DENISE DARCEL

Denise Darcel (née Billecard, 8 September 1924 – 23 December 2011) was a French-American vaudevillian, actress and singer, who from 1948 and 1963, appeared in films in Hollywood, and briefly on the stage, television and radio.
Early years
Born as Denise Billecard in Paris, she was one of five daughters of a French baker, and she was college educated, studying at the University of Dijon. According to a friend, whom she met in Paris during World War II, she was a passenger in an L-5 Stinson light observation aircraft on VJ Day to see the celebration from the air. The pilot, James Helinger Sr., a US Army Air Corps glider pilot (a friend) was at the controls, while they flew under several bridges along the Seine and finally, under the Eiffel Tower, with the crowds below.
A winner of the title "The Most Beautiful Girl in France,"Darcel was a cabaret singer in Paris after World War II before being spotted by Hollywood. Denise came to the United States in 1947 and became an American citizen in 1952.
On 15 February 1952 she was named "Miss Welder of 1952" by the National Eutectic Welders' Club. Presenting her with a scroll as "the girl we would like most to weld with" was R. D. Wasserman, President of the Eutectic Welding Institute. Wasserman hoped that her photograph would inspire women throughout the nation to join the ranks of the labor force and support the war effort in Korea. Legal problems
On 23 June 1968, Darcel was arrested in Miami, Florida, and charged with shoplifting women's undergarments valued at $38.94 ($330 today). She was released on $500 bond.She was found guilty and fined $300 ($2,520 today) in a trial 10 July 1968.
Darcel and her husband, Robert Gerard Atkinson, filed bankruptcy petitions in San Bernardino, California, in 1963. The petitions listed "total assets of $1,508 ($14,410 today) and individual and joint debts of $88,904 for her and $62,223 for him."(total of $1,445,000 today)
Honors
In September 2009, she was honored with the Cinecon Career Achievement Award, presented in Hollywood at a banquet held at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel. Prior to the ceremony, a new 35mm color print of her 1953 film, Flame of Calcutta, was screened at the Egyptian Theatre. After the screening, at the banquet, she cheerfully announced to the audience, "I'm back". Death
Darcel died in December 2011, aged 87, after emergency surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm.
Selected filmography and television appearances
To the Victor (1948) as Bar Singer (uncredited)
Thunder in the Pines (1948) as Yvette Cheron
Battleground (1949) as Denise
Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950) as Lola
Westward the Women (1951) as Fifi Danon
Young Man with Ideas (1952) as Dorianne Gray
Dangerous When Wet (1953) as Gigi Mignon
Flame of Calcutta (1953) as Suzanne Roget
Vera Cruz (1954) as Countess Marie Duvarre
Gamble on Love (DuMont game show, 1954; replaced by Ernie Kovacs) as Countess Marie Duvarre
The Milton Berle Show (1956, TV Series)
Tightrope! (1960, TV Series) as Terri
Seven Women from Hell (1961) as Claire Oudry
Naked City (1962, TV Series) as Madeleine Douvay
Radio appearances
Year Program Episode/source
1950 Quick as a Flash NA
1985 Musical Comedy Theater Going Hollywood
1952 Lux Radio Theatre Westward the Women
Television appearances
Year Program Episode/source
1950 This Is Show Business 21 May episode
1951 Don McNeill's Breakfast Club 7 November episode
1954 Droodles 21 June episode
1963 Combat! 19 November 1963 "A Distant Drum"