Andrew Porter alerts us to the death of singer and actress Susanna Foster on 17 January 2009 of heart failure. Born Suzanne DeLee Flanders Larson on 6 December 1924 in Chicago, Illinois, she performed regularly on the radio by the time she was five years old. She signed a film contract with MGM at the age of 12, and turned down the lead in National Velvet (she only wanted signing roles; that role went to Elizabeth Taylor). MGM didn't use her, and soon dropped her. She then signed with Paramount, and at the age of 14, made her film debut in The Great Victor Herbert (1939). By 1945, she'd made only ten more films, when she retired from Hollywood and moved her career onto the stage. She struggled after her divorce in 1956, and dreamed of a film comeback, but she only made one more film: 1992's Detour.
Foster may be best remembered for her role in the 1943 Claude Rains/Nelson Eddy remake Phantom of the Opera. She also appeared in The Climax (1944).
At the time of her death, Foster was living at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Engelwood, New Jersey. Donations in her memory may be made to the Actors Fund, 729 7th Avenue, New York, New York 10019 USA.
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