Sally Forrest
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. Early life. Forrest 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. Its controversial subject of unwed motherhood was a raw and unsentimental view of a condition rarely explored by Hollywood at the time. Forrest starred in two more Lupino projects, "Never Fear" (1949) and "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" (1951), as well as other films noir, 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 redesigning 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 film noir co-starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and her frequent collaborator Ida Lupino. Personal life. Forrest married Milo Frank in 1951. They had no children and remained wed until his death in 2004. Forrest and Frank were owners of the former Benedict Canyon home of Jean Harlow and Paul Bern on Easton Drive in Beverly Hills. They rented it to Jay Sebring prior to his murder at the nearby home of Sharon Tate. Forrest, widowed in 2004, died of cancer on March 15, 2015, aged 86, at her home in Beverly Hills, California. Sally Forrest