The Biography

The daughter of a concert entertainer and a mother who was "Miss Canada of 1918", Canadian-born Suzanne Alexander was one of those numerous starlets who, back in the 1950s, displayed their comely figures in a couple of movies and TV series episodes without finding a worthwhile role to prove themselves. Things could have been different if she had been chosen to play Princess Aouda in Mike Todd's lavishly produced Around the World in 80 Days (1956) for which she tested. But Shirley MacLaine finally landed the part and three years later pretty Alexander vanished from the radar screens. The next time there she was heard of was in September 1975, and it was bad news : Gwendolyn Ann White (Alexander's real name) had leaped to her death from a hotel room in San Francisco. She was only 44.