Diane Marie Antonia Varsi (February 23, 1938 – November 19, 1992) was an American film actressHyams, Joe (December 16, 1957)
"In Hollywood: Diane Varsi Sees Herself as 'Just an Actor,' Not Star"
''New York Herald Tribune''. p. 15. Retrieved January 21, 2021. "'I'm just an actor.' Don't you mean actress? 'No, I'm an actor, not an actress. Stanislavsky always talks about the actor and he means female as well as male. Well, I'm an actor.'" best known for her performances in '' Peyton Place'' – her film debut, for which she was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

– and the

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

Wild in the Streets ''Wild in the Streets'' is a 1968 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry Shear and starring Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook, and Shelley Winters. Based on the short story "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" by Robert Thom, it was distribu ...

''. She left Hollywood to pursue personal and artistic aims, notably at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, where she studied poetry with poet and translator

Ben Belitt Ben Belitt (May 2, 1911 – August 17, 2003) was an American poet and translator. Besides writing poetry, he also translated several books of poetry by Pablo Neruda and Federico García Lorca from Spanish to English.San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

, a suburb of San Francisco, the daughter of Beatrice (née DeMerchant) and Russell Varsi. Varsi unsuccessfully tried to become a model and a restaurant hostess in her teen years. While in high school, she was called an "oddball" by her classmates. She often played

truant Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

from school to visit

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, so was labeled a "rebel".'' El Paso Herald-Post'' - December 31, 1957, El Paso, Texas. p.16 She dropped out of school in her junior year at age 15, failing in all studies, and saying: "I was bored. I didn't like the social sides – the cliques."''

Corpus Christi Caller-Times The ''Corpus Christi Caller-Times'' is the newspaper of record for Corpus Christi, Texas. History There has been a newspaper in Corpus Christi for almost as long as there has been a town. In 1883, the ''Caller'' was started in a frame building ...

'' - April 19, 1959, Corpus Christi, Texas. p.97: ''Diane Varsi: Runaway Star'' Around the same time, she married an 18-year-old man. Their marriage was annulled before her son Shawn was born. She joined the San Francisco ballet in the 1950s and initially planned to become a

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

. She later hitchhiked to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with a friend.

''Peyton Place''

Despite having only experience as an actress in a stage production of ''Gigi'', she made her screen debut at age 18 as

Allison MacKenzie ''Peyton Place'' is a 1956 novel by the American author Grace Metalious. Set in New England in the time periods before and after World War II, the novel tells the story of three women who are forced to come to terms with their identity, both as w ...

in '' Peyton Place'' (1957), receiving an

nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The following year, Varsi shared the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress with

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénue ...

and

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...

. Several famous actresses were tested for the main role in the big-budget film, until the then-unknown Varsi was cast in May 1957. She was discovered by producer

Buddy Adler E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios. In 1954, his production of ''From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, hi ...

, who immediately put her under contract at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

.''

Altoona Mirror The ''Altoona Mirror'' is a daily newspaper located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It is the hometown newspaper for Altoona and serves all of Blair County as well as parts of surrounding counties. History The newspaper was founded on June 13, 1874 as ...

'' - May 29, 1957, Altoona, Pennsylvania. p.4

Career

By the time she was cast, Varsi already had an agent and had been searching for film roles for a long while, without any luck. She made rounds at several studios, but according to the actress, they all thought she was suitable for character parts only. She was even dropped by her agent in 1956, because he saw no future in her career. Even before ''Peyton Place'' was released, Adler cast Varsi opposite Don Murray in the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

From Hell to Texas ''From Hell to Texas'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Don Murray and Diane Varsi. Plot Ruthless cattle baron Hunter Boyd orders his riders to capture a former ranch-hand, Tod Lohman, suspected of murder ...

'' (1958). She appeared in the films ''

Ten North Frederick ''Ten North Frederick'' is a novel by John O'Hara, published by Random House in 1955. It tells the story of Joseph Chapin, an ambitious man who desires to become president of the United States, and his relationships with his patrician wife, tw ...

'' (1958) and ''

Compulsion Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...

'' (1959). While filming ''Ten North Frederick'', Varsi suffered a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, collapsed, and was hospitalized.''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' - August 5, 1958, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. p.2: ''Diane Varsi Holds Hollywood's 'Miss Beat Generation' Title'' She later said: "I'm still trying to find myself. It's still hard for me to separate illusion from reality... I don't know whether acting is the form of creativity best for me." Varsi rejected the role of Meg in the comedy film ''

Holiday for Lovers ''Holiday for Lovers'' is a 1959 DeLuxe in CinemaScope comedy film directed by Henry Levin. Based on a 1957 play of the same title by Ronald Alexander, the film stars Clifton Webb, Jane Wyman, Jill St. John and Carol Lynley. Plot Robert Dean ...

'' in January 1959. On March 18, 1959, she suddenly left Hollywood, abandoning her contract. "I'm running away from destruction," she explained, saying it concerned other people, as well.''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' - February 21, 1966, Hagerstown, Maryland. p.18: ''Diane Varsi Reappears and Wants to Return to Acting'' A week later she elaborated, "Hollywood is too impressed with superficial cheapness." Nevertheless, her contract with Fox did not expire until 1965. Her sudden walkout was for a long time rumored to be a publicity stunt to promote the sequel to ''Peyton Place'', ''

Return to Peyton Place ''Return to Peyton Place'' is a 1959 novel by Grace Metalious, a sequel to her best-selling 1956 novel '' Peyton Place''. Plot summary After the phenomenal success of her first novel, Metalious hastily penned a sequel centering on the life and ...

'' (1961), to which Varsi was a long time attached. By walking out of her contract, Varsi's inclusion in plans for several films was cancelled, including a starring role in '' The Best of Everything'' (1959). After leaving Hollywood, Varsi participated in local San Francisco theater productions. At some point thereafter, she made her way to New York long enough to successfully audition for the

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded ...

, which she would attend at least briefly in 1965. Varsi returned to film acting in the late 1960s, but by this time she was no longer offered major roles and subsequently referred to the movies she made in this period as "cheap films of little merit". Although producers were curious about her, she said, they would not hire her. Her later films include the influential cult film ''

'' (1968); ''

Johnny Got His Gun ''Johnny Got His Gun'' is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist Dalton Trumbo and published in September 1939 by J. B. Lippincott. The novel won one of the early National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1939. A 1971 fi ...

'' (1971), which Varsi described as her favorite; and an

ABC Movie of the Week ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, entitled ''

The People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...

'' (1971). Of ''Johnny Got His Gun'', the actress said: "This is the kind of thing I always wanted to do. It comes very late to me. It's been a long time to wait." She was apprehensive about playing the role, saying: "I felt too inadequate to do 'Johnny Got His Gun'' It's so intense, the responsibility."

Personal life

While in Hollywood, Varsi was known for being unglamorous, wearing no makeup or expensive clothes. She avoided Hollywood parties and was quoted as saying: "I'd rather meet

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

than

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

." Her fellow Fox actors remembered her as "a frightened, birdlike girl who was bewildered by her sudden success" and as "disillusioned by the way certain studio officials treated her". She dated

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...

, her co-star in ''Peyton Place'', following that film's release. From November 26, 1956, to August 29, 1958, Varsi was married to James Dickson, whom she made her manager while working as an actress. She then married Michael Hausman on May 21, 1961; they had a daughter, Willow.

Death

On November 19, 1992, in Los Angeles, Varsi died of

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

at the age of 54. She is buried at

Mount Tamalpais Cemetery Mount Tamalpais Cemetery is located in San Rafael, California. History The cemetery was founded by Dr. Henry A. Dubois, Jr. An ordinance was passed that prohibited any burials within the towns limits. Dr DuBois attended a town hall meeting whe ...

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varsi, Diane 1938 births 1992 deaths Actresses from the San Francisco Bay Area Actors Studio alumni American film actresses American television actresses Deaths from respiratory failure People from San Mateo, California American ballerinas San Francisco Ballet dancers 20th Century Studios contract players 20th-century American actresses New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners 20th-century American ballet dancers