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Fifi DOrsay
Fifi DOrsay, sometimes known as The French Bombshell, was actually born in Montreal, Canada with the name of Yvonne Lussier. Her father, who had 12 children, worked for 30 years in the local post office. Her first job was as a typist for $6 a week. By 1924, she was making $35 a week. That was when she met a producer from New York City who told her to contact him, if she ever came to Manhattan.
Shortly afterward, two family friends financed her trip. Helen Morgan, whom Fifi had met during a personal appearance in Montreal, greeted her at the station upon her arrival in NY. She made the rounds for six months before getting a job in the chorus of the touring company of the Broadway hit Greenwich Village Follies.
Fifi later worked steady in vaudeville from 1926-1929, where she caught the eye of Will Rogers, who asked Fox Films to test her for They Had To See Paris. The picture and Fifi turned out to be big hits Sound was in, and she had a cute, sexy accent. Fox had big plans for her. Bing Crosby introduced the song Temptation by crooning it to her.
When she later learned that the studio, which was paying her $400 a week, made huge profits when she was loaned out to other studios, Fifi became upset and left Fox, walking out on the remainder of her seven-year contract.
When she eventually went out on her own, and was booked in personal appearances, Fifi didnt realize she was a big name personality only because she was a movie star and later discovered she could only remain so by continuing to make pictures. Breaking the Fox contract closed nearly every door in Hollywood to her.
By the 40s, Fifi had been working in cheap films and radio for a number of years. Her heyday was definitely over. She had no funds to fall back on. She attempted a comeback in 1950 at the Palace Theatre. Ralph Edwards saluted her in his This Is Your Life television show, in 1952, which she hoped would re-activate her career, but nothing much happened.
However, she so impressed Hal Prince at an audition for Follies, that he had a special part written into the musical for her. She was with the show during the 1971-72 Broadway run and the tour that followed. She never received star billing, however.
During her early days in Hollywood, Fifi had a close relationship with Greta Garbo. In her last days, she lived by herself in a small apartment house full of portraits of herself. The French Bombshell, who never set foot outside of North America, died December 2, 1983. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial park in Glendale, California.
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