Kleiner: "I especially loved Yvonne De Carlo - she was my favorite actress. Others too, like Rita Hayworth, but I used to imagine I was Yvonne De Carlo. And I loved that little one - what was her name? - June Allyson too. But for me there was only one Yvonne De Carlo." At the 1954 Berlin Film Festival, De Carlo and Loren posed for a photo with Gina Lollobrigida.
- #004
In her final years she stayed at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital.
- #005
She was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for Motion Pictures at 6124 Hollywood Boulevard, and one for Television at 6715 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #006
Her maternal grandfather, Michele "Papa" De Carlo, was Sicilian. Her maternal grandmother, Margaret Purvis, was Scottish. Michele met Margaret in Nice, France, and they married in 1897. Yvonne's mother, Marie, was born in Nice in 1903. The De Carlo family moved to Canada in 1912.
- #007
Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952, was a great fan of hers. According to De Carlo's autobiography, Perón told the Hollywood film star that she had enjoyed every one of her films and that her favorite was Buccaneer's Girl (1950). Perón also said she wanted De Carlo to portray her in a biographical film. Before De Carlo left Argentina, Perón gave her a copy of her autobiography, writing: "A memento of your passage through Argentina, with my gratitude for the kindness you have shown me. With best wishes always for your happiness and a big hug - Eva Perón."
- #008
During and after The Munsters (1964), she and Butch Patrick remained good friends.
- #009
When she auditioned for Lily Munster, she had mixed feelings, but accepted the role because she needed the money.
- #010
She placed second in the 1940 Miss Venice Beach contest. The prize was a $25 check. Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who would later be her co-star in The Ten Commandments (1956), was one of the judges. This appearance led to her becoming a nightclub dancer and eventually to a successful film career.
- #011
Although Al Lewis played De Carlo's father on The Munsters (1964), Lewis was actually a year younger than she was.
- #012
Before she married, De Carlo was known as "Hollywood's No. 1 Bachelor Girl."
- #013
She always hoped to receive an Oscar nomination for her acting. In 1957 Paramount Pictures submitted her name for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1956).
- #014
She trained in opera and, as a young girl, was a former choir leader at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- #015
She made a guest appearance in the pilot episode of Bonanza (1959) as Gold Rush showman Lotta Crabtree.
- #016
She was the first Hollywood actor to star in a French film with no English-language version. The film was The Contessa's Secret (1954).
- #017
She received fifth-star billing (after Heston, Brynner, Baxter and Robinson) in The Ten Commandments (1956), the most important and famous film of her career, an Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, and one of her personal favorites.
- #018
Yvonne De Carlo retired from acting at the age of 72, after her role in the 1995 film The Barefoot Executive.
- #019
She and Virginia Mayo later toured together, signing autographs and dancing.
- #020
In 1949 she was briefly engaged to Jock Mahoney, but she called off the engagement after discovering his infidelity.
- #021
In a 1975 interview it emerged that her biological father was not William Middleton but a man of Polynesian origin.
- #022
She chose her own stage name, using her middle name and her mother's maiden name, De Carlo. She later explained that she had changed her name because she did not look like her neighbour's American daughter.
- #023
Comedian Vicki Lawrence said De Carlo was her childhood television hero. De Carlo declared that she was Lawrence's number one fan.
- #024
During the 1950s she made films in England, France, the Bahamas, Germany and Italy. Although she travelled to Egypt to visit DeMille, all of her scenes in The Ten Commandments (1956) were shot at Paramount Studios.
- #025
Her leading role as Lily Munster in the series The Munsters (1964) won her a new generation of fans.
- #026
She signed two five-year contracts with Universal/Universal-International Pictures, the studio that made her a star. In the first five years (1945-1950) she appeared mostly in Universal films and was sometimes loaned out to other studios. In the last five years (1951-1955) she made only one Universal film a year, which gave her the freedom to seek film roles with other producers.
- #027
Her favourite actress was Vivien Leigh. She watched all of Leigh's films.
- #028
In 1966 she was named Honorary Mayor of North Hollywood.
- #029
In 1982, years after selling her property in Coldwater Canyon, she bought a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley and became a neighbour of Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan.
- #030
In her 1987 autobiography she listed her 22 lovers over the years.
- #031
She had six hobbies: spending time with her family, playing golf, dancing, drinking wine, listening to music and singing.
- #032
When her mother was away from home, she lived with her maternal grandparents.
- #033
She was the producers' second choice to play Lily Munster, after Joan Marshall was ruled out for the role of Phoebe Munster (the original name of the character "Mrs. Munster").
- #034
She is mentioned in the I Love Lucy (1951) episode Ricky's Screen Test (1954). Lucy becomes jealous when she reads in a newspaper that a major Hollywood studio plans to put Ricky in a film and is considering several Hollywood actresses for the female lead. Yvonne is one of those actresses.
- #035
Butch Patrick, the star of The Munsters (1964), said in an interview that long before he appeared on the series with De Carlo, his mother had been a great fan of her films.
- #036
From 1950 to 1975, Yvonne De Carlo lived on five and a half acres on Coldwater Canyon Drive in the hills of Studio City, a neighborhood above Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. The house had eleven rooms and a kitchen she redesigned in English style with panels and stained-glass windows. She added stables and a large waterfall swimming pool to the property. Her financial situation after her divorce forced her to sell the ranch in 1975.
- #037
Yvonne De Carlo met Bob Morgan on the set of the film Shotgun (1955). They were married for 19 years, until their divorce in 1973.
- #038
Yvonne De Carlo temporarily left work in the early 1960s to care for her disabled husband, Bob Morgan.
- #039
Before becoming a successful actress, Yvonne De Carlo was a dancer and worked in various nightclubs in Vancouver, British Columbia, and later in Los Angeles, California.
- #040
From the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, Yvonne De Carlo was one of Universal Pictures' biggest box-office draws.
- #041
Yvonne De Carlo's mother, Marie DeCarlo Middleton, died on 19 December 1993 after a fall.
- #042
Throughout 1937, Yvonne De Carlo's mother took her to Hollywood to try to become a star, but she was unsuccessful and they returned to Canada.
- #043
In 1963 and 1964, De Carlo joined other actresses Joan Caulfield, Ruth Hussey, Marie Windsor, Laraine Day, Virginia Mayo and Maidie Norman in appearing on stage for US Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the Republican candidate in the campaign against US President Lyndon B. Johnson.
- #044
The film noir Brute Force (1947) features her first serious role.
- #045
In her youth, Yvonne De Carlo loved the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and she also admired Eleanor Powell and Ruby Keeler.
- #046
Yvonne De Carlo died on 8 January 2007. Her The Munsters (1964) co-star Al Lewis had died a year earlier, on 3 February 2006. Her The Ten Commandments (1956) co-stars Charlton Heston and Nina Foch both died the following year, in 2008.
- #047
Yvonne De Carlo appeared in two Cecil B. DeMille films: The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) and The Ten Commandments (1956), both shot at Paramount Pictures. In the first she was an extra. In the second she was a star. DeMille later said: "It is very fitting that Yvonne should remain a star where she began as an extra. Audiences will now see her as a really good actress."
- #048
According to an article published in Movieland in May 1945, Yvonne De Carlo wanted to play the role of Diana in the upcoming film version of Lloyd C. Douglas's novel The Robe. When production of The Robe (1953) finally began, the role was given to Jean Simmons.
- #049
Yvonne De Carlo was one year older than her The Ten Commandments (1956) co-star Charlton Heston.
- #050
Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh were Yvonne De Carlo's favorite film couple. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. introduced De Carlo to the Oliviers at the 1952 Royal Film Performance.
- #051
In the 1970s, Yvonne De Carlo was a famous spokesperson for Bank of America.
- #052
Yvonne De Carlo's roles sometimes required her to speak with accents such as Austrian, Irish, English, Southern (United States) and Arabic.
- #053
Yvonne De Carlo had two sons: Bruce (born 16 July 1956) and Michael (1957-1997); and one stepdaughter: Bari (born 5 October 1947).
- #054
Yvonne De Carlo suffered while doing ballet because her body was not slender enough. Her Canadian dance instructor, June Roper, advised her to study a different dance style.
- #055
In 1951, Yvonne De Carlo became the first American actress and film star to perform on stage in Israel in person.
- #056
Yvonne De Carlo created the role of Lily Munster in The Munsters (1964).
- #057
Her father's grandfather was from Messina, a city in northeastern Sicily.
- #058
She once described her singing voice as "reminiscent type Judy Garland."
- #059
Yvonne De Carlo portrayed a wide range of historical figures: the 19th-century dancer Lola Montez in Black Bart (1948); the American frontier woman Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949); Virginia Oldoini, mistress of Napoleon III, in The Contessa's Secret (1954); the composer Richard Wagner's wife Minna Planer in Magic Fire (1956); Moses's wife Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1956); the New Testament saint Mary Magdalene in La spada e la croce (1958); and the stage actress Lotta Crabtree in A Rose for Lotta (1959).
- #060
She was the only member of The Munsters (1964) cast to have appeared in Westerns.
- #061
She began her show The Munsters (1964) at the age of 42.
- #062
She played twins in Passion (1954).
- #063
She was two years and seven months older than Nina Foch, who played her mother-in-law in The Ten Commandments (1956).
- #064
She portrayed biblical women in The Ten Commandments (1956) and La spada e la croce (1958).
- #065
She was the on-screen leading lady of Oscar winners Burt Lancaster, Charles Coburn, Van Heflin, Peter Ustinov, Edmond O'Brien, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Charlton Heston, George Sanders and Clark Gable. She also appeared alongside Oscar nominees Brian Donlevy, Rock Hudson, John Ireland and Cornel Wilde.
- #066
Her former husband, Bob Morgan, was an alcoholic.
- #067
Initially there was some tension between the actress and her co-stars Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis during the production of The Munsters. After they later reached an agreement, they all got along well.
- #068
She appeared in two films with Rock Hudson: Scarlet Angel (1952) and Sea Devils (1953). Hudson played a supporting role in two other De Carlo films: The Desert Hawk (1950) and Tomahawk (1951).
- #069
She portrayed Mexican women in Sombrero (1953), Border River (1954) and Passion (1954).
- #070
She and Alfred Drake appeared in a 1952 radio adaptation of The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) for the Theatre of Musical Comedy.
- #071
Yvonne De Carlo signed her first studio contract with Paramount Pictures in 1942 at the age of 20. There she was Dorothy Lamour's "threat" (and was likely intended to replace her), appearing in screen tests and small roles in several Paramount productions. Paramount also loaned her to Republic Pictures for her first respectable supporting role, as Wah-Tah in the feature film The Deerslayer (1943).
- #072
Her parents were William Middleton, a salesman, and Marie De Carlo, an aspiring actress.
- #073
Her mother had been impressed by the child actress Baby Peggy and wanted a baby of the same name.
- #074
Yvonne De Carlo played Carlotta in the original Broadway cast of Sondheim's "Follies" and introduced the song "I'm Still Here" [1971].
- #075
Yvonne De Carlo appeared in two films with Joel McCrea: The San Francisco Story (1952) and Border River (1954).
- #076
Yvonne De Carlo appeared in three films with Dan Duryea: Black Bart (1948), River Lady (1948) and Criss Cross (1949).
- #077
Yvonne De Carlo is the former sister-in-law of Jaye P. Morgan, Charlie Morgan, Dick Morgan and Duke Morgan.
- #078
Yvonne De Carlo died on Elvis Presley's birthday.
- #079
Yvonne De Carlo appeared in three films with Rod Cameron: Salome, Where She Danced (1945), Frontier Gal (1945) and River Lady (1948).
- #080
Yvonne De Carlo turned down the offer to star opposite Alan Ladd in Desert Legion (1953) because she wanted to avoid escape films. The role went to the Technicolor beauty Arlene Dahl.
- #081
Yvonne De Carlo attended Le Conte Middle School in Los Angeles, California.
- #082
When Yvonne De Carlo visited Israel in 1951 and performed on stage, she bought Yemeni jewelry, blouses and clothing.
- #083
Yvonne De Carlo reprised her role from Casbah (1948) in the film's radio adaptation for the Camel Screen Guild Players series. Tony Martin and Peter Lorre also reprised their roles.
- #084
Yvonne De Carlo was tested for the role of Ata, George Sanders's Tahitian wife, in The Moon and Sixpence (1942). She lost the role to Elena Verdugo.
- #085
In 1966 Yvonne De Carlo appeared as a guest speaker/presenter at the 16th American Cinema Editors Awards.
- #086
Yvonne De Carlo studied at King Edward High School in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- #087
After becoming a star, in 1945 Yvonne De Carlo gave interviews to the famous gossip columnists Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper, Sheilah Graham, Harrison Carroll, Jimmy Fidler and Walter Winchell.
- #088
In the 1950s Universal Pictures loaned Yvonne De Carlo to every other major studio (Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO, United Artists and MGM) except 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. Before she became a star, however, she played some extra roles in Columbia films.
- #089
Yvonne De Carlo was screen-tested for the role of Lola Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944), a part that ultimately went to Jean Heather.
- #090
In the early 1940s, while both were under contract at Paramount, Yvonne De Carlo became friends with Gail Russell.
- #091
Yvonne De Carlo holds the distinction of having portrayed the wives of both Moses and Herman Munster.
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