How Yvonne De Carlo Overcame Adversity and Became a Star
Yvonne was raised in Vancouver by her father William Shelton Middleton who was a New Zealand salesman, and mother Marie de Carlo who was born in France to a Scottish mother and a Sicilian father, and was a milliner. William left the family when Yvonne was three, and it’s believed that he married two more times and had several children.
Yvonne studied at Lord Roberts Elementary School, close to her grandparents’ home, and grew up wanting to become an author. At the age of seven, she wrote the poem “A Little Boy” which won a contest organized by the magazine “Vancouver Sun”, and often wrote short plays, including her own version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.
Marie saw her daughter’s potential, and thus worked hard to pay for her dancing and singing lessons; she studied at June Roper School of the Dance, and in May 1939, performed at the Hy Singer’s Palomar Ballroom.
Yvonne matriculated in 1941 and then began pursuing an acting career rather than a college degree.
