Sandy Descher

Infobox Actor
name = Sandy Descher


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birthname = Sandra Descher
birthdate = birth date and age|1945|11|30|mf=y
birthplace = Burbank, California, United States
deathdate =
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Sandra "Sandy" Descher (born November 30, 1945) is a American former child actress of the 1950s.

Biography

Although born in Burbank, California, she was discovered by accident while on vacation. When Descher was about 5 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, they had to return home. They later contacted the director, and six months later 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". She also, at Van Johnson's request, appeared in another movie with him that year, "The Bottom of the Bottle" (1956).

Her last movie at about age 12, was the cult favorite "Space Children" (1958), wearing, to her embarrassment, a bathing suit. She then, in the 1960s, went into television work, appearing on many of Loretta Young's shows and as a regular in "The New Phil Silvers Show", as well as many other programs.

Her memories of her acting years are almost all pleasant, except she did receive a number of kidnapping threats, and even interviewed by the F.B.I. after one obsessed woman stalker became convinced she was her long-lost daughter.

Bibliography

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External links

*imdb name|id=0221058|name=Sandy Descher
*tv.com person|id=81223|name=Sandy Descher

Persondata
NAME= Descher, Sandy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Descher, Sandra
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress
DATE OF BIRTH= November 30, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH= Burbank, California, United States
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=