- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDorothy Ann Seib
- Nickname
- Ilsa
- Height1.70 m
- American actress and performer Dyanne Thorne began her career in show business as a band vocalist and New York stage actress. Before breaking onto the silver screen, she was popular as a comedic sketch artist/talking foil. Comedy albums, with Allen & Rossi, Vaughn Meader and Loman & Barkley earned her appearances on many T.V variety shows such as "The Tonight Show", "Red Skelton", "Steve Allen", "Merv Griffin", and with Tim Conway at Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.
Filmed in New York City, Dyanne Thorne's first major film role was in Norman C. Chaitin's Encounter (1965), which was also an early screen credit for Robert De Niro. Moving to Hollywood to appear on T.V.'s Star Trek (1966), and star as yet another villainess in Crown International's thriller Point of Terror (1971), opened the door to several more movie roles.
In 1975, Dyanne married composer, conductor, musician and actor Howard Maurer. She and husband Howard starred in five films together throughout the years. The duo also co-produced and starred in several Las Vegas Strip showroom productions over a span of three decades and their careers took them around the world. Both Dyanne and Howard returned to the screen in 2013 after a 25 year absence to star together in indie horror films House of Forbidden Secrets (2013) and House of the Witchdoctor (2013).
As an actress, Dyanne Thorne was best known for her characterisation of the heinous international dominatrix, soldier of fortune, Ilsa. After her debut as Ilsa in Ilsa, La Louve des SS (1975), she reprised the role in sequels Ilsa, gardienne du harem (1976), Ilsa, la tigresse du goulag (1977) and unofficial entry Greta, la tortionnaire de Wrede (1977) by director Jesús Franco. Her performance as Ilsa turned the series into a cult favourite amongst horror and exploitation fans, with Ilsa, la tigresse du goulag (1977) earning a special screening at Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival 2018. Following her film career, Dyanne, alongside husband Howard, served as a church ordained, non-denominational minister In Las Vegas. The husband and wife team created "A Scenic Outdoor Wedding" as an alternative to commercial chapel weddings, with couples travelling from across the globe to be married by "Ilsa".- IMDb mini biography by: steff
- SpouseHoward Maurer(April 20, 1975 - January 28, 2020) (her death)
- Voluptuous bombshell figure
- Began, but did not complete, her studies for her degree in Anthropology at UCLA. Instead, after ten years of acting, she received her Ph.D. in Comparative Religions.
- Is an ordained minister alongside her husband Howard Maurer in Las Vegas, NV. They provide scenic outdoor weddings as an alternative to a traditional wedding chapel.
- Has provided voiceovers for documentaries and industrial films.
- Profiled in "Adult Movie Superstars - Volume One: Golden Age Photos" by Jack Hunter.
- A wonderfully funny letter was sent to me signed by a fraternity in Boston, Massachusetts medical school. The fraternity for doctors had voted me the body on which they would most like to operate.
- It was a chance to put my craft to work. Even so, my Jewish friends were appalled that I would appear in such a film. My husband is Jewish and he went nuts when he first read the script. But as an actress I didn't think about that. I was just playing a role. It was a job to me and I did the best I could with it. I never tried to glorify Ilsa. I felt she was a character to pity, rather than to emulate. I wanted to show the truth about her.
- If you do too good a job of playing a villain, you will suffer for it. Well-known friends of mine in the industry reprimanded me for it. They said the film would hurt my Hollywood career and that people would hate me personally for playing Ilsa -- and they were right. It caused me to lose a good deal of film work. I could no longer get in to see the major studio casting directors and I couldn't even get an agent to represent me. They were scared to handle me.
- There have been so many broken hopes and false promises in my career. But I just keep on keeping on. It's my versatility that has kept me alive -- not necessarily my talent, but my willingness to try anything. I know I've brought pleasure to a certain group of people. If I had been in more conventional Hollywood films, perhaps I would have been lost in the shuffle.
- [on the subject of the best and worst aspects of playing Ilsa] Well, we didn't rehearse at all, so that was difficult at times. There was a lot of stress, but it was really cool learning how to shoot a gun. I went to target practice!
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