Biography

The multi-faceted Polish-born performer Lili Valenty appeared in a dozen or so Broadway plays in the 30s, 40s and 50s, then went on to enliven a number of routine on-camera projects in her twilight years. Born at the turn of the century, she received her start on the German stage where she became a star. In the early 1930s she emigrated to America and tried to parlay her European success into stardom here. Although she fell quite short, she did launch a moderately successful career on both radio and the Broadway stage. Some of her NY theater productions included "Bitter Stream" (her debut) 1936, "Cue for Passion" (1940), "The Land Is Bright" (1941), "Sky Drift" (1945), and "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" (1950). In 1955 she was a replacement in the role of Baroness Livenbaum in the successful Broadway production of "Anastasia" starring Viveca Lindfors and Eugenie Leontovich, which later went on tour. Lili later transitioned into the film and TV mediums, predominantly in decorative fluff unworthy of her talents. Although she made her film debut in support of Anna Magnani in the melodrama ...car, sauvage est le vent ! (1957), she continued rather inauspiciously from there with a minor dowager role in Can-Can (1960), and typical ethnic parts in L'histoire de Ruth (1960), the Troy Donahue / Suzanne Pleshette romantic excursion L'amour à l'italienne (1962), one of Elvis Presley's weaker vehicles Des filles, encore des filles ! (1962), and the Jayne Mansfield "comedy" It Happened in Athens (1962). Sometimes billed as "Lili Valenti", she appeared sparingly after this as various mamas, madames, gypsies, nuns, ballet teachers, and the like on episodic TV. She died in Los Angeles in 1987 at age 86 and left no survivors.

- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net