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DeHaven, who appeared in more than two dozen films starting
as a child in a bit role in Charlie Chaplin's last silent movie,
died on Saturday in hospice care in Las Vegas, Scott Stander
said in an email.
The actress suffered a stroke a few months ago, the agent said.
A versatile singer from a show business family, she thrived in
Hollywood musicals, mostly from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio,
until the genre fell out of fashion in the 1950s.
DeHaven starred in "Two Girls and a Sailor" (1944) with Van
Johnson, June Allyson and Jimmy Durante; "Summer Holiday" (1948)
with Mickey Rooney; "Yes Sir That's My Baby" (1949) with Donald
O'Connor; "Summer Stock" (1950) with Judy Garland and Gene
Kelly; and "So This Is Paris" (1955) with Tony Curtis.
In the musical "Step Lively" (1944), DeHaven gave a young
Sinatra his first on-screen smooch.
In the late 1950s, DeHaven's film career stalled and she turned
to acting on television and in stage musicals and singing in
nightclubs. She returned to the big screen for the 1997 comedy
"Out to Sea" with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.
She was born in Los Angeles on July 23, 1925, to parents who
were vaudeville performers. She made her film debut with a small
role in Chaplin's "Modern Times" (1936) co-starring Paulette
Goddard, a silent gem released in the era of talkies, exploring
the pitfalls of modern industrialized society.
"Chaplin needed two kids to play Paulette Goddard's ragamuffin
sisters," DeHaven told the Toronto Star in 1989. "All we had to
do was wear tattered clothes, eat bananas and do big takes. I
thought, 'If this is show business, count me in.'"
Her breakout role was in the Lucille Ball musical comedy "Best
Foot Forward" (1943), a film that also boosted Allyson's
fortunes.
DeHaven's marriage to actor John Payne, best known as the
co-star of the classic "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), ended in
divorce. She was married four times to three different men (one
twice) and she had four children.
(Reporting by Will Dunham and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill
Trott and Kevin Liffey)
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