Lili Damita

Lovely Lili Damita in a dreamy 1926 portrait sitting by Manasse Studios. Lili was born on July 10, in 1904 in Blaye, France. As a child she studied ballet and attended school in several different countries. By the age of sixteen she was working as a professional model and dancer. In 1921 she won a beauty contest and was offered her first acting role. She appeared in more than a dozen silent films made in Europe. In 1928, she was invited to Hollywood by producer Samuel Goldwyn and made her American film debut in "The Rescue" (1928). Audiences fell in love with the exotic beauty and nicknamed her "Tiger Lil". She appeared in a string of box office successes including "The Cock-Eyed World" (1929), "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" (1929) and "This Is the Night" (1932). Despite her thick accent she was easily able to make the transition to talkies. In 1935 Lili married the then unknown Errol Flynn and decided to retire from the screen. Her final role was in the 1938 French film "Escadrille of Chance". Errol quickly became a superstar and Lili was now primarily known as his wife. The couple had a son, Sean, in 1940 but their marriage was tumultuous. Errol had many affairs and Lili divorced him in 1942. Lili continued to stay out of the spotlight and focused on raising her son. Tragedy struck in 1970 however when Sean went missing during a trip to Cambodia. Lili spent fourteen years and millions of dollars searching for him but he was never found. Sean Flynn was declared legally dead in 1984. By this time Lili was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and divorced from her second husband. She passed away on March 21, 1994 at the age of eighty-nine. The epitaph on her tombstone reads "She touched so many lives, brightened so many days."

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