Helene Stanley Profile

Helene Stanley

	(Dolores Diane Frere)
17 July 29	is born in Gary, Indiana. Her father, Michael Frere, was one of The Seven Michaels, acrobats who played in Europe vaudeville for a generation. Her mother's maiden name is Petamont.
?	her father teaches her acrobatics from the day she can walk
c. 43	debuts at age 14 in Girl’s Town
40s	MGM producer Joe Pasternak announces he is going to develop her into a top actress. A few weeks later, Metro calls a meeting of its executives to decide which of its newcomers has the best chance for stardom. The talk narrows to two, Jane Powell and Helene. Helene loses out by one vote.
49	Walt Disney tests more than 400 applicants before deciding that Ilene Woods' voice is the ideal for Cinderella and picking Helene as the model for Cinderella’s looks and for part of her personality. She spends a year and half at Disney's.
50	is on Broadway in the comedy revue Pardon Our French
c. 50	is in the A la Carte revue in Los Angeles, singing, dancing and performing acrobatic feats. There she's discovered by 20th Century-Fox.
	20th Century-Fox immediately casts her for a role with June Haver and Gloria DeHaven in the musical I'll Get By, but almost as quickly takes her out. After looking at her test, producer William Perlberg tells Darryl F. Zanuck that she is too good to be put in a supporting role, so Perlberg has a musical written around her.
June 52	is seen at the Encore Room with Chicago camera manufacturer Ted Briskin
October 52	handsome underwold figure Johnny Stampanato severs his ties with mobster Mickey Cohen and starts dating her, a former Fox starlet, steadily
	she and Rita Johnson, as daughter and mama, will co-star for producer Phil Dann in Career for Cathy
December 52	Stompanato, who is also her manager, presents her with a big, fat star sapphire
January 53	columnist Erskine Johnson reports that she and Johnny Stompanato have set the wedding date for April 13
53	marries Stompanato, the ex of actress Helen Gilbert
July 53	en route to Munich, Germany, to appear in Carnival for the King Brothers, she stops in Metz, France, to meet her grandmother for the first time. "The old lady is 84 years old and still actively manages a department store."
55	divorces Stompanato, who will hit the news when he is stabbed to death on Good Friday in 1957 by Lana Turner’s daughter Cheryl
March 55	is Julian Morton’s date at his Encore Room birthday party for actress Cathy Downs
June 55	is in the cast of the New Frontier show in Las Vegas
	columnist Erskine Johnson reports that "although she won't see him, estranged hubby Johnny Stompanato is trying for a reconciliation"
December 56	is seen at the Luau with her fiancé, Dr. David Niemetz. They plan to be married in June.
July 58	columnist Earl Wilson writes: "The late Johnny Stompanato's ex-wife Helene Stanley makes her film debut in Circus of Love."
June 59	is reported being one of the two live models for Disney's Sleeping Beauty. "The off-screen voice is spoken and sung by Mary Costa. Film personality Helene Stanley spent over two years as a model for the artists."
59	marries Dr. David Niemetz, a Beverly Hills physician
21 June 61	her son, David M., is born in Los Angeles
21 June 66	is a celebrity hostess at the Edith Head fashion luncheon to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Motion Picture Mothers, held at the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Among the other hostesses are Ann Rutherford, Mary Anderson, Sheila Ryan, Bonita Granville, Mary Brian, Wanda Hendrix, Marsha Hunt, Andrea King, Ann Spalding, and Terry Moore.
February 73	is one of the celebrity fashion models at the Screen Smart Set luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Others are Jean Peters, Ginny Solvig, and Gail Robbins.
September 74	is a committee chairman at the Screen Smart Set luncheon held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel
May 75	attends a Screen Smart Set luncheon benefiting the Motion Picture and Television Fund held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles
December 76	attends the 31st Candy Cane Ball, a benefit sponsored by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Spastic Children's League, held at the Bel Air Country Club. She wins one of the $100 money trees but gives it back because her husband donated it.
27 December 90	as Helene Niemetz, she dies at age 61 in Los Angeles, California. Her husband survives.

Sources: Mansfield News-Journal, The Bruce News Letter, The Monessen Daily Independent, Gazette and Bulletin, Dixon Evening Telegraph, The Lethbridge Herald, The Independent Record, Dixon Evening Telegraph, The Times Recorder, Van Nuys News, The Hollywood Reporter, Rod Crawford at IMDb, Film Review, Lana by Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein, www.Ancestry.com
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Links: Filmography