Monique van Vooren (March 25, 1927 – January 25, 2020) was a Belgian-American actress and dancer.
Early years
Born in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
to George Bronz (or Bronze) and Louise van Vooren, Monique was a champion skater and a beauty queen in Belgium. She reportedly studied philosophy and languages and learned to speak English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch. "I can also read Greek and Latin," she stated.
[ ] Her first visit to the United States apparently took place in 1946 at age 19, with the married name "Jakobson" and listed as a "housewife".
[ ] Her second husband was Kurt (or Curt) Henry Pfenniger. Her third husband was New York businessman Gerard Walter Purcell. The couple were married from 1958 until Purcell's death in 2002.
Career
On
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, Van Vooren played in ''
John Murray Anderson's Almanac
''John Murray Anderson's Almanac'' is a musical revue, featuring the music of the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, as well as other composers. It was conceived by John Murray Anderson.
Productions
''John Murray Anderson's Almanac ...
'' (1953–54) and ''
Man on the Moon'' (1975). In the 1960s, Van Vooren starred in
summer stock theatre
In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock th ...
productions in the United States.
[ Van Vooren recorded an album, ''Mink in HiFi'' for RCA Victor.][ In 1956, she signed a contract with Request Records.
In 1983, Signet published ''Night Sanctuary'', written by Van Vooren. She described the book as being about "''the dark side'' of people."
]
Later life and legal problems
In 1983, Van Vooren was found guilty of lying before a federal grand jury and "ordered to get psychiatric help and perform 500 hours of community service as part of a suspended sentence."[ Van Vooren died of cancer on January 25, 2020.]
Filmography
*1950: '' Tomorrow Is Too Late'' - Giannina
*1953: '' Tarzan and the She-Devil'' - Lyra, the She-Devil
*1955: ''The Infiltrator'' - Elaine
*1955: ''Ça va barder'' - Irène
*1957: ''Producers' Showcase
''Producers' Showcase'' is an American anthology television series that was telecast live during the 1950s in compatible color by NBC. With top talent, the 90-minute episodes, covering a wide variety of genres, aired under the title every fourth ...
'' (Episode: "Mayerling
Mayerling is a small village (pop. 200) in Lower Austria belonging to the municipality of Alland in the district of Baden. It is situated on the Schwechat river, in the Wienerwald (''Vienna woods''), southwest of Vienna. From 1550, it was in t ...
", TV film released theatrically in Europe)
*1957: ''Ten Thousand Bedrooms
''Ten Thousand Bedrooms'' is a 1957 American romantic comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Dean Martin, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and Eva Bartok. Martin's first film in the wake of the dissolution of his partnership with Jerry Lewi ...
'' - Girl on Main Title
*1958: '' Gigi'' - showgirl (uncredited)
*1959: '' Sunday Showcase'' (TV Series) - Zizi Molnari
** "What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 1" (1959)
** "What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 2" (1959)
*1959: '' ''Happy Anniversary'''' - Jeanette Revere
*1961: ''The DuPont Show of the Month
''DuPont Show of the Month'' was a 90-minute television anthology series that aired monthly on CBS from 1957 to 1961. The DuPont Company also sponsored a weekly half-hour dramatic anthology series hosted by June Allyson, ''The DuPont Show with Ju ...
'' (TV Series) - Krys
** "Trick or Treason"
*1959–1963: ''The United States Steel Hour
''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation (U. S ...
'' (TV Series)
** "A Taste of Champagne" (1959) - Simone Durrell
** "Southwest Quarter" (1963)
*1965: ''The Trials of O'Brien
''The Trials of O'Brien'' is a 1965 television series starring Peter Falk as sordid, Shakespeare-quoting lawyer Daniel O'Brien, and featuring Elaine Stritch as his secretary and Joanna Barnes as his ex-wife.
The series ran for 22 episodes on C ...
'' (TV Series)
** "Goodbye and Keep Cool" (1965) - Eve St. Clair
*1967: '' Fearless Frank'' - Plethora
*1968: '' Batman'' (TV Series)
** "Nora Clavicle and the Ladies' Crime Club" (1968) - Miss Clean (uncredited)
** "Penguin's Clean Sweep" (1968) - Miss Clean
*1971: ''The Decameron
''The Decameron'' (; it, label= Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Da ...
'' - Queen of Skulls (as Monique Van Voren)
*1973: ''Sugar Cookies
A sugar cookie is a cookie with the main ingredients being sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, and either baking powder or baking soda (depending on the type of sugar used). Sugar cookies may be formed by hand, dropped, or rolled and cut ...
'' - Helene
*1973: '' Ash Wednesday'' - German Woman
*1973: '' Andy Warhol's Frankenstein'' - Baroness Katrin Frankenstein
*1987: '' Wall Street'' - "Woman at '21'"
*2012: '' Greystone Park'' - Monique (final film role)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Vooren, Monique
1927 births
2020 deaths
Belgian emigrants to the United States
American film actresses
American television actresses
American musical theatre actresses
21st-century American women