Laurette Luez
Laurette Luez in D.O.A. (1950)
Born	Loretta Mary Luiz (1928-08-19)August 19, 1928 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Died	September 12, 1999(1999-09-12) (aged 71) Milton, Florida, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, commercial model
Years active	1944–1964
Spouse(s)	Robert Creel (1956–1983; divorced); 2 children Edward A. Harrison (1950–1951, annulment) Gregg C. Tallas (1950–1950; divorced) Philip Sudano (1947–1948; divorced); 1 child

Laurette Luez (born Loretta Mary Luiz; August 19, 1928 – September 12, 1999) was an American supporting actress and successful commercial model who appeared in films and on television during a 20-year career. She was a widely known Hollywood celebrity during the 1950s, owing much to publicity about her social life.^[1] She is best known for her supporting role as photographic model Marla Rakubian in Rudolph Maté's 1950 film noir D.O.A..^[2]

Early life

Luez was the second of three children born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Frank and Francesca Luiz (née Clancy), vaudeville singers and dancers who performed traditional Hawaiian and Spanish music. Luez's father was from Hawaii and had Portuguese ancestry. Her mother was Australian, the daughter of an actor. Luez first showed up on stage doing a hula dance at age three. In July 1935 the family left Honolulu on the SS Mariposa to settle in Los Angeles. That same year, six-year-old Loretta performed for Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, who was known as one of the wealthiest men in the world at that time.^[1]

Hollywood career

About working with Errol Flynn, Luez said

Errol and I play our love scenes through the window and do not kiss. But we took stills embracing each other. They asked me if I enjoyed working that way with Errol and I told them it was very, very disturbing, to say the least.^{[citation needed]}

In 1949, she participated in a later famous Life magazine photo layout, in which she posed with other up-and-coming actresses, Marilyn Monroe, Lois Maxwell, Cathy Downs, Suzanne Dalbert, Enrica Soma and Jane Nigh.^{[citation needed]}

From that time forward she was cast mostly in exotic, sexy character roles in films and television. In 1953, she appeared in Siren of Bagdad as a dancing slave girl. The following year, she played a small role in the Bowery Boys film, Jungle Gents, opposite Huntz Hall's character "Sach" (her one line was "Kiss, kiss, kiss").

In 1956, she appeared in another exotic slave-girl role as Karamaneh in the syndicated TV series, The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu.^[3] She also was a regular on The Donald O'Connor Show (1954–1955).^[3]: 276

Luez left the film industry in 1965.^{[citation needed]}

Marriages

• Actor Philip Sudano (August 16, 1947,^[4] Los Angeles, California; divorced 1948), with whom she had her first son, Alexander Eden.^{[citation needed]}
• Greek director Gregg Tallas (1950, Las Vegas, Nevada; the marriage lasted three months, from June to September 1950); at the time Tallas said he hoped to open a production company in Greece featuring Luez as his star.^{[citation needed]}
• Real estate investor Edward A. Harrison (October 30, 1951, "secretly" in Tijuana, Mexico; annulled early 1952). Luez claimed Harrison had not divorced his former wife and also said he threatened both her life and film career.^[5]
• Robert Creel (1956; divorced 1983), with whom she had two children, a son, Craig T. (born September 14, 1962, Los Angeles) and a daughter, Claudette M. (born May 1, 1968, Los Angeles).^[1]

Last years

By 1990 Luez was living in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles with her sister Lei, along with a nephew.^[1] Luez died on September 12, 1999, in Milton, Florida, aged 71, from undisclosed causes.^[6]

Filmography