Sheila Darcy (born Rebecca Benedict Heffener August 8, 1914 – February 24, 2004), also known as "Rebecca Wassem", was an American film actress of the 1930s and the 1940s.

Biography

Born Rebecca Benedict Heffener in

York, Pennsylvania York ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populati ...

, Darcy moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

when she was 18 to pursue a career in acting. She began her career using the name Rebecca Wassem and received her first role, uncredited, in the 1932 film ''Jewel Robbery''. Two years later she received more roles, starring in two films that year. By 1935 her career had taken off, and from then until 1941 she had roles in 41 films. In most of her early films, she played the

heroine A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero' ...

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

, often

Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

. Darcy's best known roles were as the female lead in

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

s, such as the 1939 film ''

Zorro's Fighting Legion ''Zorro's Fighting Legion'' is a 1939 Republic Pictures film serial consisting of twelve chapters starring Reed Hadley as Zorro and directed by William Witney and John English. The plot revolves around his alter-ego Don Diego's fight against t ...

'', in which she performed opposite

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

. She also played the

Dragon Lady Dragon Lady is usually a stereotype of certain East Asian and occasionally South Asian and/or Southeast Asian women as strong, deceitful, domineering, mysterious, and often sexually alluring. Inspired by the characters played by actress Anna Ma ...

in the serial ''

Terry and the Pirates ''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, ...

'', released in 1940. In Westerns, she often played opposite popular cowboy actors

Ray "Crash" Corrigan Ray "Crash" Corrigan (born Raymond Benitz; February 14, 1902 – August 10, 1976) was an American actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western movies (among these the Three Mesquiteers and Range Busters film series). He also was a ...

and

Max Terhune Max Terhune (February 12, 1891 – June 5, 1973) was an American film actor born in Franklin, Indiana. He appeared in nearly 70 films, mostly B-westerns, between 1936 and 1956. Among these, Terhune starred in ''The Three Mesquiteers'' and ' ...

. In 1941 she starred or co-starred in six films and had uncredited appearances in two others. Her Hollywood career effectively ended following the release of '' Jungle Man'' in 1941, although a decade later she did have a

bit part In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...

in one other film, ''

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...

''. In 1946 Darcy married actor

Preston Foster Preston Stratton Foster (August 24, 1900 – July 14, 1970), was an American actor of stage, film, radio, and television, whose career spanned nearly four decades. He also had a career as a vocalist. Early life Born in Ocean City, New Jersey ...

, and they remained together until his death in 1970. She died at age 89 on February 24, 2004, in Kearny Mesa, California.

Partial filmography

* ''

Illegal Traffic ''Illegal Traffic'' is a 1938 American crime film directed by Louis King and written by Robert Yost, Lewis R. Foster and Stuart Anthony. The film stars J. Carrol Naish, Mary Carlisle, Robert Preston, Judith Barrett, Pierre Watkin, Buster Crabb ...

'' (1938) * '' The Man in the Iron Mask'' (1939) * '' Irish Luck'' (1939) * ''

'' (1939) * ''

'' (1940) * '' Jungle Man'' (1941) * ''

Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona ''Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona'' is a 1941 American Western film directed by S. Roy Luby and written by Milton Raison. The film is the sixth in Monogram Pictures' " Range Busters" series, and it stars Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Crash, John "Dus ...

'' (1941) * '' Dangerous Lady'' (1941) * ''

'' (1951)

External links

* *
Sheila Darcy
at b-westerns.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Darcy, Sheila Actresses from Pennsylvania American film actresses 20th-century American actresses People from York, Pennsylvania 1914 births 2004 deaths 21st-century American women