Laurette Luez Biography

Best known today for claiming to have suggested the name "Marilyn Monroe," darkly exotic Laurette Luez (real name: Loretta Luiz) had been a protégée of drama coach Marie Stoddard prior to being spotted by Cecil B. De Mille, who cast the youngster in a bit role in The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944). Luez went on to portray a seemingly endless series of South Seas islanders, pagan girls, and jungle vixens in potboilers ranging from Prehistoric Women (1950) to The Adventures of Haji Baba (1954); she also appeared in the short-running syndicated television series Adventures of Fu Manchu (1956). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi