Biography for
Alice Faye (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 May 1915, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

9 May 1998, Rancho Mirage, California, USA (stomach cancer)

Birth Name

Alice Jeanne Leppert

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

As A&E's Biography put it, "She rose from the mean streets of New York's Hell's Kitchen to become the most famous singing actress in the world. When the pressures of fame became too much, she had the courage to leave Hollywood on her own terms". Alice Faye was born Alice Jeanne Leppert in NYC on May 5, 1915. She was to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars of the late 1930's and early 1940's. She started her career as a singer, but later gravitated to film roles. Alice's first role was in the film George White's Scandals (1934) in 1934 where she played "Mona Vale". Lilian Harvey was set to play the lead role in this film, but quit. Alice inherited the part. She went on to star in Tinseltown's popular and lucrative cookie-cutter musicals and, with her distinctive contralto, introduced several songs that became pop standards, notably "You'll Never Know" in the film Hello Frisco, Hello (1943) in 1943. Her movie career ended in 1945 when Betty Grable replaced her as Hollywood's favorite musical-comedy actress. Her life after Hollywood was charmingly simple. She was married to Hoosier Phil Harris from 1941-1995 in a union that produced two daughters. She had previously been married to Tony Martin for four years. Alice had always said that her family always came before her professional life. She went back to Hollywood to make State Fair (1962) in 1962. At that time, she said "I don't know what happened to the picture business. I'm sorry I went back to find out. Such a shame". Her last film was The Magic of Lassie (1978) in 1978 opposite James Stewart. Most of her films are big hits at revival theaters across the country, confirming the power she had in the wonderful performances she gave. Ironically, Alice is more popular in Britain than in the US. Four days after her birthday on May 9, 1998, Alice Faye died in Rancho Mirage, California of natural causes. She was 83 years old.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Mini Biography

Alice Faye started her career as singer with Rudy Vallee's band in the early 30s in New York. She went with Vallee to Hollywood, when he was able to get a number for her in George White's Scandals (1934). When the female star of this film, Lilian Harvey left the set, Faye got her role. In her early years in Hollywood, she looked like Jean Harlow but she changed her style when she became 20th Century Fox's reigning singing star in 1938, but starred also in non-musical films. Her movie career ended in 1945.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>

Spouse

Phil Harris	(12 May 1941 - 11 August 1995) (his death) 2 children
Tony Martin	(4 September 1937 - 26 March 1941) (divorced)

Trivia

Made herself 3 years older when auditioning as a chorus girl in New York in 1928. Some sources even claim that she was born in 1909. A short biography included on the DVD of On the Avenue (1937) states that she was 12 years old in 1927, and did indeed lie about her age in 1928.

Interred at Forest Lawn Mausoleum, Cathedral City, California, USA (near Palm Springs) with her husband, Phil Harris.

Feeling she had given one of the best dramatic performances of her career, Faye was so upset by Darryl F. Zanuck's editing hack job on her last film, Fallen Angel (1945), that she literally walked away from the studio and didn't return for 16 years.

She introduced almost twice as many 'Hit Parade' songs in her movies (23) as each of her closest competitors: Judy Garland (13), Betty Grable (12) and Doris Day (12).

She remained quite good friends with her Fox rival and successor, Betty Grable, up until Betty's death of cancer in 1973.

Daughter Phyllis Wanda born by Caesarian section April 26, 1944.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 199-200. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Daughter Alice Faye Harris, born May 19, 1942.

Personal Quotes

Six films I made with Don Ameche and, in every one of them, my voice was deeper than the plot.

[on Shirley Temple] She was a nice kid, with a really wonderful mother and father. We all liked her. But she was brilliant. She knew everyone's dialogue and, if you forgot a line, she gave it to you. We all hated her for that.

[on Tyrone Power] He was the best looking thing I've ever seen in my life. Kissing him was like dying and going to heaven.