Sally Forrest

[wouldbestar]

Mongo posted her RIP picture in *Candids 2*.  This was the best obit I found  

 

Sally Forrest, Actress and Protege of Ida Lupino, Dies at 86

Sally Forrest, a dancer, actress and protege of Hollywood pioneer Ida Lupino who starred in the 1949 feature dramas Not Wanted and Never Fear, has died. She was 86.

Forrest died March 15 at home in Beverly Hills after a long battle with cancer, publicist Judy Goffin announced.

Forrest starred as a young unwed mother who puts her baby up for adoption in shame and then wants him back in Not Wanted, then stood out as an up-and-coming dancer who is paralyzed from polio in Never Fear.

These performances led Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper to name Forrest the Star of the Year.
Lupino wrote and produced Not Wanted, and appeared in the film as Forrest's mother. (She also took over for Elmer Clifton after he suffered a heart attack during filming, making that film her directorial debut). Lupino, one of the few women to direct features in her era, then helmed and wrote Never Fear.

Forrest then reteamed with director Lupino in Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951).

Born Katherine Feeney in San Diego on May 28, 1928, she worked as a model and taught ballet while still in high school. Forrest was hired as choreographer and lead dancer for her first film, Till the

Clouds Roll By (1946), and went on to appear in several MGM musicals.

Forrest also appeared in such films as The Strip (1951) with Mickey Rooney; Bannerline (1951); Excuse My Dust (1951); The Strange Door (1951) with Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff; Son of Sinbad (1955); and Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956).

She had musical spots on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dinah Shore Show and The Red Skelton Hour and dramatic turns on such TV series as Suspense, Rawhide and The Millionaire.

Forrest married writer-producer Milo Frank in 1951, and they moved to New York two years later. She took over the starring role the opposite Tom Ewell in the original Broadway production of The Seven Year Itch (she had the role immortalized by Marilyn Monroe in the movie) and later appeared in major stage productions of Damn Yankees, As You Like It and No, No, Nanette.

Frank died in 2004. Survivors include her niece Sharon and nephews Michael and Mark.

[TopBilled]

Thanks for mentioning this. MGM sort of lost interest in her-- but she made some good films. The stuff with Lupino was certainly excellent.

 

But my favorite is MYSTERY STREET.

[EdgeCliffe]

MGM did little to promote her career. Maybe because she came in as the studio system began to unravel. I liked her in the underrated musical ESCUSE MY DUST which co-starred Red Skelton. Forrest attended some collectors shows in Los Angeles some years ago which I could not attend. However, she graciously signed some photos I send her in the early 90s. Probably most people do not know who she is or remember her.

[ginnyfan]

I liked her in MYSTERY STREET and hated her, as I was supposed to, in THE STRIP. I kept rooting for Rooney to figure out that Kay Brown was the right girl for him.

[jakeem]

Here we go again with eerie timing! This is the fourth time this year that someone has died just before or after TCM airs their films. The others: Mary Healy, Louis Jourdan and Albert Maysles. 

 

Forrest's 1956 film "While the City Sleeps" will be shown early Tuesday morning at 3 (Eastern Daylight Time), as part of TCM's special focus on stories about TV news.

 

There also have been three recent instances of people who died just before TCM presented special tributes to them: Lauren Bacall, Luise Rainer and Maysles.