- Born
- Died
- Yolande Donlan was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1920. Her father, character actor James Donlan, was an alcoholic who died when she was a teenager. Using the stage name Yolande Mallott she landed small roles in the films Turnabout and The Devil Bat. She also appeared in several Broadway plays and starred in a very successful London production of Born Yesterday. Yolande married actor Philip Truex in 1943. They had a son, Christopher, in 1946.
In 1947, when Yolande was starring in the role of Billie Dawn in Laurence Olivier's stage production of Born Yesterday in London's West End, she met British film director Val Guest. He had asked actor Michael Balfour who was a friend of hers to take him backstage to meet her. Val Guest was at that time directing Balfour in a film called Just William's Luck.
She divorced her husband and married Val in 1954. He directed her in seven more films including The Body Said No and Penny Princess. At the age of 35, Yolande was diagnosed with manic depression and began therapy. Her last role was in the 1976 movie Seven Nights in Japan. She published her autobiography titled "Shake the Stars Down" and wrote several travel articles for the Daily Express. Yolande and Val moved to Palm Springs, California and remained happily married until his death in 2006. She later moved to London, England. She died on December 30,2014 at the age of ninety-four.- IMDb mini biography by: Elizabeth Ann
- SpousesVal Guest(September 11, 1954 - May 10, 2006) (his death)Philip Truex(August 5, 1943 - 1954) (divorced, 1 child)Jack Bender(November 2, 1941 - November 23, 1942) (divorced)
- Parents
- Scored a personal success first in Boston, then on the London stage as Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" and decided to settle in England, where she continued filming.
- She was seen playing Billie Dawn in the United States by Laurence Olivier, who brought her to Great Britain to play the part.
- Daughter of bit part actor James Donlan.
- Son with husband Philip Truex: Christopher, born January 14, 1946, at Manhattan's French Hospital (NYC).
- She began her film career in the late 1930s playing tiny parts (La chanson à deux sous (1936), Rosalie (1937), L'amour frappe André Hardy (1938)) under her real name, and as either Yolande Mallott or Yolande Mollot.
- [about making La chauve-souris du diable (1940)] Oh, my God! I don't own that one on video; I wasn't even interested in it THEN! I wasn't interested in being in a picture of that kind at that time; I was terribly snobbish! It was quick and it was fast; they were out to get the money as quickly as possible. It was one of those kinds of pictures, a potboiler.
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