The “Queen of Technicolor”: 40 Glamorous Photos of Rhonda Fleming in the 1940s and ’50s

Born 1923 as Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, retired American actress and singer Rhonda Fleming began working as a film actress while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1941. She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who changed her name to “Rhonda Fleming”.

“It's so weird,” Fleming said later. “He stopped me crossing the street. It kinda scared me a little bit -- I was only 16 or 17. He signed me to a seven-year contract without a screen test. It was a Cinderella story, but those could happen in those days.”

Fleming acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day. She was nicknamed the “Queen of Technicolor” because her fair complexion and flaming red hair photographed exceptionally well in Technicolor.

Fleming has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of Rhonda Fleming in the 1940s and 1950s.