Bella Darvi

International actress Bella Darvi, led a tragic, tempestuous life. She was born Bayla Wegier in Poland but raised in Paris. When she was 12, she was sent to a concentration camp when the Germans invaded France. For much of her adult life, Darvi was a gambler unable to resist the lure of casinos, and even as a young woman racked up many gambling debts. It was in such a place, in 1951 Paris, that Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century-Fox, and his wife Virginia met Darvi. Feeling she had potential as an actress, they paid her debts and took her back to Hollywood to groom her to be a Fox star. Her stage name was a combination of the Zanucks first names. Darvi made three films in Hollywood, but none of them were memorable. After a scandal erupted within the Zanuck home, Darvi was thrown out and her contract broken. She went back to Europe and appeared in a few mediocre French and Italian films and by the 1960s her career was over. Darvi went back to gambling and became deeply indebted and suicidal. During the '60s she attempted suicide three times, and sadly, in early 1971, Darvi succeeded and was found gassed to death in her apartment in Monte Carlo.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide