Yvonne was one of the true beauties of her time, yet she'll mostly be remembered by TV fans as the ghoulish vampire Lily in this cult favorite.
After paying her dues for more than 30 years as a working actress in countless B films, Yvonne accepted the role as Lily, her only starring role in TV, mainly because it was a steady job.
Although the program was shown in black and white, Yvonne appeared on screen unlike any other woman seen on TV: she wore green makeup and donned a floor-length black wig with a silver streak.
"The show was fun but a lot of work," Yvonne said. "I had to think about that makeup because of the image that was made of me. But there was a bit of glamour, it wasn't like playing a beastie or creature."
TV producer Kevin Burns noted that Yvonne will probably never be appreciated for her glamorous appeal during her youth.
"She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she's iconic," she said. "But it would be a shame if that's the only way she is remembered.
"She was also one of the biggest beauty queens of the 40s and 50s, one of the most beautiful women in the world. This was one of the great glamour queens of Hollywood, one of the last ones."
While Yvonne was a young struggling starlet, Collier's magazine profiled her in a 1945 article solely to extoll her beauty. The reporter referred to her as "the most beautiful woman in the world," and he wrote, "this writer was taking in a profusion of luxuriant brown-black hair dotted with red camellias, a very rich, very red mouth and pink lobe of an ear like a shell nestling against the translucent skin."
Yvonne had been a World War II pinup girl, and after big band leader Artie Shaw saw her sing in a Hollywood nightclub, he was so smitten that he gave her money for living expenses until she could establish an acting career.
No. 36
Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown
YVONNE DeCARLO as Lily Munster in "The Munsters"
Born as Peggy Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1922, Yvonne's dark exotic looks could be attributed to her Sicilian maternal grandfather. Nicknamed Peggy, she was raised by her mother after her father abandoned the family. Her mother took notice of her dancing talents and moved the family to Hollywood when Yvonne was a young teenager.
Yvonne was first runner-up in the "Miss Venice Beach" contest and was hired as a dancer. She was deported to Canada until her showman boss promised immigration officials that he would provide her steady employment.
Yvonne took her middle name and her mother's maiden name as her stage name and became a chorus girl. Her first film appearance was as a bathing beauty in "Harvard, Here I Come" (1941), and she began getting small parts that showcased her looks.
Basically playing the same role -- an exotic, dark seductress -- in numerous "sex and sand" films, Yvonne was usually cast as a European or Arabian, and was asked only to look beautiful in racy outfits.
A magazine reporter described her early films as "movies [that] had to do with the trials and tribulations of scantily clad Arabian slave girls. Not exactly art house stuff -- and DeCarlo knows it."
Her breakthrough role was playing the title character in "Salome, Where She Danced" (1945). Yvonne's first leading role was in "Slave Girl" (1947), and two years later she starred opposite Burt Lancaster in "Criss Cross."
Her performance as Sephora, the wife of Moses, in "The Ten Commandments" (1956) cemented her as a top-notch actress. Other notable films included "Band of Angels" with Clark Gable, and "McLintock!" with John Wayne.
However, by the time "The Munsters" came along in 1964, Yvonne's film career had withered and she needed the work.
"It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise," she told the Los Angeles Times. "It made me 'hot' again, which I wasn't for a while."
Co-stars Fred Gwynn (Herman Munster) and Al Lewis (Grandpa) were both stage trained actors who were stunned that Yvonne - known as a beauty queen -- had comedic acting prowess.
Yvonne later said she based her performance of Lily on the acting of Zasu Pittsl,a silent screen star.
"I found I had the ability to do comedy.My timing was really inborn."
Although Yvonne's Lily Munster, aka the Countess of Shroudshire, was an undead vampire hundreds of years old, she was still a beautiful woman.
"The Munsters" aired in black-and-white for 70 episodes (1964-66), but was canceled when it had to compete with "Batman," which aired in color.
Yvonne continued to sustain her career by reinventing herself. She sang opera at the Hollywood Bowl; she recorded singing albums; she appeared in stage musicals when movie roles became scarce.
In 1971 Yvonne starred in the Broadway musical "Follies," singing "I'm Still Here," a has-been's defiant anthem to the ups and downs of her career. Yvonne claimed that songwriter Stephen Sondheim wrote the song for her, and it won the 1972 Tony for best original musical score.
Yvonne continued working in film, TV and on stage until her health declined. She died in 2007 at age 84.
