Dianne Foster(1928-2019)
- Actress
A curvaceous and comely lead and second lead actress of the 1950s and
1960s, Dianne Foster was born Olga Helen Laruska on October 31, 1928 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Of
Ukrainian parentage, she began her stage career performing in high
school plays and in local community theater productions. Her school
drama teacher saw extreme promise in her and encouraged her to continue
her studies. Dianne then enrolled at the University of Alberta and
majored in drama.
She eventually found work in Toronto as a model and as both a radio and stage actress. Encouraged again by her high school teacher, she saved up enough money to go to England for further training and to find work. She won a stage role in the play "The Hollow" starring Jeanne De Casalis that later toured. Following a radio job with Orson Welles, he offered her the part of Cassio's whore in a West End production of "Othello" while Laurence Olivier was holding court at the St James Theater. Welles and Peter Finch starred as Othello and Iago, respectively, with Olivier in the director's seat.
After establishing herself as a bad girl second lead in such "B" level British films as The Quiet Woman (1951), in which she played a scheming ex-girlfriend of Derek Bond and The Lost Hours (1952) as a temptress opposite Mark Stevens, Dianne was encouraged to come to Hollywood in the early 1950's. Her first role in Hollywood was as a British character in a TV episode of "Four Star Playhouse" opposite David Niven. As a result of her fine performance, Harry Cohn placed her under a Columbia Pictures contract even though she had not yet secured an agent. Most of her subsequent films were standard adventures in which she provided a pleasant diversion from the rugged action going on around her. She was, on occasion, cast in more substantial roles.
Dianne made a sturdy US cinematic debut in the film noir favorite Eternels Ennemis (1953) as a dedicated nurse and love interest to Dr. Tom Owen Charlton Heston. It was Lizabeth Scott who played the bad girl here. Dianne would make a strong stand in westerns notably opposite Dana Andrews in Trois heures pour tuer (1954), Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson in Le souffle de la violence (1955) and James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Le survivant des monts lointains (1957). She was also quite good, if not better, as Richard Conte's wife in Les frères Rico (1957) as they struggle together to distance him from his mob ties. Dianne returned to England, where she appeared in Isn't Life Wonderful! (1953), as a snooty American heiress out to impress Robert Urquhart, and, briefly, in Inspecteur de service (1958) as Ronald Howard's wife who threatens Jack Hawkins' title character. Her last two films of the 1950s were opposite Alan Ladd in En patrouille (1958) and Spencer Tracy in La dernière fanfare (1958).
In the 1960s Dianne moved into episodic TV with guest parts in dramas (Perry Mason (1957), Route 66 (1960), Peter Gunn (1958), Ben Casey (1961), Hawaiian Eye (1959), The Detectives (1959), Honey West (1965)), comedies (Petticoat Junction (1963), My Three Sons (1960), "Green Acres") and, of course, westerns (Bonanza (1959), The Deputy (1959), "Have Gun--Will Travel", Laramie (1959), La grande caravane (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), La grande vallée (1965)). She appeared in only two more films before retiring in 1967 -- co-starring with David Janssen in King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) and with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery in the light comedy Mercredi soir, 9 heures (1963).
Married twice, Dianne had one child from her first marriage and twins from her second. She retired in order to focus on marriage and family, as well as painting.
She lived in the Los Angeles area for the remainder of her life, dying on July 27, 2019, at the age of 90.
She eventually found work in Toronto as a model and as both a radio and stage actress. Encouraged again by her high school teacher, she saved up enough money to go to England for further training and to find work. She won a stage role in the play "The Hollow" starring Jeanne De Casalis that later toured. Following a radio job with Orson Welles, he offered her the part of Cassio's whore in a West End production of "Othello" while Laurence Olivier was holding court at the St James Theater. Welles and Peter Finch starred as Othello and Iago, respectively, with Olivier in the director's seat.
After establishing herself as a bad girl second lead in such "B" level British films as The Quiet Woman (1951), in which she played a scheming ex-girlfriend of Derek Bond and The Lost Hours (1952) as a temptress opposite Mark Stevens, Dianne was encouraged to come to Hollywood in the early 1950's. Her first role in Hollywood was as a British character in a TV episode of "Four Star Playhouse" opposite David Niven. As a result of her fine performance, Harry Cohn placed her under a Columbia Pictures contract even though she had not yet secured an agent. Most of her subsequent films were standard adventures in which she provided a pleasant diversion from the rugged action going on around her. She was, on occasion, cast in more substantial roles.
Dianne made a sturdy US cinematic debut in the film noir favorite Eternels Ennemis (1953) as a dedicated nurse and love interest to Dr. Tom Owen Charlton Heston. It was Lizabeth Scott who played the bad girl here. Dianne would make a strong stand in westerns notably opposite Dana Andrews in Trois heures pour tuer (1954), Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson in Le souffle de la violence (1955) and James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Le survivant des monts lointains (1957). She was also quite good, if not better, as Richard Conte's wife in Les frères Rico (1957) as they struggle together to distance him from his mob ties. Dianne returned to England, where she appeared in Isn't Life Wonderful! (1953), as a snooty American heiress out to impress Robert Urquhart, and, briefly, in Inspecteur de service (1958) as Ronald Howard's wife who threatens Jack Hawkins' title character. Her last two films of the 1950s were opposite Alan Ladd in En patrouille (1958) and Spencer Tracy in La dernière fanfare (1958).
In the 1960s Dianne moved into episodic TV with guest parts in dramas (Perry Mason (1957), Route 66 (1960), Peter Gunn (1958), Ben Casey (1961), Hawaiian Eye (1959), The Detectives (1959), Honey West (1965)), comedies (Petticoat Junction (1963), My Three Sons (1960), "Green Acres") and, of course, westerns (Bonanza (1959), The Deputy (1959), "Have Gun--Will Travel", Laramie (1959), La grande caravane (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), La grande vallée (1965)). She appeared in only two more films before retiring in 1967 -- co-starring with David Janssen in King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) and with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery in the light comedy Mercredi soir, 9 heures (1963).
Married twice, Dianne had one child from her first marriage and twins from her second. She retired in order to focus on marriage and family, as well as painting.
She lived in the Los Angeles area for the remainder of her life, dying on July 27, 2019, at the age of 90.
