She 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, nicknamed the “Queen of Technicolor” because she photographed so well in that medium with her fair complexion, bright red hair, and green eyes
She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who changed her name from Marilyn Louis to Rhonda Fleming. She said later, “It’s so weird … 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 things could happen in those days.”
After having bit parts in In Old Oklahoma (1943), Since You Went Away (1944), and When Strangers Marry (1944), she received her first substantial role in the thriller Spellbound (1945), produced by Selznick and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. She later said, “Hitch told me I was going to play a nymphomaniac. I remember rushing home to look it up in the dictionary and being quite shocked.” The film was a success and Selznick offered her another good role in the thriller The Spiral Staircase (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak.
Selznick lent her to appear in supporting parts in the Randolph Scott Western Abilene Town (1946) at United Artists and the film noir classic Out of the Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas at RKO, Bing Crosby in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1949), and Bob Hope in the hit film The Great Lover (1949)
Fleming died on October 14, 2020, due to complications from Aspiration Pneumonia. She was 97
