A Pictorial Tribtue to Yvonne De Carlo on Her 100th Birthday

It was 100 years ago today that Yvonne De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton in in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Today she may be best known for laying Lilly Munster on the classic sitcom The Munsters, but the fact is that throughout her career she played several other roles, many quite different from Lily. Here is a pictorial tribute to Miss De Carlo, featuring her in some of her best known roles (including Lily).

Yvonne De Carlo in a promotional photo for Salome, Where She Danced (1945), the movie that made her a star).

Yvonne De Carlo as Gina in the film noir Brute Force (1947)

Yvonne De Carlo as femme fatale Anna Dundee with Anna's ex-husband Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) in the film noir Criss Cross (1949)

Throughout her career, Yvonne De Carlo played in a lot of Westerns. She played Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949)

Yvonne De Carlo as composer Richard Wagner's first wife, Minna Planer, in the movie Magic Fire (1955)

Aside from Lily Munster, Yvonne De Carlo's most famous role may well be Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1955).  Sephora is a sharp break from many of her earlier roles, and she certainly played it very well.

Yvonne De Carlo with Maureen O' Hara and John Wayne in a photo for the movie McLintock! (1963)

Yvonne De Carlo as Lily Munster. While I have always enjoyed The Munsters, I always had a problem with the makeup they used on Miss De Carlo. She was still a great beauty in the Sixties, and I though the makeup detracted from that. Indeed, she is playing a vampire, and I have always pictured vampires as looking no different from the living (just a little paler).