Yvette Dugay was an American actress. Her name was often spelled as Yvette Duguay.
Early years
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Pearlman, she began acting at the age of six months and continued her career well into adulthood, proving to be one of the few child stars of the time to maintain a successful career. Though Duguay’s family originated in Marseilles, France as wine merchants, she was recorded to have been born in Paterson, New Jersey. Her family decided to move out to Hollywood when Duguay was only the age of two, and she lived out the rest of her life there. Dugay was a graduate of Hollywood High School.
Career
Director Arthur Lubin once described Dugay as "a rare actress with a bottomless well of emotion." Her filmography spans 40 years. She started her career when she was only six months old, modeling for baby talcum powder. She made her Broadway debut at age seven in a play starring Walter Huston. Duguay began spelling her name Dugay around the age of 12, about the time that she landed the role of a young Maria Montez in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. She was typecast as being able to play exotic-looking characters from an early age. Universal-International signed Duguay in July 1951 when she was 19 years old, earning her a weekly salary of $1,250. She portrayed a Native American squaw, Starfire, in the western filmCattle Queen of Montana that starred future President of the United StatesRonald Reagan. It turned out Cattle Queen would be one of her most recognizable roles, but Duguay also portrayed a Native American character, Minnehaha, in another western genre film, Hiawatha, in which she starred opposite Vince Edwards. Some other credits include the film noirThe People Against O'Hara, opposite Spencer Tracy and James Arness,The Cimarron Kid, Francis Covers the Big Town, and The Domino Kid. Her last role was playing the Lone Woman in 1960 on a western television series titled Cheyenne.
Personal life
Duguay's first husband was Hal Paiss, with whom she had three children, son William C. Paiss, daughter Madeline J. Paiss, and son Matthew D. Paiss. She divorced Paiss in June 1966. She married John F. Sheeley in Los Angeles in June 1967 and divorced him in October 1972. She married her third husband, Robert C. Anderson, who would survive her, on August 27, 1983. Duguay died in Los Angeles on October 14, 1986, aged 54, from undisclosed causes.
