| Birth: | Feb. 23, 1938
San Francisco
San Francisco County
California, USA | | Death: | Nov. 19, 1992
Los Angeles
Los Angeles County
California, USA | 
Movie and TV Actress. Diane Varsi was in the late 1950s a very promising and competent rising screen star. Her first starring roll was the portrayal of Allison MacKenzie in 'Peyton Place'. For this work Diane received an Academy Award nomination and was the winner of a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year. Her next three pictures; 'From Hell to Texas' with Don Murray, then John O'Hara's 'Ten North Frederick' with Gary Cooper and her final 20th Century Fox film 'Compulsion' with Orson Welles were all successful and critically acclaimed roles proformed by Diane. But then in 1959 Diane started turning down role after role. Diane was an enigma never feeling comfortable in the acting profession. She left Hollywood and moved first to Bennington Vermont and then to San Mateo California spending her time writing poetry. After her Fox contract expired in 1964 she did several so-so films and a number of TV shows guest appearances with her last movie being 'I Never Promised You A Rose Garden' in 1977. Diane was the daughter of Russell Varsi and Beatrice DeMerchant Varsi. The family moved often and Diane's childhood was troubled, she was labeled a "oddball" by classmates and a "rebel" by teachers. Not finishing high school she left home ending up in Los Angeles. She married four times and raised a son and a daughter. Her cause of death was from respiratory problems, complications of Lyme Disease. (bio by: Paul Theodore Riegert)
Search Amazon for Diane Varsi | | | Burial:
Mount Tamalpais Cemetery
San Rafael
Marin County
California, USA |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Paul Theodore Riegert
Record added: Nov 28, 2004
Find A Grave Memorial# 9976606 |
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Aunt Bee on the porch in Mayberry
Added: May. 12, 2013 |
We remember you Diane from those early years when you showed such promise. But, as so often happens in Hollywood, things did not work out for you. I don't think you had a happy life, and you died young. My generation, who were teens when Peyton Place w...(Read more)
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Em
Added: May. 12, 2013 |
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Thomas
Added: May. 12, 2013 |
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(4.2 after 82 votes)
