Drue Leyton (born Dorothy Elizabeth Blackman; 12 June 1903 – 8 February 1997) was an American actress and member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. She also was billed as Freya Leigh.

Early years

Leyton was born in California (or Somers, Wisconsin) but lived with her family in Mexico, where her father was a mining engineer. She was educated at the Bennett School for Girls in

Millbrook, New York Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the center of the town of Washington, of which it is a ...

; a school in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland; and at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Acting

She became an actress after a failed marriage and acted in ''

Green Grow the Lilacs Green Grow the Lilacs is a folk song of Irish origin that was popular in the United States during the mid-19th century. The song title is the source of a folk etymology for the word '' gringo'' that states that the Mexicans misheard U.S. troops ...

'' on Broadway and several

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

films. Her Broadway credits also included ''Red Harvest'' (1937), ''A Hero Is Born'' (1937), and ''We Are No Longer Children'' (1932), for which she was billed as Freya Leigh. In 1937, Leyton acted in a Works Progress Administration Theatre Project in New York. She went from there to England, where she performed in '' Golden Boy''.

French resistance

In 1937, Leyton moved to Paris with her future husband

Jacques Terrane Jacques Terrane (23 August 1915 – 20 June 1941), born Jacques Tartière in Paris, was a French-American actor and soldier who died fighting with the Free French Forces in Syria. Biography Terrane was the grandson of the French writer Georges ...

(born Jacques Tartière), a Franco-American actor who died in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1941 fighting with the

Free French forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...

. In France, Leyton produced and interviewed people on programs for Radio Mondial, a

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

station operated by France's Ministry of Information. The programs were designed to promote France to an American audience. Leyton broadcast for the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

while acting in Paris in 1938 and her criticisms of the Nazi regime during these broadcasts earned her a promise of execution announced by Berlin radio. In September 1942, she was arrested by the Nazis after northern and western France came under German occupation — but only because she was an American woman, her true identity unknown to the authorities. She managed to escape from her prison camp with the help of French doctors by feigning cancer. She returned to her home in

Barbizon Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''. Art history The Barbizon school of painters is name ...

in 1942 and joined the resistance movement, helping 42 downed Allied airmen escape to freedom and hiding others in her home until the war ended. During this period, she was known as Dorothy Tartière, using her married name. She was assisted at times in hiding the airmen by

Sylvia Beach Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) *Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive *Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer credi ...

, American-born owner of the Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company. Leyton and M. H. Werner wrote about this period in a book ''The House Near Paris.''

Personal life

Leyton met Tartière in New York in 1937, and they wed in 1938 in London.

Death

On 2 February 1997, Leyton died in

Corona del Mar, California Corona del Mar (Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, as ...

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leyton, Drue 1903 births 1997 deaths Actresses from Wisconsin People from Somers, Wisconsin French Resistance members Female resistance members of World War II Writers from Wisconsin American women civilians in World War II 20th-century American people