Biography for Alice Faye

In a series of handsomely produced boxoffice hits--backstage musicals, costume romances and then south-of-the-border, "Good Neighbor" musicals--Faye usually played jilted, but perservering, women who get their man (often Don Ameche or Tyrone Power) by the last reel. Her best-remembered films include the lavish historical saga "In Old Chicago" (1938), the affectionate recreation of early slapstick film comedy "Hollywood Cavalcade" (1939), and the gaudily Technicolored musicals "That Night in Rio" (1941), "Weekend in Havana" (1941) and, campiest of all, the cult classic "The Gang's All Here" (1943).

Faye's career in films began to ebb in the early 40s; she had had her disagreements with Fox's main office and Betty Grable was clearly--and successfully--groomed to be Faye's successor as resident blonde musical star. After retiring from films in 1945 upon completing the interesting film noir "Fallen Angel", Faye hosted a successful radio program with second husband Phil Harris. She later made film appearances in the remake of "State Fair" (1962) and "The Magic of Lassie" (1978) and starred in a 1973 Broadway revival of "Good News" opposite John Payne, with whom she had performed in four musicals in the 1940s. Faye was married to Tony Martin from 1936 to 1940 and to bandleader and comic actor Phil Harris from 1941 until his death in 1995.