Login
Login

Renee Godfrey

{{Short description|American actress (1919–1964)}}

{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2018}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Renee Godfrey

| image = Renee Godfrey in Terror by Night (1946).png

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Godfrey in Terror by Night (1946)

| birth_name = Renee Vera Haal

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|09|01|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1964|05|24|1919|09|01|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

| other_names = Renee Haal

| occupation = Actress and singer

| years_active = 1940–1964

| notable_works =

| spouse = {{marriage|Peter Godfrey
|1941}}

| children = 3

}}

Renee Godfrey (born Renee Vera Haal; September 1, 1919 – May 24, 1964) was an American stage and motion picture actress and singer.

Early life

Godfrey was born September 1, 1919, in New York, with Dutch and French ancestry as the daughter of Emil Haall, a Dutch diamond merchant, and his wife.{{cite news|last1=Todd|first1=John|title=In Hollywood|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20165304/renee_godfrey/|work=The Times|date=January 25, 1945|location=Indiana, Munster|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Career

Beginning at age 11, she worked as a model, and as a sophomore in high school she switched to night classes so that she could model during the day. She posed for artist John La Gatta and photographers Edward Steichen, Victor Keppler, John Hutchins,{{cite news|title=Renee Haal Posed for $10 an Hour WITH Her Clothes|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20165515/renee_godfrey/|work=The Des Moines Register|date=November 2, 1941|location=Iowa, Des Moines|page=Magazine - 3|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}} and others. She appeared in advertisements that were published nationally, and she had the most-photographed hands and legs in New York.{{cite news|title=Perfect Model for 1942|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20166138/renee_godfrey/|work=The Minneapolis Star|date=December 21, 1941|location=Minnesota, Minneapolis|page=Magazine - 5|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}} When a film executive saw her image on a billboard, that led the way to her work in motion pictures.

Godfrey was featured on both radio and television programs in Britain.{{cite news|title=One from London|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20167799/renee_godfrey/|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=October 3, 1943|location=California, Los Angeles|page=50|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}} She initially entered films at RKO, working as Renee Haal, and made her début in Sam Wood's Kitty Foyle (1940). Also in 1940, she was selected by RKO as that studio's actress most likely to succeed in a film career.{{cite news|last1=Heffernan|first1=Harold|title='Infant Stars of 1941' Named by Movie Studios|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20166519/hartford_courant/|work=Hartford Courant|date=October 6, 1940|location=Connecticut, Hartford|page=59|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Her work in Unexpected Uncle resulted in her signing a long-term contract with RKO early in 1942.{{cite news|title=Sign Renee Haal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20167244/renee_godfrey/|work=The Times|date=January 25, 1942|location=Indiana, Munster|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}} She began working as Renee Godfrey in Up in Arms (1944).

During World War II, she and her husband entertained troops with amateur magic shows that they put on through the USO.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}} She continued working in small roles, such as Vivian Vedder in Terror by Night (1946) and Mrs. Stebbins in Stanley Kramer's Inherit the Wind. She worked into the 1960s, appearing in Can-Can and Tender Is the Night.

For the most part, however, Godfrey was out of view. Her director-husband, who had flourished on 1950s TV, was in ill health by the end of the decade. Taking secretarial and real estate classes to help support the family income, Godfrey tried making a comeback of sorts, finding bit roles in the films.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}} She was also a guest player on such shows as Perry Mason, Hazel, The Donna Reed Show and Wagon Train.

Personal life

In 1938, she went to London for a singing engagement and met actor/director/screenwriter Peter Godfrey, who was almost 20 years her senior. They married on August 6, 1941.{{cite news|title=Renee Haal Wed to Film Director|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20167003/renee_godfrey/|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=August 7, 1941|location=California, Los Angeles|page=30|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}}

With primary focus on raising her three children (which included a set of twins), she was seen only sporadically on TV during the 1950s with guest roles on programs hosted by Loretta Young and Jane Wyman.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

Death

She died in Los Angeles, California, on 24 May 1964 from the effects of cancer. She was 44 years old.{{cite news|title=Actor's Wife|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20167973/renee_godfrey/|work=The Town Talk|date=May 26, 1964|location=Louisiana, Alexandria|page=15|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = May 17, 2018}} {{Open access}} Her final performance, in the film Those Calloways, was released posthumously. Her body was buried at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=Scott|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|date=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476625997|page=283|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Renee+Haal%22&pg=PA283|accessdate=18 May 2018|language=en}}

Filmography

{{col-begin}}

{{col-break}}

=Films roles=

{{col-break}}

=Television roles=

{{col-end}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

  • {{IMDb name|0324021}}
  • [http://www.weblo.com/celebrity/available/Renee_Godfrey/378469/ Renee Godfrey at weblo.com]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090618160441/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/27357/Renee-Godfrey/biography Biography at New York Times online]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Renee}}

Category:1919 births

Category:1964 deaths

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:Actresses from New York (state)

Category:Singers from New York (state)

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)