Georgine Darcy
Born in Brooklyn, Darcy's mother reportedly urged her to become a stripper, to make a "fast buck". She studied ballet, danced with the New York City Ballet, and modeled.
In 1954, she was cast in Rear Window. She did not even know Hitchcock and did not consider herself an actress. Hitchcock selected her based on a publicity photo of her wearing a black leotard and green feather boa. In Rear Window, she played one of the neighbors of protagonist L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart), a temporarily disabled photographer who passes the time spying on the other tenants of his neighborhood. Her nameless character, who was dubbed "Miss Torso", practiced her dance moves in a skimpy top and a pair of pink shorts with a 21-inch waistband, courtesy of costume designer Edith Head.
During filming, Hitchcock asked her what kinds of pie she liked and disliked. She told him she loathed pumpkin pie. When it came time to film her character's reaction to finding a strangled dog, he presented her with pumpkin pie served with "crude Cockney jokes" to prompt an adverse response. On the last day of filming, Hitchcock and some of the cast presented her with a cake in the shape of her voluptuous figure. "It had the breasts and everything!" she said.
Hitchcock told Darcy that she should get an agent and that if she studied Anton Chekhov in Europe, he could make her a movie star when she returned. She ignored both pieces of advice and thought he was joking about the latter. She was paid $350 for her work in Rear Window and had a sporadic acting career. Her most substantive role was in the Chubby Checker film Don't Knock the Twist (1962) playing Madge Albright, a "dancing firestorm" who is part of a brother-sister dance team. She also appeared in the movies Women and Bloody Terror (1970) and The Delta Factor (1970).
On television, she played dancer Dawn Dubois on The Danny Thomas Show season five episode "You’ve Got to Be Miserable to Be Happy", and the irreverent secretary Gypsy for the title father-son team of lawyers in Harrigan and Son, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry. She had guest appearances on Lee Marvin's M Squad, the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse and Mannix.
Darcy was the subject of the 2004 documentary short film Remembering Miss Torso by director Malcolm Venville. That same year, she died of natural causes at age 71. She was survived by her husband of 30 years, actor Byron Palmer. (At the time of her death, she was inaccurately reported to have been the last surviving credited cast member of Rear Window. However, that was untrue as Frank Cady, who appeared as the Thorwalds' upstairs neighbor, lived until 2012, and Rand Harper, who played "Harry", the honeymooning groom, died in 2016. Also, Harry Landers, who played the uncredited role of Miss Lonelyheart's guest, died in 2017.)
Biography from the Wikipedia article Georgine Darcy. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Recently Updated Shows
Tires
At his father's auto shop, a hapless manager strives to improve customer service and drive profits while keeping his troublemaking cousin in line.
Down Cemetery Road
When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a girl disappears in the aftermath, neighbor Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her and enlists the help of private investigator Zoë Boehm. Zoë and Sarah suddenly find themselves in a complex conspiracy that reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers, who is Saturday Night Live's longest serving anchor on the show's wildly popular "Weekend Update," takes over as host of NBC's Late Night — home to A-list celebrity guests, memorable comedy and the best in musical talent.
As the Emmy Award-winning head writer for "SNL," Meyers has established a reputation for sharp wit and perfectly timed comedy, and has gained fame for his spot-on jokes and satire. Meyers takes his departure from "SNL" to his new post at "Late Night," as Jimmy Fallon moves to The Tonight Show.
Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire
Based on Anne Rice's iconic and bestselling novel, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire follows Louis de Pointe, Lestat de Lioncourt and Claudia's epic story of love, blood and the perils of immortality, as told to the journalist Daniel Molloy. Chafing at the limitations of life as a Black man in New Orleans in the early 1900s, Louis finds it impossible to resist the rakish Lestat de Lioncourt's offer of the ultimate escape: joining him as his vampire companion. But Louis's intoxicating new powers come with a violent price, and the introduction of Lestat's newest fledgling, the child vampire Claudia, soon sets them on a decades-long path of revenge and atonement.