Yvonne DeCarlo

Born Margaret "Peggy" Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Raised by her mother after her father abandoned the family the young girl fixed her eyes on a career in entertainment at an early age. With her mother's support she enrolled her in a local dance school and began studying drama. At age 15 she and her mother headed to Hollywood but when opportunity didn't present itself they returned home.

Returning in 1940 to give Hollywood a second chance, Yvonne found work chorus lines and eventually found work, albeit un-billed in several short films. Her first big break came in 1941 with a brief appearance as a bathing beauty in Harvard, Here I Come! She continued on for several years taking whatever bit parts came her way until finally landing the lead in 1945's Salome Where She Danced. While not a critical success it did quite well at the box office for Universal and soon she had another film to her credit, the comedy Frontier Gal. She continued to appear throughout the 40's and early 50's in films like, Brute Force, Casbah, Criss Cross and Silver City. In 1956 she appeared opposite Charlton Heston (as Moses) playing his wife Sephora in The Ten Commandments.

In the late 50's, with her film career slowing down, she begin to look for work in television. Appearing on shows like Bonanza and The Virginian before taking on the role she will be forever immortalized as, "Lily Munster" on the hit series The Munsters. The role, along with Carolyn Jones as "Morticia Addams" on The Addams Family, is often cited as an inspiration for the "goth-girl" look. She reprized the role in two films, Munster, Go Home and The Munsters' Revenge, and continued to work in film and television into the 90's. Sadly on January 8, 2007, Yvonne De Carlo passed away of natural causes. She was 84.