VARIETY March 15, 2004
Frances Dee

Actress Frances Dee, who was married to thespian Joel McCrea, died Saturday in Norwalk, Conn., of complications from a stroke. She was 94.

The dark-haired beauty starred opposed Maurice Chevalier in one of the first talkie musicals, "The Playboy of Paris." She also starred in the 1931 pic "An American Tragedy" in the role played by Elizabeth Taylor (news) in 1951 remake "A Place in the Sun."More at Yahoo! Variety

BBC March 9, 2004
Actress Frances Dee dies at 94

Dee was compared to the great film beauty Great Garbo
Actress Frances Dee, widow of western hero Joel McCrea and one of the last stars of Hollywood's "Golden Age", has died in Los Angeles at the age of 94.

Dee began her career in 1929, starring opposite Maurice Chevalier in Playboy of Paris. She retired in 1954 to devote herself to her husband and three sons.

Dee acted alongside the likes of Gary Cooper, Bette Davis and John Wayne.

But her beauty lost her a role in Gone with the Wind. Producer David Selznick felt she would overshadow Vivien Leigh. More at BBC

INDIANAPOLIS STAR March 9, 2004
Frances Dee, 94, starred in films during '30s, '40s

LOS ANGELES -- Frances Dee, a dark-haired beauty who co-starred in the 1930s and '40s with Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and her husband, Joel McCrea, has died at 94.

Dee died Saturday at a hospital in Norwalk, Conn., her son Peter McCrea said Monday. The actress suffered a stroke three weeks ago.Frances Dee

Dee achieved stardom in 1930 opposite Chevalier in one of the first talkie musicals, "The Playboy of Paris." Her beauty earned her leading roles in comedies and dramas, notably in the 1931 "An American Tragedy." More at the Indy Star

LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS March 9, 2004
Frances Dee, Golden Age film star, 94

Frances Dee, the stunning actress who co-starred in the 1930s and 1940s with Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman and her husband, Joel McCrea, has died. She was 94.

Dee died Saturday at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Conn., her son, Peter McCrea, said by telephone Monday. The actress had been at the hospital since she had a stroke three weeks ago after spending the winter with her son at his home in Norwalk.

Dee achieved stardom in 1930 opposite Chevalier in one of the first talkie musicals, "The Playboy of Paris." Her refreshing beauty earned her leading roles in comedies and dramas, notably in "An American Tragedy" in 1931 in the role of Sondra Finchley, played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1951 remake "A Place in the Sun."

Dee's other memorable films include "Souls at Sea" with Cooper and George Raft; "Little Women," starring Katharine Hepburn; "If I Were King" with Colman; and "Of Human Bondage," in which she played Leslie Howard's sweetheart. More at the L. A. Daily News

REUTERS WIRE SERVICE March 9, 2004
Hollywood Golden Age Star Frances Dee Dies

BEAUTY COST HER KEY ROLE
Praised by critics -- even revered by some -- for her luminous good looks, it was probably her beauty that cost one of the film's most memorable roles, that of Melanie Hamilton in "Gone with the Wind."

he movie's original director George Cukor wanted her but Wentink said he was overruled by producer David O. Selznick who said she was too beautiful and would overshadow Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O'Hara.
So instead the role of Scarlett's rival for the affections of Ashley Wilkes went to Olivia de Havilland.

James Agee, one of the major film critics of the 1930s and 40s, said Dee was "one of the very few women in movies who really had a face .... and always used this translucent face with delicate and exciting talent." More at Reuters here.

THE WASHINGTON POST March 9, 2004
Actress Frances Dee; Appeared in 50 Films
By Adam Bernstein

Tuesday, March 9, 2004; Page B04
Frances Dee, a wide-eyed, brunette beauty who graced more than 50 films and was the wife of one of her co-stars, Joel McCrea, died March 6 at a hospital in Norwalk, Conn., near a son's home. She died after a stroke. Her family said she was 94, but many biographical sources list her as 96.

The soft-spoken Ms. Dee, whose acting career stretched from the late 1920s to early 1950s, skillfully underplayed her roles in comedies, dramas and Westerns.

Early on, she was usually cast as a sensible, good-hearted woman opposite such screen dynamos as Katharine Hepburn (in "Little Women," 1933) and Bette Davis (in "Of Human Bondage," 1934) and Miriam Hopkins (in "Becky Sharp," 1935).

Occasionally, Ms. Dee had lead parts in prominent studio releases. In director Josef von Sternberg's "An American Tragedy" (1931), based on Theodore Dreiser's novel, she was a debutante pursued by a murderous social climber. In Frank Lloyd's raffish adventure film "If I Were King" (1938), she was an aristocratic French beauty opposite a dangerous poet played by Ronald Colman.

She starred in Jacques Tourneur's stylized, low-budget thriller "I Walked With a Zombie" (1943) as a nurse in the tropics who becomes intrigued by romantic and supernatural overtures.

"I just thought it was a terrible name," Ms. Dee told the Boston Globe last year during a showing of "Zombie." "I would turn away every time I said it. The reason I did the movie was that they offered me a sum that could buy my mother a new car. We got her the car - and it turned out to be a cult kind of picture." More at the Washington Post here.

Screenshot of Dee from a
2003 documentary that ran
on TCM covering pre-code
Hollywood movies.