{{Short description|American actress (1924–2009)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}} {{Infobox person | name = Susanna Foster | image = Susanna Foster 1943.JPG | caption = Foster in 1943 | birth_name = Suzanne DeLee Flanders Larson | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|12|06}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|01|17|1924|12|06}} | death_place = Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. | occupation = Actress, singer | years_active = 1939–1992 | spouse = {{marriage|Wilbur "Wib" Evans|1948|1956|end=divorced}} }} '''Susanna Foster''' (born '''Suzanne DeLee Flanders Larson''';<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Names|publisher=American Names Society|page=245|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CEpQAQAAIAAJ|year=1975}}</ref><ref name="Clarke">{{Cite book|title=Pseudonyms|author=Joseph F. Clarke|publisher=BCA|date=1977|page=65}}</ref><ref>The Movie Makers</ref> December 6, 1924<ref>{{cite book |title= Women in Horror Films, 1940s |last= Mank |first= Gregory W. |year= 1999 |publisher= McFarland & Co |isbn= 0-7864-0464-7 |pages= 224 }}</ref> – January 17, 2009<ref name="SusannaFosterChronicles">{{cite web |title= The Susanna Foster Chronicles: Phantom of the Heart |last= Evans |first= Michael David. |year= 2009 |url= http://www.susannafosterchronicles.com/}}</ref>) was an American film actress best known for her leading role as Christine in the 1943 film version of ''Phantom of the Opera''.
==Early life== Foster was born Suzanne DeLee Flanders Larson in Chicago, Illinois,<ref>{{cite book |title= The Film Encyclopedia |last= Katz |first= Ephraim |year= 1994 |publisher= HarperCollins |isbn= 0-06-273089-4 |page= [https://archive.org/details/filmencyclopedia0katz/page/477 477] |url= https://archive.org/details/filmencyclopedia0katz/page/477 }}</ref> to Les and Adie Larson. Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the family went into poverty in the Great Depression, and moved frequently due to evictions. Adie struggled with alcoholism and mental illness, and was reported to be abusive; at one point in her film career, Foster rented the home of actress Jean Arthur for her younger sisters, in an attempt to get them away from their mother. At eleven years old, she had "almost fatal" pneumonia.<ref name="Rich RIP">{{cite web |last1=Rich |first1=Sharon |title=Susanna Foster on Phantom of the Opera, Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald and Judy Garland |url=https://maceddy.com/susanna-foster-on-phantom-of-the-opera-nelson-eddy-jeanette-macdonald-and-judy-garland/ |website=Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy Home Page |date=January 19, 2009 |publisher=Mac/Eddy Club |access-date=September 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815085243/https://maceddy.com/susanna-foster-on-phantom-of-the-opera-nelson-eddy-jeanette-macdonald-and-judy-garland/ |archive-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Rich|first1=Sharon|last2=Evans|first2=Michael|date=January 31, 2009|title=Susanna Foster's real horror story was not Nelson Eddy's Phantom of the Opera…but real life|url=https://maceddy.com/susanna-fosters-real-horror-story-was-not-nelson-eddys-phantom-of-the-operabut-real-life/|access-date=September 26, 2021}}</ref>
==Career== At the age of twelve, Suzanne was taken to Hollywood by MGM, who sent her to school and groomed her for an acting and singing career. She claimed the high point of being at MGM was meeting her idol Jeanette MacDonald and Clark Gable, who treated her like "the Queen of England."<ref name="Rich RIP" /> Foster was originally slated to star in the MGM production of ''B Above High C'', a film that was never made. The movie's title referred to the top of her vocal register.<ref name="High">{{cite news |first= Robin |last= Coons |title= The High C's Are Very Low Down When Susanna Foster Sings|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gbsKAAAAIBAJ&pg=5872,157340&dq=susanna-foster |work= St. Petersburg Times|date= 1940-06-01 |accessdate=December 30, 2008 }}</ref> MGM eventually let her go.
After hiring agent Milo Marchetti, Foster was signed by Paramount Pictures where she began to study voice for the first time with Marchetti's sister Gilda. She made her film debut at fourteen years of age where she was introduced as 'Susanna Foster' in ''The Great Victor Herbert'' (1939) opposite Mary Martin and Allan Jones.<ref name="High"/> For her stage name, she chose "Susanna" from the song ''Oh Susanna'' and Foster from its writer Stephen Foster.<ref name="Room2010">{{Cite book|author=Adrian Room|title=Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed.|date=1 July 2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5763-2|pages=182}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Chronicles of Stephen Foster's family|author=Evelyn Foster Morneweck|date= 1944|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|location=Pittsburgh|volume=2|page=590}}</ref> After seeing Foster in ''The Great Victor Herbert'', William Randolph Hearst flew her to his {{convert|67000|acre|km2|adj=on}} estate Wyntoon for a private recital for him and Marion Davies. The following year for Paramount she appeared in ''There's Magic in Music'' opposite Allan Jones and ''Glamour Boy'' opposite Jackie Cooper. After two years, Foster left Paramount.<ref name="Rich RIP" />
Within weeks of leaving Paramount, Foster signed with Universal Studios, where she portrayed the ingénue in the 1943 film version of the Gothic melodrama ''Phantom of the Opera'' opposite Nelson Eddy and Claude Rains. The film garnered two Academy Awards and was Universal's biggest money-maker that year. Hearst columnist Louella Parsons, who had the power and reputation to make or break stars, stated, "Susanna Foster establishes herself as one of the great stars of today." She became so popular the studio set her on a meteoric rise with back-to-back pictures during the years 1943 to 1945, including ''Star Spangled Rhythm'', ''Top Man'', ''This Is the Life'', ''The Climax'', ''Bowery to Broadway'', ''Frisco Sal'', and ''That Night with You''. She also turned down a joint concert tour with Nelson Eddy, which she later regretted.<ref name="Rich RIP" />
In 1945, Foster quit the film business. Desperate to hold onto its star, Universal sought to make her dream of grand opera come true, financing a six-month tour of a post war Europe in 1946 with Dusolina Giannini. On her return from Europe, she was pressed by Universal to appear as guest soloist for the White House Press Photographer's Ball with President Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt in attendance. After the performance, Truman and Roosevelt praised Foster with their turn at the microphone. She shared the table with Roosevelt, Truman, and his daughter Margaret, an aspiring singer herself who admired Foster.
In 1946, Foster accepted the lead role in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera's production of ''Naughty Marietta'' headed by Rodgers and Hammerstein associate Edwin Lester. In 1948, she married her leading man Wilbur "Wib" Evans, a renowned baritone 20 years her senior.<ref>{{cite book |title= Whatever Became of-? |last= Lamparski |first= Richard |year= 1982 |isbn= 978-0-517-54346-7 |page= [https://archive.org/details/whateverbecameof0000lamp/page/109 109] |publisher= Crown Publishers |url= https://archive.org/details/whateverbecameof0000lamp/page/109 }}</ref> The couple performed in operettas and stage musicals, touring extensively. After a debilitating miscarriage, their first son Michael was born 8 weeks premature in December 1950.
Evans was soon chosen as Mary Martin's co-star in London's ''South Pacific'',<ref>{{cite book |title= Mary Martin, Broadway Legend |last= Davis |first= Ronald L. |year= 2008 |publisher= University of Oklahoma Press |isbn= 978-0-8061-3905-0 |page= [https://archive.org/details/marymartinbroadw00davi/page/177 177] |url= https://archive.org/details/marymartinbroadw00davi/page/177 }}</ref> the show that gave Sean Connery his start as a dancing and singing sailor.<ref>{{cite book |title= The Films of Sean Connery |last= Pfeiffer |first= Lee |author2=Lisa, Phillip |year= 2001 |publisher= Citadel Press |isbn= 0-8065-2223-2 |pages= 12–13 }}</ref> During the London engagement their second son was born, brought into the world by Queen Elizabeth's doctor, John Peel, who also attended in the births of others to the Royal family, including Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Philip was named in honor of the Queen's husband Prince Philip.<ref>{{cite news |title= Son to Susanna Foster |work= New York Times |date= 1952-09-05 }}</ref>
==Later life and death== In 1956, Foster abruptly divorced Evans, and for many years, lived in and out of poverty. Author Sharon Rich and Foster's son Michael later stated Foster herself struggled with mental illness and alcoholism.<ref name="Rich background">{{Cite web|last=Rich|first=Sharon|date=January 18, 2009|title=Interviewing Susanna Foster in regards to working with Nelson Eddy in "Phantom of the Opera"|url=https://maceddy.com/interviewing-susanna-foster-in-regards-to-working-with-nelson-eddy-in-phantom-of-the-opera/|access-date=September 26, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Michael response">{{Cite web|last1=Rich|first1=Sharon|last2=Evans|first2=Michael|date=January 19, 2009|title=Susanna Foster's son responds…|url=https://maceddy.com/susanna-fosters-son-responds/|access-date=September 26, 2021}}</ref> In the 1980s, Foster and her younger son, Philip, lived in a Hollywood apartment. In November 1985, Philip – who also struggled with alcoholism as well as drug addiction – lapsed into a hepatic coma on Foster's living room floor and died three days later in the Van Nuys Hospital from liver failure.<ref name="Michael response" />
In 1992, Foster made her final appearance with a minor role in the remake of the 1945 film ''Detour''. The film, her first in 43 years, was released straight-to-home video.<ref>{{cite web|title=Movie Info: ''Detour''|date=1992|website=Rotten Tomatoes|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/detour/}}</ref> In 2003, her elder son Michael brought her back to the East Coast, where she spent the last five years of her life living at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Foster died at 5:30 a.m. EST on {{death date and age|2009|01|17|1924|12|06}}.<ref name="Rich RIP" /><ref name="SusannaFosterChronicles" />
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1939 | ''The Great Victor Herbert'' | Peggy | |- | rowspan="2"| 1941 | ''The Hard-Boiled Canary'' | Toodles LaVerne | |- | ''Glamour Boy'' | Joan Winslow |- | 1942 | ''Star Spangled Rhythm'' | Herself | Uncredited |- | rowspan="2"| 1943 | ''Phantom of the Opera'' | Christine DuBois | |- | ''Top Man'' | Connie Allen | |- | rowspan="4"| 1944 | ''Follow the Boys'' | Herself | Uncredited |- | ''This Is the Life'' | Angela Rutherford | |- | ''The Climax'' | Angela Klatt | |- | ''Bowery to Broadway'' | Peggy Fleming Barrie | |- | rowspan="2"| 1945 | ''Frisco Sal'' | Sally Warren | |- | ''That Night with You'' | Penny Parker | |- | 1954 | ''Mystification'' | Rita |
|- | 1992 | ''Detour'' | Evie | (final film role) |- | 2000 | ''The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked'' | Herself | Video documentary |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name}} * {{AlloCiné name}} * [http://www.cineartistes.com/fiche-Susanna+Foster.html Susanna Foster at the CinéArtistes] {{in lang|fr}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140844/http://www.susannafosterchronicles.com/ Susanna Foster Chronicles] (archived) her son Michael's blog
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Susanna}} Category:1924 births Category:2009 deaths Category:American child actresses Category:American film actresses Category:American sopranos Category:Actresses from Chicago Category:Actresses from Englewood, New Jersey Category:Actresses from Minneapolis Category:Paramount Pictures contract players Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American expatriate actresses Category:American expatriates in England Category:Universal Pictures contract players Category:21st-century American women