- Born
- Died
- Birth nameOlga Helen Laruska
- 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 Big Frame (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 Bad for Each Other (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 Three Hours to Kill (1954), Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson in The Violent Men (1955) and James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Night Passage (1957). She was also quite good, if not better, as Richard Conte's wife in The Brothers Rico (1957) as they struggle together to distance him from his mob ties. Dianne returned to England, where she appeared in Uncle Willie's Bicycle Shop (1953), as a snooty American heiress out to impress Robert Urquhart, and, briefly, in Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958) as Ronald Howard's wife who threatens Jack Hawkins' title character. Her last two films of the 1950s were opposite Alan Ladd in The Deep Six (1958) and Spencer Tracy in The Last Hurrah (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), Wagon Train (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), The Big Valley (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 Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (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.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpousesDr. Harold Rowe DDS(November 1961 - August 3, 1994) (his death, 1 child)Joel Murcott(July 19, 1958 - August 10, 1959) (divorced)Joel Murcott(October 15, 1954 - April 24, 1957) (divorced, 2 children)Andrew Edward Fairbairn Allan(June 4, 1951 - 1953) (divorced)
- She was supposed to work with Alan Ladd in a film while she was in England in the early 1950s. She did not agree, however, to a four-year option in the contract because she wanted the freedom of working in theater and already had a binding film contract with Tempean Films. The tabloids papers suggested unkindly that she "walked out" on Ladd. Years later, after coming to the U.S., she was offered the lead in The Deep Six (1958) that was to star Ladd. She thought Ladd would never agree to her casting after the earlier incident. He did, surprisingly, and told her that he admired and respected what she did back then.
- Was asked to play the part of Fred MacMurray's new wife on the TV series My Three Sons (1960). She turned the part down in order to stay at home with her three children. The part was eventually played by Beverly Garland.
- She said she had a wonderful working relationship with Mickey Rooney while filming Drive a Crooked Road (1954). He later recommended her to Burt Lancaster when he started directing The Kentuckian (1955) and she won the role.
- Talented and accomplished painter/artist.
- She skipped two grades in elementary school. She was 13 when she started high school.
- [2009 interview in "Films of the Golden Age" magazine] The opportunity to communicate with a live audience every time I performed on stage--I really miss that. However, what I found when working in the movies was that the people behind the camera would applaud a good scene. So in that sense, I had a live audience there as well and that was always a thrill for me. I loved acting and all the wonderful people that I had the opportunity to work with.
- I always preferred a director who allowed me to contribute something of my own. Some directors don't want any contribution. They prefer to tell you exactly what to do and where to move.
- Acting in the theater teaches you a great work ethic. When you do eight performances a week, you develop a discipline and a dedication to go out there and perform in front of an audience over and over again. Along the way you try to find a little extra magic to make it different every night. Once you've had experience working in the theater, it helps serve you when you work in movies . . . I always loved the kind of control an actor has in their performance on stage. In film, the control is really in the hands of the director and editor.
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