Yvonne De Carlo

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Yvonne De Carlo in 1979

Yvonne De Carlo (born Peggy Yvonne Middleton September 1, 1922) is a Canadian-born American film and television actress, best known for her role as "Lily Munster" on the 1964-1966 CBS television series The Munsters.

DeCarlo, the daughter of an ambitious but unsuccessful aspiring actress, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. De Carlo sang in the choir of St Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver and was taken to Hollywood by her mother at the age of fifteen. She was "Miss Venice Beach" (1938). Unable to find work, they returned to Canada until 1940, when they once again traveled to Hollywood. De Carlo supported herself working in a chorus while trying to find film work. She made her first film appearance in 1941, but could only find bit parts for the next few years. She was a Paramount starlet but the studio apparently signed her mainly for her slight resemblance to Dorothy Lamour as it was common back then for studios to sign lookalikes to their major stars and have them at the studio lest any star get the idea that they couldn't be replaced.

Her break came in 1945 playing the title role in Salome, Where She Danced. Though not a critical success it was a box office favorite and De Carlo was hailed as an up and coming star. In 1947 she played her first leading role in Slave Girl and then in 1949 had her biggest success. As the female lead opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, De Carlo played a femme fatale, and her career began to ascend. The 1957 Band of Angels featured her opposite Clark Gable in a civil war story, along with Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

For the next several years, she was constantly working although many of the films failed to advance her career.

Cast in The Ten Commandments (1956) in a leading role (as Moses' wife), De Carlo was part of a major hit. The film was a huge success and De Carlo was among those to be praised for her restrained work.

However, her most famous role that led her to pop culture legacy is of Lily Munster in the cult television series The Munsters (1964 - 1966), which allowed DeCarlo to demonstrate a comic flair that her films had failed to utilize.

DeCarlo performed on Broadway, notably in the role of Carlotta Campion, introducing the song "I'm Still Here" in the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, of which show she is the sole lead female performer still living (having been predeceased by Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Fifi D'Orsay, Ethel B. Colt and Ethel Shutta).

Possessed of a powerful contralto voice, DeCarlo released an LP of standards called Yvonne DeCarlo Sings in 1957. She sang and played the harp on at least one episode of The Munsters.

She also received recognition for her work in various low-budget horror movies, such as The Power, The Seven Minutes, House of Shadows, Sorority House Murders, Cellar Dweller, Mirror, Mirror, Blazing Stewardesses, and American Gothic.

De Carlo has worked steadily in both film and television, playing her most recent role in the television production of The Barefoot Executive (1995).

She was married to the late stuntman, Bob Morgan, from 1955 to 1968 when they divorced; they had 2 sons, and Morgan had a daughter, Bari, from a previous marriage. De Carlo is a naturalized citizen of the United States.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.

The Power (1968) kept her before the eye of the movie going public. Yvonne's last big screen appearance was in 1993.

According to her former Munsters co-star Butch Patrick, who appeared on Howard Stern Show 9/25/06, Yvonne De Carlo is now a resident of the Motion Picture & Television Fund's Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, CA.