Movie Queen Rhonda Fleming Dies at 97

SANTA MONICA, CA — Hollywood was mourning the loss of another star from its Golden Age Saturday with the death of actress Rhonda Fleming at age 97.

Fleming died Wednesday in Santa Monica.

The striking redhead was dubbed the "Queen of Technicolor" for her work in films such as the 1948 musical "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." But she made a mark in black and white as well, in classics such as 1947's film noir "Out of The Past," Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 "Spellbound" and 1957's "While the City Sleeps."

Fleming was born in Hollywood in 1923 and attended Beverly Hills High School. She appeared in more than 40 films, several television shows and a 1973 Broadway revival of "The Women."

She also had a singing career highlighted by engagements at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas and at the Hollywood Bowl, where she appeared with Skitch Henderson and his orchestra.

In her Hollywood heyday, Fleming's co-stars included Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and Ronald Reagan.

A New York Times obituary said Fleming once complained to People magazine that the studios "never wanted more from me than my looking good and waltzing through a parade of films like (1951's) `The Redhead and the Cowboy."'

Her late-career work included 1976's "Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood," and the 1980 spy spoof, "The Nude Bomb" with Don Adams.

Fleming received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, at 6660 Hollywood Blvd.

She was married six times, including to Ted Mann, owner of the Mann Theaters chain.

—City News Service