# RIP, Arlene Dahl **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [November 30, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214 "2021-11-30T13:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/1 "2021-11-30T13:54:45Z")
I find it interesting that they lead off the obituary by mentioning her role in the 1959 **Journey to the Center of the Earth**. I would’ve thought that an aberration, not part of her ordinary run of movies, but evidently it’s one of the things she’s best known for. No mention in the obit of her appearances in Playboy. I have to admit, I never saw any of her other movies, but she seems to be multitalented, singing and dancing as well as acting. And, for what it’s worth, of all the 1950s and 1960s adaptations where the shoehorned a female role in where none had previously existed, this was far and away the best done. Due in no small part to Ms. Dahl’s work. > **[Arlene Dahl, 1950s Screen Star, Dead At 96](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/arlene-dahl-dead-at-96-lorenzo-lamas_n_61a5708fe4b0ae9a42b27a95)** > > Dahl is best known for films like “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Three Little Words,” and for being the mother of Lorenzo Lamas. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/2 "2021-11-30T15:06:54Z")
“Best known for being the mother of Lorenzo Lamas” That part’s a little depressing. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/3 "2021-11-30T15:11:54Z")
I used to like watching Lorenzo in **Renegade** (I always viewed as a deliberate pastiche though.) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/4 "2021-11-30T15:21:32Z")
I too remember her from _ **Journey to the Center of the Earth** _. She was gorgeous with that long, flaming red hair. I couldn’t have been older than four or five when I first saw the movie, and I was smitten immediately. RIP. 😢 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/5 "2021-11-30T15:26:27Z")
I remember the movie – I was 11. > **[Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052948/)** > > Journey to the Center of the Earth: Directed by Henry Levin. With Pat Boone, James Mason, Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker. An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center. Isn’t that the one where the GINORMOUS SPIDER drops down out of nowhere at one point?? That’s the thing I remember the most. There’s getting to be quite a glamorous gathering of old time movie stars in the afterlife… 😢 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/6 "2021-11-30T16:27:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > There’s getting to be quite a glamorous gathering of old time movie stars in the afterlife… 😢 I see Diane Baker was in _ **Journey** _ as well. She was a really hot property for a while back in the '60s, but then kind of disappeared until she turned up again on _ **Columbo** _ and later in _ **Silence of the Lambs** _. A quick check reveals she’s still around at age 83! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/7 "2021-11-30T20:32:31Z")
I used to work with Peter Ronson’s wife, Marie. He played Hans in Journey To The Center Of The Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/8 "2021-11-30T20:50:29Z")
_Journey to the Center of the Earth_ is one of many decent films in which Ms. Dahl appeared to no great impact. Even cast as a princess in _Desert Legion_ (1953), a knock-off of Pierre Benoit’s novel _L’Atlantide_, she is not very memorable. That said, she did add value to several films omitted from the article linked in the OP. She is good in _Reign of Terror_, a.k.a. _The Black Book_ (1949), a beautifully lit period film noir set during the French Revolution with an excellent supporting cast. She is also very good in the obscure _Inside Straight_ (1951) as a scheming vixen who outfoxes gambler David Brian (a.k.a. Prof. John Gill on _ST: TOS_) in late 19th century San Francisco. And she makes a compelling _femme fatale_ in _She Played with Fire_ (1957) as insurance investigator Jack Hawkins’ former flame…and current suspect in arson. Her best performance imo, is _Slightly Scarlet_ (1956), a film noir shot in color based on James M. Cain’s story _Love’s Lovely Counterfeit_ in which she steals the show as the klepto bad girl sister of Rhonda Fleming. Like Fleming (and many other actresses), Dahl was better as bad girls, but rarely got the chance to play them. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/9 "2021-12-01T01:59:27Z")
Very startling coincidence: The Youtube tech reviewer Techmoan posted a video review of an ultrasonic vinyl record cleaner on Sunday. The album he demonstrated it on was a spoken-word recording by Miss Dahl which seems to be some kind of party game in which people perform dialogue along with Miss Dahl. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pj2MbDpP-HA/maxresdefault.jpg "Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaning - with the HumminGuru") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj2MbDpP-HA) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/10 "2021-12-01T02:11:03Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Journey to the Center of the Earth_ is one of many decent films in which Ms. Dahl appeared to no great impact. I disagree. She made a big impression on a very young me. Being a girl, I was really impressed with her insistence on joining the expedition and holding her own - once she removed those “stays”. She and Hans made more of an impression on me than Mason or Boone. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/11 "2021-12-01T03:43:26Z")
It’s funny, I was an inveterate watcher of the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas shows as a kid, and I remember her more from those than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/12 "2021-12-01T13:31:54Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Journey to the Center of the Earth_ is one of many decent films in which Ms. Dahl appeared to no great impact. Even cast as a princess in _Desert Legion_ (1953), a knock-off of Pierre Benoit’s novel _L’Atlantide_ , she is not very memorable. I wasn’t aware of _Desert Legion_ before. I’ve seen other screen adaptations of _l’Atlantide_ (having read Benoit’s novel more than once), but somehow missed that one. And I agree with **needscoffee** about Ms. Dahl in _Journey to the Center of the Earth_. She definitely played a decent role as a strong female lead. As I said in the OP, there was a trend of sticking female characters in movie adaptations of Verne and Wells novels where there originally were none\*, and usually it’s a clumsy effort that feels unnaturally shoehorned in. But the role in Journey was far better than the usual run of these, and Ms. Dahl pulled it off properly. As in _From the Earth to the Moon_ or _Five Weeks in a Balloon_ or _Off on a Comet_ or _First Men in the Moon_ or _The Mysterious Island_ (even though that had the great Joan Greenwood, from the Ealing Studios). For some reason, they didn’t make movies out of ones that DID have female parts, like _The Mighty Orinoco_. Although they did film _Around the World in 80 Days_, with Princess Auoda. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-arlene-dahl/955214/13 "2021-12-01T14:57:17Z")
I’ve seen _ **The Black Book** _, and it is an excellent film. Aside from Ms Dahl, the cast included Robert Cummings (the male lead), Richard Basehart, Norman Lloyd, and Russ Tamblin. It’s one of the movies they show every night on CHCH Toronto between 02:00 and 04:00 .