Dawn Addams

Victoria Dawn Addams (21 September 1930 – 7 May 1985) was an English actress. She worked steadily in American films during the 1950s, and was later a regular on British television. She married into the noble Italian Massimo family in 1954, and held the title Princess of Roccasecca dei Volsci.

Early years

Dawn was the daughter of James Ramage Addams (1904-1990) and his Irish wife Ethel Mary Hickie (1903-1936), born in Suffolk on 21 September 1930. Her father was a Flight-Lieutenant in the RAF, and son of artists Clifford Isaac Addams and Inez Eleanor Bate, and after Ethel's death he married the actress Arline Judge. Dawn's mother was a native of Cork and was married to Arthur Thistlethwaite until they divorced in 1927; she died in April 1936 when Dawn was just five years old.

Career

Addams' face and physique attracted the attention of talent agents. In December 1950, she signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. Her film career began with a role in Night into Morning (1951), and her subsequent MGM films included Singin' in the Rain (1952), Plymouth Adventure (1952), Young Bess (1953) and the female lead opposite Peter Lawford in The Hour of 13 (1952). She played David Niven's daughter in The Moon Is Blue (1953). She also embarked on a USO tour the same year to help entertain troops in Korea. She worked steadily in films during the remainder of the 1950s, including a heavily publicised role as Richard Carlson's model girlfriend in the science fiction film Riders to the Stars (1954) and the female lead opposite actor-director-filmmaker legend Charlie Chaplin in his final comedy to star himself, A King in New York (1957). During the 1960s and 1970s, she appeared mainly in British TV shows and French films.

She was a semi-regular on the instructional series En France (1962) and the leading lady in several episodes of The Saint (1962–69), which starred Roger Moore as Simon Templar. In 1968 she guest starred in the episode Handicap Dead of the classic spy-fi series Department S.

Among her last film credits were two British horror films, The Vampire Lovers (1970) and The Vault of Horror (1973), and she was also a regular in the British sitcom Father, Dear Father (1971–1973). One of her last television roles was in the science fiction serial Star Maidens (1977). Addams retired in the early 1980s, dividing her remaining years between Europe and the United States.[citation needed]

Personal life

She married Italian nobleman Don Vittorio Emanuele Massimo, Prince of Roccasecca dei Volsci, in 1954; the wedding was the subject of a cover story in Life magazine. Their son, Prince Stefano, married Atalanta Foxwell, daughter of film producer Ivan Foxwell and Lady Edith (Lambart), granddaughter of the 9th Earl of Cavan.[citation needed]

Death

Addams died in 1985 in a London hospital at age 54 from lung cancer.

Legacy

A biography of Addams edited by James Pepper, based on an interview of Addams by John Francis Lane, was published in May 2024 as Dawn Addams - My Life As Chaplin's Leading Lady.

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

• at IMDb