Evy Norlund

Evy Norlund was employed as a trainee hairdresser when she met and then befriended the Danish actor, director and producer Klaus Pagh. They became engaged and he arranged a job for her as a photo model, introduced her to the theatrical impresario Stig Lommer and entered her in the Miss Denmark pageant. Rounded off with further studies at a fashion school, the ravishing blonde became a top flight mannequin. In 1958, she was voted 'Miss Denmark' and the following year traveled to Hollywood to compete for the 'Miss Universe' title. While she did not win, her consolation prize was a short-term contract with Columbia studios and an appearance in a circus picture, as one of the trapeze artists who came to fame as The Flying Fontaines (1959). While preparing for her role at a studio acting school, she met actor and singer James Darren (famous at the time as 'Moondoggie' in Un amour de vacances (1959). They dated for a year, while Darren wrapped up divorce proceedings from his first wife, Gloria Barbara Terlitzsky. After a return trip back to Denmark to break off her engagement with Pagh, Evy married Darren in February 1960. Her career stillborn, she never acted in another film and settled down at their new home in the Beverly Hills canyon of Los Angeles, a former residence of Audrey Hepburn.