Gloria DeHaven, star of 1940s ’50s films, has died at 91

Gloria DeHaven, an MGM musical star who starred in dozens of films in the 1940s and 50s, has died at age 91.

Her agent Scott Stander said Monday DeHaven was in hospice care after suffering a stroke a few months ago.

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On television, DeHaven appeared as a regular in the television series and soap operas “Ryan’s Hope” (as Bess Shelby), “As the World Turns” (as Sara Fuller) and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman“.

She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. She appeared in several musicals during the early ’40s, most notably 1943’s “Best Foot Forward” and 1944’s “Step Lively”, in which she was loaned out from MGM to RKO. “I thought, ‘If this is show business, count me in'”.

DeHaven played many guest-starring roles on TV, beginning in the halcyon days of live TV and on such shows as Robert Montgomery Presents, The Rifleman, The Defenders, Burke’s Law, Marcus Welby, M.D.

Gloria Mildred DeHaven was born July 23, 1925, in Los Angeles, the daughter of Parker and actor-director Carter DeHaven. The actress made her big-screen debut as a child in the Charlie Chaplin classic “Modern Times” back in 1936.

“Chaplin needed two kids to play Paulette Goddard’s ragamuffin sisters”, DeHaven told the Toronto Star in 1989.

DeHaven played Jack Lemmon’s love interest on the cruise-ship comedy Out to Sea after a long absence from the screen. She was halfway through her first song when Crosby interrupted and told her, “OK, you can go home now”.

DeHaven was married and divorced four times, including twice to Florida auto dealer Richard Fincher. Her brother, Carter DeHaven Jr., a noted figure in film production, died in 1979.

Survivors include two children from her first husband, Kathleen Payne of Marina del Rey, Calif., and Tom Payne of Daly City, Calif.; two children from her third husband, Faith Fincher-Finkelstein of Summerlin, Nev., and Harry Fincher of North Las Vegas; and three grandchildren.