Jacqueline Fontaine
Joyce Elaine Romeo, the raven-haired daughter of Orlando and Emma Romeo of 5606 34th Avenue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, studied at the nearby McKinley Junior High School and the downtown Mary D. Bradford High School while simultaneously nurturing her dreams of performing before appreciative audiences. She made her first such appearances in Chicago clubs before coming to Los Angeles for George White's Scandals and Billy Gray's Band Box (Dorothy Kilgallen noted her in July, 1946 as a dancer at LaConga) and local television. One such telecast caught the eye of producer Ron Ormond who signed her for "Outlaw Women" (1952) without a screen test. Previously she had appeared with Mickey Rooney as "the other woman" in The Strip. Also in 1952 Jacki (as she was labeled on Crystalette Records songs) worked with Jack Carson at the Sahati's Country Club Casino in Stateline, Nevada. Bing Crosby noticed her at a Pebble Beach golf tournament and cast her in The Country Girl. Later she did live appearances with comic Lenny Kent at the Casino Lounge in the Mapes Hotel and in 1962 with Buddy Lester at New Facks and at the Losers Club in Hollywood. and by 1965 at the Jamaica Room of the West Valley Bowl and at Sunset Boulevard's Key Club. Three years later she worked as a regular in a troupe with singer-comic Duke Mitchell, and by the 1970s she was seen at Aladdin's Funny Farm, the new Nine Thousand and the Fire and Flame in North Hollywood, with billing calling her "The Performer's Performer".
Acting
Movie
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
as Singer (uncredited)
1967
Movie
The Ladies Man
as Working Girl
1961
Movie
Bilitis
as Supervisor
1977
Movie
The Country Girl
as Lounge Singer
1954
Movie
Alvarez Kelly
as Bordello Girl
1966
Movie
To Die of Love
1971
Movie
Murderers' Row
as Singer at Wake (uncredited)
1966
Movie
How to Make Good When One Is a Jerk and a Crybaby
as La femme de Marcel
1974
Movie
Under the Sign of the Bull
as Louise, la domestique des Raynal
1969
Movie
It's Tough for Everybody
1975
Movie
The Strip
as Frieda
1951
Movie
Back Streets of Paris
1946
Movie
Outlaw Women
as Ellen Larabee
1952
Movie
Born to Be Loved
as Dame
1959
Movie
Untamed Mistress
as Velda
1951
Movie
Impasse of Two Angels
as (uncredited)
1948
Movie
The Lieutenant Wore Skirts
as Buxom Blonde at Party
1956
Movie
Gallant Ladies
as Parente Labadens
1990
Movie
The Egg
as (uncredited)
1972
TV
At Theatre Tonight
as Hélène
1966
Movie
The Daltons' Women
as Jacqueline Fontaine
1950
Movie
Le Naïf amoureux
as A client
1965
Movie
The Cross and the Banner
1962
Movie
Skipalong Rosenbloom
as Caroline Witherspoon
1951