Sandy Descher
Encyclopedia
Sandra "Sandy" Descher is an American
former child actress of the 1950s
.
, she was discovered by accident while on vacation. When Descher was about five years old, her family had travelled across country to New York City
where the girl fell in love with the theater after seeing The Red Shoes
ballet on Broadway
. On the way home, they stopped at Jackson Hole, Wyoming where coincidentally a film was being shot. The director saw her, and needing a child for the film, approached her parents. However, as they had to return home, they contacted the director later. Within six months, Sandy appeared in her first movie, It Grows on Trees
, which was released in 1952.
Next she appeared in a brief, but key role in the classic science-fiction film, Them! (1954
). She played a catatonic child whose parents have been killed by gigantic ants. Unable to speak, she can only scream "Them", giving the film its title. The movie's cast included Edmund Gwenn
, James Arness
and James Whitmore
.
That same year, she appeared in her favorite film, The Last Time I Saw Paris
. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald
's famous short story Babylon Revisited
, she played Vicky, the daughter of Van Johnson
and Elizabeth Taylor
. After her mother dies, Vicky is adopted by her mother's sister, played by Donna Reed
. The movie called on her to speak French and to dance ballet. In 1954, she also played a crippled child in a Martin and Lewis
film.
Then in 1955 she was in The Prodigal
with Lana Turner
and then played Gregory Peck
's ten-year old daughter in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
. Sometime in 1956 she played June Allysons' daughter Debbie in "The Opposite Sex" a musical remake of "The Women", 1939. She also, at Van Johnson
's request, appeared in another movie with him that year, The Bottom of the Bottle
(1956). About this time she guest starred with Ann Doran
in the CBS western
series My Friend Flicka
, set on a ranch
in Wyoming
, and on the CBS Cold War
drama, Crusader
, the first Brian Keith
series.
Her last movie at the age of twelve was the cult favorite
Space Children (1958), wearing, to her embarrassment, a bathing suit. In 1959, she appeared with Bette Davis
and Leif Erickson
in the episode Dark Morning of CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
. In 1961 she appeared in the first season of My Three Sons
as Elizabeth Martin, a love interest for Robbie in the episode the The Musician. Descher also appeared in a recurring role as Judy Massey, a daughter of the Loretta Young
character, Christine Massey, in the CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show
(1962–1963), with co-stars Beverly Washburn
, Carol Sydes
, Dirk Rambo, and Dack Rambo
.
From February to June 1964, Descher was cast as Susan, the daughter of Elena Verdugo
's character of Audrey, in CBS's sitcom The New Phil Silvers Show
. This program was an unsuccessful attempt by Phil Silvers
to return to weekly television in a revised form of his former The Phil Silvers Show
, formerly known as You'll Never Get Rich
. Ronnie Dapo
appeared as Descher's younger brother, Andy.
Her memories of her acting years are almost all pleasant, except she did receive a number of kidnapping threats. She was even interviewed by the F.B.I.
after one obsessed woman stalker became convinced she was her long-lost daughter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former child actress of the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
.
Biography
Although born in Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, she was discovered by accident while on vacation. When Descher was about five years old, her family had travelled across country to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where the girl fell in love with the theater after seeing The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes (musical)
The Red Shoes is a musical with a book by Marsha Norman, lyrics by Norman and Bob Merrill and music by Jule Styne...
ballet on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. On the way home, they stopped at Jackson Hole, Wyoming where coincidentally a film was being shot. The director saw her, and needing a child for the film, approached her parents. However, as they had to return home, they contacted the director later. Within six months, Sandy appeared in her first movie, It Grows on Trees
It Grows on Trees
It Grows on Trees is a 1952 fantasy comedy film about a couple who discover that two trees in their backyard grow money. One morning a few days after Polly Baxter purchased a couple of trees and planted them in her backyard, a $5 bill floated in through an open window, spurring a curious turn of...
, which was released in 1952.
Next she appeared in a brief, but key role in the classic science-fiction film, Them! (1954
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
). She played a catatonic child whose parents have been killed by gigantic ants. Unable to speak, she can only scream "Them", giving the film its title. The movie's cast included Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
, James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
and James Whitmore
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
.
That same year, she appeared in her favorite film, The Last Time I Saw Paris
The Last Time I Saw Paris
The Last Time I Saw Paris is a 1954 romantic drama made by MGM. It is loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "Babylon Revisited." It was directed by Richard Brooks, produced by Jack Cummings and filmed on locations in Paris and the MGM backlot. The screenplay was by Julius J. Epstein,...
. Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
's famous short story Babylon Revisited
Babylon Revisited
"Babylon Revisited" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, written in 1930 and first published on February 21, 1931 in the Saturday Evening Post. It was later adapted into a movie called The Last Time I Saw Paris.-Summary:...
, she played Vicky, the daughter of Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
and Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
. After her mother dies, Vicky is adopted by her mother's sister, played by Donna Reed
Donna Reed
Donna Reed was an American film and television actress.With appearances in over 40 films, Reed received the 1953 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the tramp Lorene in the war drama From Here to Eternity. She is also noted for her role in the perennial Christmas...
. The movie called on her to speak French and to dance ballet. In 1954, she also played a crippled child in a Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....
film.
Then in 1955 she was in The Prodigal
The Prodigal
The Prodigal is a 1955 Biblical epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Charles Schnee.The Maurice Zimm screenplay was adapted by Joseph Breen, Jr. and Samuel James Larsen from the New Testament story of the selfish son who leaves his family in search of riches...
with Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
and then played Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
's ten-year old daughter in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Sloan Wilson, is a 1955 novel about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. Tom and Betsy Rath share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture while several other characters fight essentially the same battle,...
. Sometime in 1956 she played June Allysons' daughter Debbie in "The Opposite Sex" a musical remake of "The Women", 1939. She also, at Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
's request, appeared in another movie with him that year, The Bottom of the Bottle
The Bottom of the Bottle
The Bottom of the Bottle is a 1956 American drama film based on the novel written by Georges Simenon during his stay in Nogales, Arizona. The novel was adapted for film by Sydney Boehm and directed by Henry Hathaway.-Plot:...
(1956). About this time she guest starred with Ann Doran
Ann Doran
Ann Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
in the CBS western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series My Friend Flicka
My Friend Flicka (TV series)
My Friend Flicka is a 39-episode western television series set at the fictitious Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming at the turn of the 20th century. The program was filmed in color but initially aired in black and white on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Fridays from February 10, 1956, to February 1, 1957. It was a...
, set on a ranch
Ranch
A ranch is an area of landscape, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in the western United States and Canada, though...
in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, and on the CBS Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
drama, Crusader
Crusader (TV series)
Crusader is a half-hour black-and-white American adventure/drama series that aired on CBS for two seasons from October 7, 1955 to December 28, 1956.-Synopsis:...
, the first Brian Keith
Brian Keith
Brian Keith was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney family film The Parent Trap, the 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, and the 1975 adventure saga The Wind and...
series.
Her last movie at the age of twelve was the cult favorite
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
Space Children (1958), wearing, to her embarrassment, a bathing suit. In 1959, she appeared with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson
Leif Erickson was an American film and television actor.-Background:Leif Erickson was born William Wycliffe Anderson in Alameda, California. His father was commander of a fleet of ships and his mother was a noted newspaperwoman and writer...
in the episode Dark Morning of CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
. In 1961 she appeared in the first season of My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
as Elizabeth Martin, a love interest for Robbie in the episode the The Musician. Descher also appeared in a recurring role as Judy Massey, a daughter of the Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
character, Christine Massey, in the CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show
The New Loretta Young Show
The New Loretta Young Show, which aired for twenty-six weekly episodes on CBS television from September 24, 1962 to March 18, 1963, featured Loretta Young in a combination drama and situation comedy about a free-lance writer in suburban Connecticut named Christine Massey, the widowed mother of...
(1962–1963), with co-stars Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn is an American actress who appeared as a young girl in NBC's The Loretta Young Show and as an older teenager in Loretta Young's 1962-1963 CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show...
, Carol Sydes
Cindy Carol
Cindy Carol is an American actress. She was credited as Carol Sydes before her starring role as Gidget in Gidget Goes to Rome ....
, Dirk Rambo, and Dack Rambo
Dack Rambo
Norman Jay Rambeau , professionally known as Dack Rambo, was an American actor, most notable for appearing as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the ABC series The Guns of Will Sonnett, as Steve Jacobi in All My Children, as cousin Jack Ewing on CBS's Dallas, and as Grant Harrison on the NBC soap...
.
From February to June 1964, Descher was cast as Susan, the daughter of Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo
Elena Verdugo is an American actress who began in films at the age of six in Cavalier of the West . Her career in radio, television, and film spanned six decades....
's character of Audrey, in CBS's sitcom The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show is an American situation comedy starring comedian Phil Silvers which aired thirty episodes on CBS from September 28, 1963, to April 25, 1964, under the sponsorship of General Foods.-Synopsis:...
. This program was an unsuccessful attempt by Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S...
to return to weekly television in a revised form of his former The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
, formerly known as You'll Never Get Rich
You'll Never Get Rich
You'll Never Get Rich is a 1941 Hollywood musical comedy film with a wartime theme starring Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, Cliff Nazarro, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The film was directed by Sidney Lanfield...
. Ronnie Dapo
Ronnie Dapo
Ronnie Dapo is an American former child actor who appeared in supporting roles in such television series as ABC's Room for One More and CBS's The New Phil Silvers Show .-Acting career:...
appeared as Descher's younger brother, Andy.
Her memories of her acting years are almost all pleasant, except she did receive a number of kidnapping threats. She was even interviewed by the F.B.I.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
after one obsessed woman stalker became convinced she was her long-lost daughter.