Glamorous star loses fight against cancer

Press, 9 May 1985, Page 11

Glamorous star loses fight against cancer

NZPA-PA London One of Britain’s most glamorous 1950 s film stars, Dawn Addams, who starred opposite David Niven and Charlie Chaplin, has died after a five-month fight against cancer. Miss Addams, who was 54, was taken ill in the United States three weeks ago when she fell into a coma. After a brief recovery, she returned to England and died in hospital on Tuesday.

Her career took her to Hollywood and to Italy where she married the charismatic Prince Vittorio Massimo.

It was a stormy marriage which ended in divorce in 1971.

Paying tribute to the star her agent, Janet Crowley, said: “She will be remembered as one of the most glamorous and best-

looking film stars of that age. “She was very classy, beautiful and stylish and always had a bright personality. She will be missed by the whole business.”

Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, the daughter of an art student, she travelled to the United States at the age of 13 when she underwent her first screen test.

She was signed up by Hollywood’s giant M.G.M. studios in 1950, heralding a string of roles in films such as “Night Into Morning,” “Young Bess,” “Singing in the Rain” and "The Unknown Man.” She found stardom after breaking from the studios when she played opposite David Niven in “The Moon is Blue.” In 1956, she was “discovered” by Charlie Chaplin, who co-starred with her in “A King in New York.”