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Lot Essay
Russell Flint’s The Blonde Minx - Yolande Donlan, encapsulates the Hollywood glamour that the American actress Yolande Donlan (1920-2014) brought to post-war London, bewitching theatre goers and making her the toast of the town. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1949 it attracted stellar reviews and was voted the picture of the exhibition. Flint was extremely well suited to capture such theatrical beauty and the portrait followed his depiction of Vivian Leigh as Cleopatra (1945, Royal Academy) and a triple portrait of the ballerina Moira Shearer (1948, Royal Academy).
After a string of parts in Hollywood and on Broadway, Yolande Donlan came to the attention of Sir Lawrence Olivier, who flew to Boston to audition her for the starring role in his West End production of Born Yesterday (1947) which became a huge success. Flint saw her the following year as Lucrece in Noel Langley’s musical romp set in ancient Rome, Cage Me a Peacock. He presented his card at the stage door and proposed that she sit for him. Although initially reluctant, her future husband, the film director Val Guest, persuaded her that she shouldn’t pass up this opportunity with ‘the most popular British painter alive today’. Flint chose to portray her in the diaphanous green chiffon costume she wore as Lucrece and, as befitting the star of the moment, the sittings were eagerly recorded in the press. Donlan bought the picture on the opening night of the Royal Academy exhibition.
Donlan went on to appear on stage with Sir Richard Attenborough in To Dorothy a Son (1950) and in film, often directed by her husband. She starred with Douglas Fairbanks, Jun. in Mister Drake’s Duck (1951), Dirk Bogarde in Penny Princess (1952) and Cliff Richard in Expresso Bongo (1959). She recorded her love of travel in her book Sand in my Mink (1955) and published an autobiography Shake the Stars Down (1976). She retired with her husband to Palm Springs in California and in 2004 the couple were awarded a plaque on the city’s Walk of Stars.
After a string of parts in Hollywood and on Broadway, Yolande Donlan came to the attention of Sir Lawrence Olivier, who flew to Boston to audition her for the starring role in his West End production of Born Yesterday (1947) which became a huge success. Flint saw her the following year as Lucrece in Noel Langley’s musical romp set in ancient Rome, Cage Me a Peacock. He presented his card at the stage door and proposed that she sit for him. Although initially reluctant, her future husband, the film director Val Guest, persuaded her that she shouldn’t pass up this opportunity with ‘the most popular British painter alive today’. Flint chose to portray her in the diaphanous green chiffon costume she wore as Lucrece and, as befitting the star of the moment, the sittings were eagerly recorded in the press. Donlan bought the picture on the opening night of the Royal Academy exhibition.
Donlan went on to appear on stage with Sir Richard Attenborough in To Dorothy a Son (1950) and in film, often directed by her husband. She starred with Douglas Fairbanks, Jun. in Mister Drake’s Duck (1951), Dirk Bogarde in Penny Princess (1952) and Cliff Richard in Expresso Bongo (1959). She recorded her love of travel in her book Sand in my Mink (1955) and published an autobiography Shake the Stars Down (1976). She retired with her husband to Palm Springs in California and in 2004 the couple were awarded a plaque on the city’s Walk of Stars.