Lisette Verea (August 27, 1914 – August 27, 2003) was a Romanian-born cabaret singer and actress, known for her appearance in the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

film ''

A Night in Casablanca ''A Night in Casablanca'' is a 1946 film starring the Marx Brothers: (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx). The picture was directed by Archie Mayo, and written by Joseph Fields and Roland Kibbee. ...

'' (1946).

Early life

Lisette Verea was born in Bucharest, the daughter of Hainerik Chaim Veksler Verea and Olga Veksler Verea.

Career

Verea moved to the United States in 1941. Her name appears on the passenger list on President Grant liner, which arrived in New York on October 3, 1941. In 1944, she appeared on Broadway in a pair of operettas on a double bill (''La Serva Patrona'' and ''The Secret of Suzanne''), and in a revival of ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

''. In 1946, publicity proclaimed her "Hollywood's newest glamor girl." Screen appearances by Verea included ''Trenul fantoma'' (1933) and in the Marx Brothers film ''A Night in Casablanca'' (1946). In ''A Night in Casablanca'', she sang " Who's Sorry Now?" in French and English. The ''New York Times'' critic enjoyed her performance, calling her character Beatrice "a flashy brunette who is played with an extravagant flounce by Lisette Verea".

Personal life

Verea married first in 1946, to textile manufacturer Erhart Ruegg; he died in 1950. One of Erhart's children from a previous marriage was Buddhologist

David Seyfort Ruegg David Seyfort Ruegg (August 1, 1931 – February 2, 2021) was an eminent American-British Buddhologist with a long career, extending from the 1950s to the present. His specialty was Madhyamaka philosophy, a core doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. Ed ...

. Verea's second marriage was in 1954 to Olympic gold-medalist tennis player

Francis Hunter Francis "Frank" Townsend Hunter (June 28, 1894 – December 2, 1981) was an American tennis player who won an Olympic gold medal. Early and personal life Hunter graduated from Cornell University in 1916, where he was a member of the Quill and D ...

. In 1964, she, her sister Bella, and a maid were the victims of a home-invasion robbery at the Hunters' estate in Southampton, Long Island. Verea died on her 89th birthday in New York City."Paid Notice: Deaths: Lisette Verea Hunter"
''New York Times'' (August 28, 2003).

Filmography

References

External links

*
Lisette Verea's listing on IBDB

A still from ''A Night in Casablanca'' (1946)
featuring Lisette Verea and

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

, from Getty Images {{DEFAULTSORT:Verea, Lisette 1914 births 2003 deaths American actresses Actresses from Bucharest Romanian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American women 20th-century American people