Fifi D'Orsay

Fifi D'Orsay

Despite her claims of a Parisian birthplace and early stardom in the Folies Bèrgére, Hollywood's quintessential saucy Parisienne, Fifi D'Orsay, was actually Yvonne Lussier of Montreal. A protégée of vaudeville entertainer Gus Edwards, D'Orsay had appeared in the Greenwich Village Follies (singing "Yes, We Have No Bananas") and toured with Ed Gallagher prior to crashing Hollywood in such enjoyable, if lightweight, fare as They Had to See Paris (1929) and Hot for Paris (1930). She was pronounced one of the burgeoning sound media's first new stars, but her popularity proved brief. Today, D'Orsay is probably best remembered as the fading screen siren serenaded by Bing Crosby in Going Hollywood (1933) (the song was "Temptation") and for providing brief ooh-la-la moments in quite a few undeserving films of the late '30s and 1940s. She appeared on early television, but was decidedly a has-been when cast as the spirited Solange LaFitte in the hit Broadway musical Follies (1972). D'Orsay died at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide