Frances Dee as Betsy
A young Canadian nurse (Betsy) comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager (Paul Holland). Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.
Biography for Frances Dee
Birth name
Jean Dee
Date of birth
26 November 1907
Los Angeles, California, USA
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Brunette Frances Dee was born in Los Angeles, where her Army officer father was stationed, and grew up in Chicago after her dad was transferred there. In 1929 he was re-assigned to L.A., and (as a lark) Dee began working in motion pictures as an extra; her debut was in "Words and Music" with Lois Moran. After playing her breakthrough role in "Playboy of Paris" opposite Maurice Chevalier, she met Joel McCrea on the set of the 1933 film "The Silver Cord"; following a whirlwind courtship, the two were married later that year in Rye, New York. In 1970, she and McCrea were rumored to be worth between fifty and one hundred million dollars. (Their 57-year marriage ended in 1990, the year of his death.) Dee hasn't acted since the mid-'50s, and says she doesn't miss it. The nonagenarian actress was recently a huge hit at the 1998 Memphis Film Festival in Tunica, Mississippi.
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Trivia
Mother of actor Jody McCrea.
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Lissome, beautiful actress whose many competent performances failed to win her a spot in Hollywood's top ranks, although she did win one of her leading men, Joel McCrea, to whom she was married for nearly 60 years. Born in California but raised in Chicago, where she attended college, Dee spent a summer vacation visiting relatives near Hollywood. She worked as an extra, mostly as a lark, until being "discovered" by Maurice Chevalier, who insisted over his director's objections that she be cast in his The Playboy of Paris (1930). Paramount signed her to a contract, and she duly appeared in many of the studio's programmers, most notably the 1931 version of Dreiser's An American Tragedy playing the society girl portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor in the better-known 1951 remake.
Dee went to RKO for The Silver Cord (1933), delivering a first-rate performance as a sensitive, lovesick girl dominated by her possessive mother. She fell in love with leading man McCrea, whom she married later that year. Dee had another memorable role in 1933, that of a frankly nymphomaniacal heiress in Blood Money It was a standout among the many insipid ingenue roles she was handed during that period. (She also played spirited young women in 1934's Finishing School and 1935's Becky Sharp to excellent effect.) Wells Fargo (1937) reunited her with McCrea on-screen; in real life she was already a mother, as well as partner in McCrea's sprawling San Fernando Valley ranch. Although she continued to delight audiences with her screen workespecially opposite Ronald Colman in If I Were King (1938)-Dee spent most of her time raising her family. But even in her last screen appearances, such as Mr. Scoutmaster (1953) and Gypsy Colt (1954), she was startlingly beautiful. Although her marriage to McCrea had its ups and downs, she remained devoted to him until his death in 1990. Her son Jody McCrea had a short-term acting career in the 1960s.
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Gypsy Colt (1954) .... Em MacWade
Mister Scoutmaster (1953) .... Helen Jordan
Because of You (1952) .... Susan Arnold
Reunion in Reno (1951) .... Mrs. Linaker
Payment on Demand (1951) .... Eileen Benson
Four Faces West (1948) .... Fay Hollister
... aka They Passed This Way (1948) (UK)
Private Affairs of Bel Ami, The (1947) .... Marie de Varenne
Patrick the Great (1945) .... Lynn Andrews
Happy Land (1943) .... Agnes Marsh
I Walked with a Zombie (1943) .... Betsy Connell, Jessica Holland's Nurse/Narrator
Meet the Stewarts (1942) .... Candace Goodwin
Man Betrayed, A (1941) .... Sabra Cameron
... aka Citadel of Crime (1941/II) (UK)
... aka Wheel of Fortune (1941) (USA: reissue title)
So Ends Our Night (1941) .... Marie Steiner
Coast Guard (1939) .... Nancy Bliss
If I Were King (1938) .... Katherine de Vaucelles
Wells Fargo (1937) .... Justine Pryor MacKay
Souls at Sea (1937) .... Margaret Tarryton
Come and Get It (1936)
... aka Roaring Timbers (1936) (USA: reissue title)
Half Angel (1936) .... Allison Lang
Gay Deception, The (1935) .... Mirabel
Becky Sharp (1935) .... Amelia Sedley
... aka Lady of Fortune (1943) (USA: reissue title) (cut version)
Of Human Bondage (1934) .... Sally Athelny
Finishing School (1934) .... Virginia 'Vergie'/'Ginny' Radcliff
Coming-Out Party (1934) .... Joy Stanhope
Keep 'Em Rolling (1934) .... Marjorie Deane
Blood Money (1933) .... Elaine Talbert
One Man's Journey (1933) .... Joan Stockton
Silver Cord, The (1933) .... Hester
Little Women (1933) .... Margaret 'Meg' March
Headline Shooter (1933) .... Jane Mallory
... aka Evidence in Camera (1933) (UK)
Crime of the Century, The (1933) .... Doris Brandt
King of the Jungle (1933) .... Anne Rogers
Night of June 13th, The (1932) .... Ginger Blake
Strange Case of Clara Deane, The (1932) .... Nancy
If I Had a Million (1932) (uncredited) .... Mary Wallace
Love Is a Racket (1932) .... Mary Wodehouse
... aka Such Things Happen (1932) (UK)
Nice Women (1932) .... Jerry Girard
This Reckless Age (1932) .... Lois Ingals
Rich Man's Folly (1931) .... Ann Trumbull
Working Girls (1931) .... Louise Adams
Caught (1931)
American Tragedy, An (1931) .... Sondra Finchley
June Moon (1931) .... Edna Baker
Playboy of Paris, The (1930) .... Yvonne Phillbert
Along Came Youth (1930) .... Elinor Farrington
Follow Thru (1930) .... Bit in Ladies Locker Room
Monte Carlo (1930) (uncredited) .... Receptionist
Manslaughter (1930)
Man From Wyoming, A (1930) (uncredited) .... Nurse
True to the Navy (1930) (uncredited) .... Girl at table
Words and Music (1929) (uncredited)