Born 1904 as Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Quebec, Canadian-American actress and singer Fifi D’Orsay wished to become an actress as a young stenographer and moved to New York City. She became a U.S. citizen in 1936, just as her career as a film star came to a sharp halt when she walked out on her contract at Fox Studios and was blacklisted.
While never becoming a major top-billing name, D’Orsay found steady work, and appeared with such stalwarts as Bing Crosby and Buster Crabbe. For years she worked in both film and vaudeville; pacing her appearances in film with continued performances in vaudeville. When age put an end to the glamour roles, she took jobs in television; including 2 appearances each on ABC’s Adventures in Paradise, and the CBS legal drama Perry Mason (in the episode “The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather” and in the episode “The Case of the Bountiful Beauty”) – as well appearing in the CBS sitcom Pete and Gladys.
At the age of 67, D’Orsay bookended her career with a return to the Broadway stage in the Tony Award-winning musical, Follies. She died from cancer at the age of 79 in 1983, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.
D’Orsay was credited as the girl who made the phrase “Ooh La La” widely known. Take a look at these Fabulous Photos to see the beauty of young Fifi D’Orsay in the 1930s.
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