Faith Domergue

Despite an early boost from tycoon filmmaker Howard Hughes, alluring brunette actress Faith Domergue never managed to achieve Hollywood stardom. She landed a contract with Warner Brothers while still a high school student. Howard Hughes was struck by the beauty of the young woman and immediately bought out her contract. He then cast her for the lead in "Vendetta," a revenge drama that suffered innumerable delays due to Hughes's endless meddling and was released four years later, a critical and box office failure. Amidst the chaos of that production, Domergue married Argentine director Hugo Fregonese and the couple lived in South America for a couple of years, where they had a daughter. Upon returning to the United States, she took another shot at acting, paired with Robert Mitchum in the noir classic "Where Danger Lives." Afterward, she split from her contract with Hughes, moving on to minor Westerns and anthology drama series before acting in a number of science fiction B-pictures such as "This Island Earth" and "Cult of the Cobra." While not her favorite projects, these movies have gained modest cult followings over the years. In the late '50s, she moved into episodic TV, appearing in a variety of series, including the Westerns "Colt .45" and "Bonanza." In the early '70s, near the close of her career, she wrote a biography of her early years, "My Life with Howard Hughes."