Actress Rhonda Fleming, dubbed ‘Queen of Technicolor,’ dies at 97

SANTA MONICA — Hollywood was mourning the loss of another star from its Golden Age Saturday with the death of actress Rhonda Fleming at age 97.

Fleming died Wednesday in Santa Monica.

The striking redhead was dubbed the “Queen of Technicolor” for her work in films such as the 1948 musical “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” But she made a mark in black and white as well, in classics such as 1947’s film noir “Out of The Past,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 “Spellbound” and 1957’s “While the City Sleeps.”

Rhonda Fleming blossoms out as a singer and dancer in the first night club appearance of her career. Hollywood actress opened at the new Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 20, 1957 with these four male dancers accompanying her. She wears a feathered calypso costume. (AP Photo/David Smith)
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Rhonda Fleming at a newsagents stall on Rome’s exclusive street, Via Veneto on August 20, 1954. She is smiling and reaching for a copy of a magazine which has her on the cover, calling her the “Finest Thing in Rome.” (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
Lovely Rhonda Fleming of Hollywood reading in her penthouse apartment on March 1, 1955 in Italy. Rhonda has been very busy in Italy where she starred in “Courtesans of Babylon” with Riccardo Montalban. Her French poodle romps around her. Rhonda puts on a record from her collection with her poodle on her knees. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)
Actress Rhonda Fleming places coins into telemeter coin box which enables her TV set to operate properly to receive first run movies and special programs. She was one of the Palm Springs, California on Nov. 28, 1953, telemeter subscribers who started receiving the special service. If no coins are deposited, the TV picture is scrambled. (AP Photo)
Actress Rhonda Fleming in January of 1955 in Italy. (AP Photo/ Jim Pringle)
American movie star Rhonda Fleming relaxes by playing with her French poodle at her home in Rome on Feb. 7, 1955. Rhonda is one of the busiest of the many foreign actresses making films in Italy. She has just finished “The Courtesan of Babylon.” Fleming says that after a working day she likes to read, listen to records and play with her dog. (AP Photo)
FILE – In this Sept. 28, 1981 file photo, Actress Rhonda Fleming poses for a photo in Hollywood, Calif. Actress Rhonda Fleming, the fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, has died, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. She was 97.(AP Photo/Wally Fong)
With these pose, film actress Rhonda Fleming, a beauty by anyone’s definition, shows what she believes are the essentials for beauty in a woman’s makeup. Her version of perfect legs. Says Rhonda: “The test of perfect legs is whether, when standing side by side, they meet all the way down, except for slightly above the ankles. Also “I favor a slightly rounded hip. I think hips should be about one inch bigger than the bust.” “A woman shouldn’t stand stiffly and pull in her stomach. She should be relaxed and poised. A trick that singers and models learn is to keep a little breath in the diaphragm that keeps you from getting tense” shown July 16, 1953. (AP Photo/Ed Widdis)
FILE – In this March 1, 1955 file photo, Actress Rhonda Fleming reads in her penthouse apartment in Rome. Actress Rhonda Fleming, the fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, has died, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. She was 97.(AP Photo/Jim Pringle, File)
FILE – In this Sept. 26, 1962 file photo, Richard M. Nixon, Republican candidate for governor of California, chats actress Rhonda Fleming, actor George Murphy and actress- singer Jane Powell in Hollywood, Calif. Actress Rhonda Fleming, the fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, has died, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. She was 97. (AP Photo/File)
FILE – In this May 20, 1957 file photo, Actress Rhonda Fleming blossoms out as a singer and dancer in the first night club appearance of her career at the New Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas. Actress Rhonda Fleming, the fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, has died, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. She was 97.(AP Photo/David Smith, File)
FILE – In this Dec. 16, 1947 file photo, Producer- director Cecil B. DeMille, left, gives actress Rhonda Fleming some advice as Tay Garnett, right, listens in Hollywood, Calif. Actress Rhonda Fleming, the fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s, has died, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. She was 97. (AP Photo/File)
Rhonda Fleming

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Fleming was born in Hollywood in 1923 and attended Beverly Hills High School. She appeared in more than 40 films, several television shows and a 1973 Broadway revival of “The Women.”

She also had a singing career highlighted by engagements at the Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas and at the Hollywood Bowl, where she appeared with Skitch Henderson and his orchestra.

In her Hollywood heyday, Fleming’s co-stars included Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and Ronald Reagan.

A New York Times obituary said Fleming once complained to People magazine that the studios “never wanted more from me than my looking good and waltzing through a parade of films like (1951’s) ‘The Redhead and the Cowboy.’”

Her late-career work included 1976’s “Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood,” and the 1980 spy spoof, “The Nude Bomb” with Don Adams.

In 1960, Fleming received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6660 Hollywood Blvd.

She was married six times, including to Ted Mann, owner of the Mann Theaters chain.