Danica d'Hondt (born 29 May 1939) is an English-Canadian actress, writer, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder. She was a winner of the Miss Canada 1960 and represented her country at Miss World 1960 where she placed Top 18. She has worked in American television and film, and theater productions in the San Francisco area.
D'Hondt began her career at the age of nine by appearing in a movie at Shepperton Studios in England.[1] She worked in radio, TV and on stage in Canada, where her family emigrated while she was still in school.[1] She graduated from high school in Montreal, and returned to England after attending the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.[1] She worked as a stage actress in London, also performing in radio and TV dramas for the BBC,[1] and then relocated to Toronto, Canada, where she became a CBC-TV game show personality and a talk show host at an early age. She also appeared on TV shows out of New York City, and in summer stock theatre in New York and Illinois. She starred with comic Harvey Korman in Living Venus (1961), a film shot in Chicago in 1960.[citation needed]
D'Hondt's Hollywood career spans the years from 1960 to 1990, during which time she starred in "B" movies, played supporting roles in major Hollywood movies, and performed guest-starring roles on TV shows of the time as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964); The Wild Wild West (1965); Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964); and Tarzan (1966). She turned down the role of "Ginger" in Gilligan's Island (1964) because production stalled, which prevented her from doing other films.[2]
She left Hollywood from 1966 to 1971, during which time she worked as a theatre director in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she also wrote for a magazine, produced educational films and taught acting at her own school, "The Actor's Lab", on Sacramento Street.[1]
Upon her return to Hollywood in 1971,[1] she directed several stage productions, worked as a writer and associate producer in film and television, and did a stint as a television journalist, becoming the Consumer and Financial Reporter to a syndicated daytime magazine show called "Breakaway".[citation needed]
She relocated to Northern California in the 1990s,[1] became active in real estate investing and had two non-fiction books published.
D'Hondt is married to businessman and winemaker Nello Olivo, and they have six children together. The couple lives on a vineyard in the Sierra Foothills, where she writes, teaches, and helps tend their vineyard.[3] The couple also owns a large restaurant and banquet facility in Placerville, California, named "Sequoia".[1]
Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr., known as Lex Barker, was an American actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953, and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels, notably as Old Shatterhand in a film series by the West German studio Constantin Film. At the height of his fame, he was one of the most popular actors in German-speaking cinema, and received Bambi Award and Bravo Otto nominations for the honor.
Elke Sommer is a German actress. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in The Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark (1964), the Bob Hope comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1974), and the British Carry On series in Carry On Behind (1975).
Lois Ruth Maxwell was a Canadian actress who portrayed Miss Moneypenny in the first fourteen Eon-produced James Bond films (1962–1985), from Dr. No in 1962 to A View to a Kill in 1985. She did not appear in the 1967 adaptation of Casino Royale, nor in the 1983 remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again, as the production was not Eon's, though she did, as a similar character, appear in the spoof O.K. Connery.
Nancy Kovack is a retired American film and television actress.
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Pamela Tiffin Wonso was an American film and television actress.
Michele Carey was an American actress who was best known for her role as Josephine "Joey" MacDonald in the 1966 Western film El Dorado. She appeared in movies and guest-starred in television series in the 1960s and 1970s.
Aliza Gur is an Israeli actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Israel 1960 and a semifinalist at the Miss Universe 1960 held in Miami Beach. She played Vida in the James Bond film From Russia with Love in 1963.
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Valerie Jill Haworth was an English-American actress. She appeared in films throughout the 1960s, and started making guest appearances on television in 1963. She originated the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret on Broadway in 1966.
Judy Lenteen Pace is an American actress known for her roles in films and television shows, particularly blaxploitation films. Pace portrayed Vickie Fletcher on the TV series Peyton Place (1968–1969) and Pat Walters on the ABC drama series The Young Lawyers (1969–1971), for which she won an Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series in 1970.
Walter Ignace d'Hondt was a Canadian rower and Olympic champion.
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Robert Frederick Day was an English film director. He directed more than 40 films between 1956 and 1991.
America Athene Olivo is an American actress and singer best known as a member of the band Soluna, for her roles in the films Bitch Slap (2009), Friday the 13th (2009) and Maniac (2012), as well as starring in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
Ulla Strömstedt was a Swedish-born actress who appeared in several films and television shows.
Guadalupe Bracho Pérez-Gavilán, known professionally as Andrea Palma, was a Mexican actress. She was considered the first major female star of the Mexican cinema after her role in the Mexican film La Mujer del Puerto (1934).
Francine York was an American actress and model. She also used the name Francine Yerick.
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