Years active 1946–1967 Name Sally Forrest | Role Film actress | |
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Full Name Katherine Feeney Spouse Milo O. Frank Jr. (m. 1951–2004) Movies Son of Sinbad, Hard - Fast and Beautiful, Vengeance Valley, Not Wanted, Mystery Street Similar People Ida Lupino, Richard Thorpe, Joseph Pevney, Elmer Clifton, John Sturges | ||
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Sally Forrest (born Katherine Feeney; May 28, 1928 – March 15, 2015), was an American film, stage and TV actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She studied dance from a young age and shortly out of high school was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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Sally Forrest
Early life
She was born in San Diego to Michael and Marguerite (née Ellicott) Feeney. Her father was a U.S. Navy career officer, who moved his family to various naval bases, finally settling in San Diego. He and his wife later became ballroom dancers and taught dance classes, where their daughter began learning her lifelong craft.
Career
Forrest began her film career in the 1940s as a chorus dancer in MGM musicals. She made her acting debut in Not Wanted (1949), written and produced by Ida Lupino. The film's controversial subject of unwed motherhood was a raw and unsentimental view of a condition that was rarely explored by Hollywood at that time. Forrest starred in two more Lupino projects, Never Fear (1949) and Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), as well as other film noir films, including Mystery Street (1950), directed by John Sturges, and the star-studded While the City Sleeps (1956), directed by Fritz Lang. Her musical background and training as a jazz and ballet dancer brought roles in the transitional musicals that rounded off the golden age of MGM; most notable was Excuse My Dust (1951).
Most of her films were made under contract to MGM, which prided itself as family entertainment, but RKO, headed by the eccentric and controlling Howard Hughes, presented a very different creative challenge. Son of Sinbad (1955), now a cult classic, was one of his many pet projects where he had a personal interest in re-designing the star's skimpy wardrobe. With each rehearsal, Forrest noticed her harem dance costume slowly disappearing, until it was barely compliant with the Motion Picture Production Code.
In 1953, after moving to New York with her husband, writer and producer Milo Frank (who was hired to be head of casting for CBS), her film work transitioned to theatre and TV. She starred on Broadway in The Seven Year Itch, and appeared in major stage productions of Damn Yankees, Bus Stop, As You Like It and No No Nanette. Later she returned to Hollywood and continued working at RKO and Columbia Pictures. Her final film was RKO's While the City Sleeps in 1956, a murder mystery co-starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and her frequent collaborator Ida Lupino.
Other
Forrest and Frank were owners of the former Benedict Canyon home of Jean Harlow and Paul Bern on Easton Drive in Beverly Hills. They sold it to Jay Sebring prior to his murder at the nearby home of Sharon Tate.
Death
Forrest, a widow since 2004, died of cancer on March 15, 2015, aged 86, at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She was survived by her niece, Sharon Durham, and nephews, Michael and Mark Feeney.