Sally Forrest

Birthday: 1928-05-28
Deathday: 2015-03-15
Birthplace: San Diego, California, USA
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

Sally Forrest (born Katherine Feeney) was an American film, stage and TV actress of the 1940s and 1950s. Forrest began her film career in the 1940s as a chorus dancer in MGM musicals. She made her acting debut in Not Wanted, written and produced by Ida Lupino. The film's controversial subject of unwed motherhood was a raw and unsentimental view of a condition that was rarely explored by Hollywood at that time. Forrest starred in two more Lupino projects, Never Fear and Hard, Fast and Beautiful, as well as other film noir films, including Mystery Street, directed by John Sturges, and the star-studded While the City Sleeps, directed by Fritz Lang. Her musical background and training as a jazz and ballet dancer brought roles in the transitional musicals that rounded off the golden age of MGM; most notable was Excuse My Dust.

Most of her films were made under contract to MGM, which prided itself as family entertainment, but RKO, headed by the eccentric and controlling Howard Hughes, presented a very different creative challenge. Son of Sinbad, now a cult classic, was one of his many pet projects where he had a personal interest in re-designing the star's skimpy wardrobe. With each rehearsal, Forrest noticed her harem dance costume slowly disappearing, until it was barely compliant with the Motion Picture Production Code.[citation needed]

In 1953, after moving to New York with her husband, writer and producer Milo Frank (who was hired to be head of casting for CBS), her film work transitioned to theatre and TV. She starred on Broadway in The Seven Year Itch, and appeared in major stage productions of Damn Yankees, Bus Stop, As You Like It and No No Nanette. Later she returned to Hollywood and continued working at RKO and Columbia Pictures. Her final film was RKO's While the City Sleeps in 1956, a murder mystery co-starring Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price and her frequent collaborator Ida Lupino.

Credits

Year Title Character
1956-12-01 Ride The High Iron Elsie Vanders
1956-04-19 While the City Sleeps Nancy Liggett
1955-11-02 Want Ad Wedding Polly Parker
1955-06-02 Son of Sinbad Ameer
1953-04-24 Code Two Mary Hartley
1951-10-12 Bannerline Richie Loomis
1951-08-31 The Strip Jane Tafford
1951-06-27 Excuse My Dust Liz Bullitt
1951-06-21 The Strange Door Blanche de Maletroit
1951-05-23 Hard, Fast and Beautiful Florence Farley
1951-02-14 Vengeance Valley Lily Fasken
1950-09-15 My Blue Heaven
1950-06-23 Mystery Street Grace Shanway
1950-01-13 Whirlpool Minor Role (uncredited)
1950-01-04 Never Fear Carol Williams
1949-12-02 Dancing in the Dark Secretary
1949-09-22 Flame of Youth Miss O'Brien
1949-07-28 Scene of the Crime
1949-06-24 Not Wanted Sally Kelton
1949-04-15 Mr. Belvedere Goes to College Miss Cadwaller
1949-03-09 Take Me Out to the Ball Game
1948-11-14 The Kissing Bandit Fiesta Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
1948-03-19 Are You With It? Dancer (uncredited)
1946-12-05 Till the Clouds Roll By Showgirl (uncredited)