Lili Gentle
Lili Charlene Gentle (born March 4, 1940 in Birmingham) is a former actress and the first wife of film producer Richard D. Zanuck.
Gentle, a second cousin of Tallulah Bankhead, left Woodlawn High School to pursue an acting career. She changed the spelling of her name from Lillie to Lili before making her screen debut at age 16 in an uncredited role in Carousel. She followed that with small parts in Teenage Rebel and The Girl Can't Help It the same year. She appeared in a smattering of films over the next six years and also worked on series television. Her break came as Tony Randall's niece in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), and her only starring role was the female lead in the 1958 film Sing, Boy, Sing opposite Tommy Sands.
In 1958 Gentle married then 23-year-old Richard Zanuck, son of 20th Century Fox's Darryl F. Zanuck. She terminated her contract with her father-in-law's studio in order to become a housewife, but did return to acting before she and Zanuck were divorced in 1968. Her last role was in 1962's Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation.
Gentle married Thomas P. Richardson in April 1970, but divorced him less than a year later. Her third marriage, to Timothy W. Guerry in 1975, survives.
References
- "Lili Gentle" (February 9, 2013) Wikipedia - accessed February 19, 2013