Bella Darvi

For Virginia Fox Zanuck, producer Darryl F. Zanuck's wife, Darvi initially became something of a best friend and favorite niece. They went shopping and frequently lunched together, and Bella moved into the Zanucks' Santa Monica beach house in November 1952. But in January 1954, Virginia discovered through her daughter Susan that Darvi and her husband were romantically involved and threw her out. Bella hastily returned to Paris, Zanuck followed her, leaving his wife, but they remained married and reconciled as his health failed in the early seventies.

Bella Darvi became a 50s symbol for one of the many movie "Cinderellas" whose bright and beautiful Hollywood fairy tale would come crashing down, ending in bitterness and tragedy. A self-destructive brunette beauty, her life was full of misfortune. Of Polish/French descent, she miraculously survived the tortures of a WWII concentration camp as a youth, only to get caught up in the phony glitter and high-living style of Monaco's casinos as a young adult in Europe. An inveterate gambler and drinker, she was, by chance, "discovered" by movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck and his wife, Virginia Fox, who thought she had a foreign cinematic allure à la Ingrid Bergman. Despite her lack of acting experience, the Zanucks paid off her gambling debts and whisked her away to Hollywood to be groomed for stardom. Her marquee name "Darvi" was derived from the combined first names of her mentors. It should have been a dream-come-true opportunity. Fate, however, would not be so kind. After three high profile roles in The Egyptian (1954), Hell and High Water (1954) and The Racers (1955) opposite three top male films stars (Victor Mature, Richard Widmark and Kirk Douglas, respectively), Darvi's limited abilities were painfully transparent. Not only was she hampered by an ever-so-slight crossed-eyed appearance, she had a trace of a lisp which, combined with a foreign accent, made her speech appear slurred and difficult to understand. It didn't take long for the actress to go off the deep end. Within a short time, a major sex scandal involving Mr. Zanuck had wife Virginia packing Darvi's bags and any "career" she once had here in America was over. She retreated back to Europe, made a few inconsequential films, and quickly returned to her adverse habits -- liquor and the gambling tables. But this time there was no one to save her. Mounting debts and despair eventually turned her thoughts to suicide.

In 1959 she was compelled to curb her bad habits after she was seriously injured in an auto accident and was taken to a Paris nursing home for three months to recover.

After returning to Europe she regularly called on ex-lover Darryl F. Zanuck to rescue her financially from mounting gambling debts. He ignored her final plea, just before her suicide in 1971.