Faith Domergue was an American actress who rose to fame in the 1950s as a star of science fiction and horror films. She was also known for her tumultuous relationship with billionaire Howard Hughes, who discovered her when she was 16 and tried to make her a Hollywood star. But what was the cause of death of Faith Domergue, and how did her life and career end?
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Early Life and Career
Faith Domergue was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 16, 1924 or 1925 (sources differ), of part-Creole descent. She was adopted by Adabelle Wemet when she was six weeks old. When Faith was 18 months old, Adabelle married Leo Domergue. The family moved to California in 1928, where Domergue attended Catholic schools in Santa Monica.
While a sophomore at University High School, she signed a contract with Warner Bros., and made her first on-screen appearance with an uncredited walk-on role in Blues in the Night (1941). The same year, she appeared on the cover of Photoplay as Faith Dorn; the name change, she later claimed, was “because Jack Warner was too stupid to pronounce Domergue”.
After graduating in 1942, Domergue continued to pursue a career in acting, but after sustaining injuries in a near-fatal car accident, her plans were put on hold. While recuperating from the accident, she attended a party aboard Howard Hughes’ yacht. Enamored with her, Hughes bought out her contract with Warner Bros., signed her to a three-picture deal with RKO, and cast her in the thriller Vendetta (1950).
Vendetta and Howard Hughes
The film had a long and troubled production history, with reshoots and several changes of director, further exacerbated by Hughes’ health problems following a near-fatal plane crash he endured in July 1946. The production extended over four years and cost $3.5 million. By the time of Vendetta’s premiere in 1950, Domergue had left Los Angeles for Palm Springs, and was pregnant with her second child.
After the film’s release, Domergue separated from Hughes, disappointed with the way the film and her career had been handled: “I was told he spent five million dollars publicizing me”, she said, “but [the] film was [n’t properly] released.” She also accused Hughes of being abusive and controlling, and claimed that he had forced her to have an abortion.
Domergue married Argentinean-born director Hugo Fregonese in 1947, with whom she had two children. They divorced in 1958.
Science Fiction and Horror Films
Despite the critical battering her acting had received, she continued to get parts, largely on the strength of her sultry looks. In westerns, she starred opposite Audie Murphy in Duel At Silver Creek (1952), Jeff Chandler in The Great Sioux Uprising (1953), and John Payne in Santa Fe Passage (1955), where she needed merely to be supportive and decorative.
But Domergue’s career got a boost in the 1950s as a ‘scream queen’ in enjoyable low-budget horror movies, where bad performances were an asset. In Cult Of The Cobra (1955), she played an Asian high priestess who can change into a snake, and who places a curse on six unsuspecting GIs; It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955) had her as an unlikely scientist trying to rid the world of a giant radioactive octopus, which, due to budgetary considerations and not radiation, had only five tentacles.
Her most famous role was as Dr. Ruth Adams in This Island Earth (1955), one of the best science fiction films of the decade. She played a brilliant scientist who helps an alien visitor from the planet Metaluna to build an interocitor, a device that can communicate across galaxies. She also accompanies him on a perilous journey to his home world, where they face mutant creatures and a dying civilization.
Later Years and Death
Domergue’s later career consisted of B movies, television guest roles, and European productions. She appeared in episodes of Bonanza , The Virginian , Perry Mason , Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea , and The Fugitive . She also starred in films such as Curse of the Undead (1959), The House of Seven Corpses (1974), and Legacy of Blood (1978).
Domergue spent her later years in retirement in Palo Alto, California. On April 4, 1999, in Santa Barbara, she died from an unspecified cancer at age 74, and was cremated.
Faith Domergue was one of the many actresses who fell under the spell of Howard Hughes, but unlike some others, she never achieved the fame and success he promised her. She was, however, a memorable presence in some of the most entertaining genre films of the 1950s, and a cult icon for fans of science fiction and horror.
