Born 1912 as Inez Harvuot in Cincinnati, Ohio, American actress and singer Irene Manning had her first film role in 1936, it placed her as the lead actress in a western, The Old Corral (1938), opposite Gene Autry.
By the early 1940s, Irene was employed in the Warner Bros. studio system as a contract actress and singer. She is probably best remembered as diva Fay Templeton in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), opposite James Cagney. She starred with Humphrey Bogart in The Big Shot (1942) and with Dennis Morgan in both The Desert Song (1943) and Shine On, Harvest Moon (1944).
On Broadway, Manning performed in The Day Before Spring (1945) and Susanna, Don’t You Cry (1939). She also appeared in The Dubarry, Castle in the Air and Serenade in London. She remained in England and appeared on her own BBC TV show, An American in England, until 1951, when she returned to the United States for television and nightclub work. Eventually she retired to teach acting and voice.
Manning died in 2004 from congestive heart failure at her home in San Carlos, California, at the age of 91. Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of a young Irene Manning in the 1940s.
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