Diane Varsi

Diane Marie Antonia Varsi (February 23, 1938 – November 19, 1992) was an American film actor[2] best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets. She left Hollywood to pursue personal and artistic aims, notably at Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied poetry with poet and translator Ben Belitt, among others.

Diane Varsi
Born
Diane Marie Antonia Varsi

(1938-02-23)February 23, 1938
San Mateo, California, U.S.
DiedNovember 19, 1992(1992-11-19) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeMount Tamalpais Cemetery
Alma materBennington College
Years active1957–1977
Spouse(s)
James Dickson
​
​
(m. 1956; div. 1958)​

Michael Hausman
​
​
(m. 1961; div. 1965)​

Russell Parker
​
​
(m. 1966; div. 1970)​
Children2
"The very thing that led me to want to act was very mysterious, even to me. I thought there was a whole communal feeling in film. That the idea of film was to be a service of humanity, a means of communication. But the spirit was power."

Varsi on her acting motives and the film industry.[1]

Early life

Varsi was born in San Mateo, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the daughter of Beatrice (née DeMerchant) and Russell Varsi.[3] Varsi unsuccessfully tried to become a model and a restaurant hostess in her teen years.[4] While in high school, she was called an "oddball" by her classmates.[4] She often played truant from school to visit San Francisco, so was labeled a "rebel".[4] She dropped out of school in her junior year at age 15, failing in all studies, and saying: "I was bored. I didn't like the social sides - the cliques."[5][6] Around the same time, she married an 18-year-old man. Their marriage was annulled before her son Shawn was born.[6]

She joined the San Francisco ballet in the 1950s and initially planned to become a folk singer.[4] She later hitchhiked to Los Angeles with a friend.[4]

Peyton Place

Despite having only experience as an actress in a stage production of Gigi, she made her screen debut at age 18 as Allison MacKenzie in Peyton Place (1957), receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.[7] The following year, Varsi shared the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress with Sandra Dee and Carolyn Jones.[8] Several famous actresses were tested for the main role in the big-budget film, until the then-unknown Varsi was cast in May 1957.[9] She was discovered by producer Buddy Adler, who immediately put her under contract at 20th Century Fox.[9]

Career

By the time she was cast, Varsi already had an agent and had been searching for film roles for a long while, without any luck.[9] She made rounds at several studios, but according to the actress, they all thought she was suitable for character parts only.[4] She was even dropped by her agent in 1956, because he saw no future in her career.[9]

Even before Peyton Place was released, Adler cast Varsi opposite Don Murray in the Western From Hell to Texas (1958). She appeared in the films Ten North Frederick (1958) and Compulsion (1959). While filming Ten North Frederick, Varsi suffered a nervous breakdown, collapsed, and was hospitalized.[5] She later said: "I'm still trying to find myself. It's still hard for me to separate illusion from reality... I don't know whether acting is the form of creativity best for me."[1]

Varsi rejected the role of Meg in the comedy film Holiday for Lovers in January 1959.[10] On March 18, 1959, she suddenly left Hollywood, abandoning her contract. "I'm running away from destruction," she explained,"[1] saying it concerned other people, as well.[11] A week later, she elaborated, "Hollywood is too impressed with superficial cheapness."[12] Nevertheless, her contract with Fox did not expire until 1965.[1] Her sudden walkout was for a long time rumored to be a publicity stunt to promote the sequel to Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place (1961), to which Varsi was a long time attached.[13]

By walking out of her contract, Varsi's inclusion in plans for several films was cancelled, including a starring role in The Best of Everything (1959).[14] After leaving Hollywood, Varsi participated in local San Francisco theater productions.[11] At some point thereafter, she made her way to New York long enough to successfully audition for the Actors Studio, which she would attend at least briefly in 1965.[15] Varsi returned to film acting in the late 1960s, but by this time she was no longer offered major roles and subsequently referred to the movies she made in this period as "cheap films of little merit".[1] Although producers were curious about her, she said, they would not hire her.[1] Her later films include the influential cult film Wild in the Streets (1968);[16] Johnny Got His Gun (1971),[17] which Varsi described as her favorite; and an ABC Movie of the Week, entitled The People (1971).[18] Of Johnny Got His Gun, the actress said: "This is the kind of thing I always wanted to do. It comes very late to me. It's been a long time to wait."[1] She was apprehensive about playing the role, saying: "I felt too inadequate to do [Johnny Got His Gun]. It's so intense, the responsibility."[1]

Personal life

While in Hollywood, Varsi was known for being unglamorous, wearing no makeup or expensive clothes.[5] She avoided Hollywood parties and was quoted as saying: "I'd rather meet Aldous Huxley than Clark Gable."[5] Her fellow Fox actors remembered her as "a frightened, birdlike girl who was bewildered by her sudden success" and as "disillusioned by the way certain studio officials treated her".[11] She dated Russ Tamblyn, her co-star in Peyton Place, following that film's release.[19]

From November 26, 1956, to August 29, 1958, Varsi was married to James Dickson, whom she made her manager while working as an actress.[6] She then married Michael Hausman on May 21, 1961; they had a daughter, Willo.

In 1968, while working on the set of Wild in the Streets, Varsi suffered extreme trauma to her cervical spine, which led to years of misdiagnosed pain and numerous surgeries. In 1977, she contracted Lyme disease and lived for five years with undiagnosed and unremitting meningitis that several times brought her close to death. Her Lyme disease was not diagnosed until 1989.

Death

On November 19, 1992, in Los Angeles, Varsi died of respiratory failure and complications of Lyme disease at the age of 54.[20][21] She is buried at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael, California.[22][23]

Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1957 Peyton Place Allison MacKenzie
1958 Ten North Frederick Ann Chapin
From Hell to Texas Juanita Bradley Alternative title: Man Hunt
1959 Compulsion Ruth Evans
1967 Sweet Love, Bitter Della Alternative titles: Black Love, White Love
It Won't Rub Off, Baby!
Roseanna Mary Jane
1968 Wild in the Streets Sally LeRoy
Killers Three Carol Warder
1970 Bloody Mama Mona Gibson
1971 Johnny Got His Gun Fourth Nurse
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Sylvia (final film role)
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1959 Playhouse 90 Lurene Dawson 1 episode
1966 Dr. Kildare 2 episodes
1969 My Friend Tony 1 episode
1971 Cannon Mrs. Hill 1 episode
1972 The People Valancy Carmody TV movie

Awards and nominations
Year Award Result Category Film or series
1958 Academy Award Nominated Best Actress in a Supporting Role Peyton Place
Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female
-
Laurel Awards Nominated Top New Female Personality
-
Top Female Supporting Performance Peyton Place

References
  1. San Antonio Light - January 3, 1971, San Antonio, Texas. p.46: Diane Varsi is on the way back
  2. Hyams, Joe (December 16, 1957). "In Hollywood: Diane Varsi Sees Herself as 'Just an Actor,' Not Star". New York Herald Tribune. p. 15. Retrieved January 21, 2021. "'I'm just an actor.' Don't you mean actress? 'No, I'm an actor, not an actress. Stanislavsky always talks about the actor and he means female as well as male. Well, I'm an actor.'"
  3. Varsi Marriage Certificate accessed 1-2-2016
  4. El Paso Herald-Post - December 31, 1957, El Paso, Texas. p.16
  5. Evening Standard - August 5, 1958, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. p.2: Diane Varsi Holds Hollywood's 'Miss Beat Generation' Title
  6. Corpus Christi Caller-Times - April 19, 1959, Corpus Christi, Texas. p.97: Diane Varsi: Runaway Star
  7. Folkart, Burt A. (November 23, 1992). "Diane Varsi; Actress Was Oscar Nominee for 1st Role". LATimes.com. Los Angeles Times.
  8. "New Star Of The Year - Actress (1958)". GoldenGlobes.com. Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  9. Altoona Mirror - May 29, 1957, Altoona, Pennsylvania. p.4
  10. "Notes for Holiday for Lovers (1959)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  11. The Daily Mail - February 21, 1966, Hagerstown, Maryland. p.18: Diane Varsi Reappears and Wants to Return to Acting
  12. The Newport Daily News - March 26, 1959, Newport, Rhode Island. p.21: Diane Varsi Quits Acting Due to Its Superficial Cheapness
  13. "She Quit For A New Life Of Faith" by John Hyams, Winnipeg Free Press, April 8, 1961, p. 72
  14. "Notes for The Best of Everything (1959)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  15. Diane Varsi at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  16. Ebert, Roger (May 20, 1968). "WILD IN THE STREETS". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times.
  17. "IN COMPETITION – FEATURE FILMS - JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN - International Critic's Prize by the F.I.P.R.E.S.C.I., 1971". Festival-Cannes.com. Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival). Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  18. "The People (1972 USA, TV)". Modcinema.com. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  19. Lawton Constitution - March 26, 1959, Lawton, Oklahoma. p.26: Tamblyn Thinks Diane Varsi Will Never Go Back To Films
  20. The Associated Press (December 24, 1992). "Diane Varsi, 54, Dies; Former Film Actress". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. 19. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  21. "Diane Varsi". Variety. Penske Business Media, LLC. Associated Press. November 23, 1992. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  22. Burk, Margaret Tante (1996). Hudson, Gary (ed.). Final Curtain: Eternal Resting Places of Hundreds of Stars, Celebrities, Moguls, Misers & Misfits. Seven Locks Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780929765532.
  23. Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). McFarland Publishing. p. 772. ISBN 9781476625997.
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