Faith Domergue

Faith Domergue
File:Faith Domergue.jpg
Born	Faith Marie Domergue (1924-06-16)June 16, 1924 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died	Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1941–1974
Spouse(s)	Teddy Stauffer (1946–1947) divorced Hugo Fregonese (1947–1958) divorced (2 children) Paolo Cossa (1966–1996) his death
Children	Diana Maria (b. 1949) John Anthony (b. 1951)

Faith Domergue (June 16, 1924 – April 4, 1999) was an American television and film actress.

Early life and career

Born in New Orleans, Domergue was adopted by Adabelle Wemet when she was six weeks old. When Faith was 18 months old (in 1926), Adabelle married Leo Domergue. The family moved to California in 1928 where Domergue attended Beverly Hills Catholic School and St. Monica's Convent School. While still at University High School, she was signed to a Warner Brothers contract, and made her first on-screen appearance in Blues in the Night (1941).

After graduating in 1942, Domergue continued to pursue a career in acting, but after sustaining injuries in a near-fatal car accident, her plans were put on hold. While recuperating from the accident, she attended a party aboard Howard Hughes's yacht. Hughes was 'taken' by her, buying out her contract with Warner, and signed her to a three-picture deal with RKO. After an unsuccessful, long-delayed premiere in the film Vendetta (1950), Domergue left Hughes. She later freelanced in a number of films, including film noir Where Danger Lives (as a femme fatale opposite Robert Mitchum), westerns (Santa Fe Passage) and in 1955, three sci-fi/monster films (It Came from Beneath the Sea, This Island Earth and Cult of the Cobra).

She later made films in the United Kingdom and Italy, and a last sci-fi foray in Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), an American version of a Russian film. In the late 1950s and 1960s she made many appearances on popular television series, including Sugarfoot, Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, and The Rifleman. She appeared in two episodes of Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. In 1961 she played murderer Conception O'Higgins in "The Case of the Guilty Clients," and in 1963 she played murder victim Cleo Grammas in "The Case of the Greek Goddess." By the late 1960s, Domergue had lost interest in acting as a career; her last acting appearances were mainly in low-budget 'B' horror movies. She began traveling to Rome, Italy, in 1952, and lived there for extended periods. She moved there permanently in 1968, and remained an expatriate in Rome, Geneva, Switzerland, and Marbella, Spain, until the death of her Roman husband, Paolo in 1991. She then moved to Santa Barbara where she resided until her death in 1999.

Personal life and death

In 1941, Domergue began an on-off relationship with Howard Hughes. After she discovered that Hughes was also seeing Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner, the couple broke up in 1943. She later wrote a book about her relationship with Hughes entitled My Life with Howard Hughes (1972).

In 1946, Domergue married bandleader Teddy Stauffer. The marriage lasted six months, ending in 1947. That same year, she married director Hugo Fregonese with whom she had two children, Diana Maria and John Anthony. The couple divorced in 1958. In 1966, she married Paolo Cossa, with whom she remained until his death in 1992.

On April 4, 1999, Domergue died from cancer, aged 74.

In the 2004 Howard Hughes biopic film The Aviator, Domergue was played by Kelli Garner.

Filmography

Film credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1941	Blues in the Night	Jitterbug	Uncredited
1946	Young Widow	Gerry Taylor	Alternative title: The Naughty Widow
1949	Hardly a Criminal		Uncredited Alternative title: Apenas un delincuente
1950	Where Danger Lives	Margo Lannington
1950	Vendetta	Colomba della Rabia
1952	The Duel at Silver Creek	Opal Lacy	Alternative title: Claim Jumpers
1953	The Great Sioux Uprising	Joan Britton
1954	This Is My Love	Evelyn Myer
1955	Santa Fe Passage	Aurelie St. Clair
1955	Cult of the Cobra	Lisa Moya
1955	This Island Earth	Dr. Ruth Adams
1955	It Came from Beneath the Sea	Professor Lesley Joyce	Alternative title: Monster from Beneath the Sea
1955	The Atomic Man	Jill Rabowski	Alternative title: Timeslip
1956	Soho Incident	Bella Francesi	Alternative title: Spin a Dark Web
1957	Man in the Shadow	Barbara Peters	Alternative title: Violent Stranger
1958	The Sky Burns	Anna	Alternative title: Il Cielo brucia
1958	Escort West	Martha Drury
1963	California	Carlotta Torres
1965	Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet	Dr. Marsha Evans	Additional material only, dubbed version of the Soviet film Planeta Bur (1962)
1967	Track of Thunder	Mrs. Goodwin
1969	Besieged	Lorenzo's mother	Alternative title: L'Amore breve
1969	One on Top of the Other	Marta	Alternative titles: Una sull'altra, Perversion Story
1970	The Gamblers	Signora Del Isolla
1971	Blood Legacy	Veronica Dean	Alternative title: Legacy of Blood
1971	The Man with Icy Eyes	Mrs. Valdes	Alternative title: L'Uomo dagli occhi di ghiaccio
1974	So Evil, My Sister	Millie	Alternative titles: Psycho Sisters The Siblings
1974	The House of Seven Corpses	Gayle Dorian

Television credits

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
1953	The Revlon Mirror Theater	Laurie Rogers	1 episode
1953–1954	Lux Video Theatre		2 episodes
1954	Fireside Theater	Mariana Jenny	2 episodes
1954	Ford Theatre		1 episode
1954–1958	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Marcella Mrs. Vialez	2 episodes
1955	Celebrity Playhouse		1 episode
1956	The Count of Monte Cristo	Renee Morrell	1 episode
1957	Overseas Press Club - Exclusive!	Helen Zotos	1 episode
1959	Sugarfoot	Isabel Starkey	1 episode
1959	State Trooper	Elaine Kendall Janice Kendall	2 episodes
1959	Bourbon Street Beat	Susan Wood	1 episode
1959	Cheyenne	Maria	1 episode
1959–1961	Hawaiian Eye	Onori Rosa Martell	2 episodes
1960	Colt .45	Suzanne Tremaine	1 episode
1960	Bronco	Catalina	1 episode
1960	Michael Shayne	Kara	1 episode
1961	77 Sunset Strip	Gretchen Jervis	1 episode
1961	The Tall Man	Kate Elder	1 episode
1961	Lock-Up	Marianne	1 episode
1961–1963	Perry Mason	Conception O'Higgins Cleo Grammas	2 episodes
1961–1964	Bonanza	Lee Bolden Carla Ibara	2 episodes
1962–1963	Have Gun - Will Travel	Ria Elena Ybarra	2 episodes
1966	Combat!	Madame Fouchet	1 episode
1968	Garrison's Gorillas	Carla	1 episode

External links

• Faith Domergue at the Internet Movie Database
• Faith Domergue at the TCM Movie Database
• Faith Domergue at Find a Grave