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Dona Drake

Dona Drake

Acting

Biography

Dona Drake (born Eunice Westmoreland on November 15, 1914) was an African-American singer, dancer, and film actress active in the 1930s and 1940s. Despite her heritage, she often identified as Mexican or of Latin descent to navigate Hollywood’s racial landscape. Over her career, she was frequently cast in ethnic roles, portraying Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and European characters. She performed under various stage names, including Una Novella, Rita Novella, and Rita Rio. In the early 1940s, she led an all-girl orchestra and gained recognition for her musical and dance performances. She appeared in films such as Kansas City Confidential (1952), Louisiana Purchase (1941), and Road to Morocco (1942). Despite her talents, she remained a supporting actress rather than a leading star. Dona Drake passed away on June 20, 1989, due to pneumonia and respiratory failure. Her ashes were scattered at sea near Point Fermin in California.

Known For

Adventures of Superman
6.6

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a syndicated TV adaptation of the beloved DC Comics superhero! You know the drill: When he isn't fighting for truth, justice and the American way, the man in tights dons a suit and glasses for his secret identity as Daily Planet newspaper reporter Clark Kent, who works alongside friends Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen for gruff boss Perry White.

Adventures of Superman

1952
City Detective
7.5

Crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant.

City Detective

1953
Without Reservations
6.2

Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.

Without Reservations

1946
Road to Morocco
6.9

Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.

Road to Morocco

1942
Valentino
4.3

Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino makes it big in silent Hollywood, but he ends up struggling between his career and the woman he loves.

Valentino

1951
Kansas City Confidential
7.1

An ex-convict sets out to uncover who framed him for an armored car robbery.

Kansas City Confidential

1952
Beyond the Forest
6.7

Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.

Beyond the Forest

1949
Dangerous Millions
5.4

Eight strangers meet in Shanghai to stake claims to the fortune of a late shipping magnate, then must evade a murderer in their midst.

Dangerous Millions

1946
Fortunes of Captain Blood
7.3

When he unwittingly sends some of his men into a trap, pirate Captain Peter Blood decides to rescue them. They've been taken prisoner by the Spanish Marquis de Riconete who is now using them as slave labor harvesting pearls from the sea.

Fortunes of Captain Blood

1950
The Doolins of Oklahoma
6.8

When the Daltons are killed at Coffeyville, gang member Bill Doolin, arriving late, escapes but kills a man. Now wanted for murder, he becomes the leader of the Doolin gang. He eventually leaves the gang and tries to start a new life under a new name, but the old gang members appear and his true identity becomes known. Once again he becomes an outlaw trying to escape from the law.

The Doolins of Oklahoma

1949
Another Part of the Forest
7.8

This 'prequel' to The Little Foxes tells how the ruthless members of the old-South Hubbard family got that way.

Another Part of the Forest

1948
The Girl from Jones Beach
5.5

Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his pin-up creation is really a composite of parts of the anatomy of 12 different models. In an effort to find one girl who possesses all the proper physical attributes, Randolph and PR man Chuck Donovan pursue Ruth Wilson, a beauteous schoolteacher who prefers to be admired for her brain rather than her curves. Ruth changes her tune, however, when a published photo of her in a swimsuit causes her to be fired by the uptight schoolboard. She sues for reinstatement and in the process learns that swimsuits and sex appeal do have a place in her world, after all. Written by Dan Navarro

The Girl from Jones Beach

1949
Star Spangled Rhythm
6.2

Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his buddies, Pop enlists the aid of the studio's dizzy switchboard operator in pulling off the charade. Things get more complicated when Pop agrees to put together a show for the Navy starring Paramount's top contract players.

Star Spangled Rhythm

1942
Princess of the Nile
7.3

Shalimar, an Egyptian princess, striving to rid her country of its Bedouin conquerors, forms an alliance with Prince Haidi, son of the Caliph of Bagdad. She practices her intrigues both at the court and, disguised as a dancing girl, in the market place.

Princess of the Nile

1954
Louisiana Purchase
6.7

A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.

Louisiana Purchase

1941
The Bandits of Corsica
6.4

Siamese twins separated at birth retain a psychic link; each feels the other's pain and happiness.

The Bandits of Corsica

1953
Hollywood Victory Caravan
5.6

A girl is desperate to get to Washington D.C. to be with her lonesome brother, a wounded G.I. She persuades Bing Crosby to let her join his caravan.

Hollywood Victory Caravan

1945
So This Is New York
6.7

A small town man inherits a significant fortune and takes his family to New York City whereupon they are continually shocked at the alien culture of the Big Apple.

So This Is New York

1948
Aloma of the South Seas
7.0

A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education and returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution.

Aloma of the South Seas

1941
Son of Belle Starr
7.0

The son of the notorious female bandit Belle Starr wants to live an honest life, but finds himself getting drawn into his mother's old profession.

Son of Belle Starr

1953