Beginning her performing career as a Broadway chorus
girl, Alice Faye would become 20th Century-Fox's most beloved
singing actress of the 1930s. With her beguiling sincerity
and her ability to sing a love song so convincingly, she
was a top box-office attraction and in her career, introduced
nearly two dozen songs to the Hit Parade.
She
was born Alice Jeanne Leppert in the Hell's Kitchen area
of New York City on May 5, 1912. She was the only daughter
of three children and her father was a police officer. From
a very young age she was intent on having a show-business
career and honed her skills of singing and dancing at the
tender age of 14 with Chester Hale's dance group, earning
$35.00 a week. In 1931, intent on persuing her Broadway
dreams, she quit school and landed a part in George White's
Scandals, credited as being one of "the most beautiful
showgirls on the stage." She was billed sixteenth.
At a party for Scandals people, Alice sang the song "Mimi,"
which caught the attention of Rudy Vallee, who was impressed
with her warm and husky voice and asked her to join his
"connecticut Yankees" radio show. Then in 1934,
British actress Lillian Harvey quit the lead female role
for the film production of "George White's Scandals"
and Alice was chosen for the part. The film expecially showcased
Alice's rich singing voice and Fox viewed her as their answer
to Jean Harlow. Her hair was dyed platinum blonde, her eyebrows
plucked and her wardrobe was designed to show off her voluptuous
figure. She appeared in nine film until 1936, when Fox head
Darryl F. Zanuck, decided to soften her image for her appearance
in a series of Shirley Temple films. With her natural haircolor
and eyebrows and period clothing that suited her figure,
the public saw her in a far more endearing light and by
1938, she had become the leading queen of the lavish 20th
Century-Fox musicals. Until 1943, Alice would star in some
of Fox's most memorable musicals including, "Weekend
in Havana," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Lillian
Russell," "Tin Pan Alley," "The Gang's
All Here" and "Hello, Frisco, Hello." It
was in this last film she introduced the song, "You'll
Never Know," a song which became the most identified
with Alice Faye. She rarely was offered dramatic roles during
this period, save the film, "In Old Chicago,"
which was originally slated to star Jean Harlow, who passed
away before filming began.
In
1941, Alice married bandleader Phil Harris and took time
off after filming the 1943 film "The Gang's All Here"
to take care of her second child. In 1945, she returned
to Fox in a dramatic role for the film, Fallen Angel. However,
Daryl F. Zanuck left most of her scenes on the cutting room
floor to make room for his new beauty, Linda Darnell. Alice
was so upset by his editing that after seeing a screening
of the film, she drove off the lot and never came back.
Zanuck, in typical form, had her blackballed for walking
out on her contract. Alice would stay out of films for more
that 16 years before returning to film the remake of State
Fair in 1962. However, her years away from the studio did
not keep her out of the limelight. With her husband, Phil
Harris, the two performed on NBC's weekly radio show, which
ran until 1954. In 1959, she and Phil appeared in the "new
medium" television for the hour-long Timex Hour special.
In
the 70s, she made a few cameos in films and in the 90s,
she appeared in several documentaries about Golden Hollywood
and actors and actresses she worked with. Alice Faye, sadly
passed away at the age of 83 on May 9, 1988 of stomach cancer.
Original
biography written by Dawn Marie, bombshells.com ©2002.
Sources include I.M.D.B. and The Fox Girls by James Robert
Parrish.
