Rhonda Fleming

A striking, red-headed leading lady of the 1940s and 50s, Rhonda Fleming was dubbed the "Queen of Technicolor" because of her highly photogenic green eyes and flaming auburn hair. She was signed by David O. Selznick directly out of high school and, after appearing in bit parts, was cast in her breakthrough role (her first in color and her first musical) opposite Bing Crosby in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1949). Featured mostly for her decorative good looks, Fleming graced a number of Technicolor B-epics such as "Yankee Pasha" (1954), countless Westerns ("The Eagle and the Hawk" 1950) and in film noir played several femme fatale roles, such as the nervous secretary who frames a private eye for murder in "Out of the Past" (1947) and the adulterous wife in "While the City Sleeps" (1956). Rhonda Fleming died on October 14, 2020 in Santa Monica, CA at the age of 97.