Dona Drake

Acting

Dona Drake

Born — Died

1914-11-15 — 1989-06-20

Place of birth

Miami, Florida, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

30 titles

Dona Drake (born Eunice Westmoreland on November 15, 1914) was an African-American singer, dancer, and film actress active in the 1930s and 1940s. Despite her heritage, she often identified as Mexican or of Latin descent to navigate Hollywood’s racial landscape. Over her career, she was frequently cast in ethnic roles, portraying Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and European characters. She performed under various stage names, including Una Novella, Rita Novella, and Rita Rio. In the early 1940s, she led an all-girl orchestra and gained recognition for her musical and dance performances. She appeared in films such as Kansas City Confidential (1952), Louisiana Purchase (1941), and Road to Morocco (…

Known for

Film credits

1950s · 7 titles

1940s · 18 titles

Road to Morocco poster
6.9

Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.

Road to Morocco

1942

Another Part of the Forest poster
7.8

This 'prequel' to The Little Foxes tells how the ruthless members of the old-South Hubbard family got that way.

Another Part of the Forest

1948

Without Reservations poster
6.3

Kit Madden is traveling to Hollywood, where her best-selling novel is to be filmed. Aboard the train, she encounters Marines Rusty and Dink, who don't know she is the author of the famous book, and who don't think much of the ideas it proposes. She and Rusty are greatly attracted, but she doesn't know how to deal with his disdain for the book's author.

Without Reservations

1946

Hollywood Victory Caravan poster
5.6

A girl is desperate to get to Washington D.C. to be with her lonesome brother, a wounded G.I. She persuades Bing Crosby to let her join his caravan.

Hollywood Victory Caravan

1945

Let's Face It poster
5.4

A soldier stationed on an army base and his fiancé, who runs a women's "fat farm" nearby, want to get married but don't have enough money. Three customers of the "fat farm" scheme to get back at their philandering husbands by hiring the soldier and two of his buddies as "escorts" for the weekend. Complications ensue when the husbands show up unexpectedly.

Let's Face It

1943

The Girl from Jones Beach poster
5.5

Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his pin-up creation is really a composite of parts of the anatomy of 12 different models. In an effort to find one girl who possesses all the proper physical attributes, Randolph and PR man Chuck Donovan pursue Ruth Wilson, a beauteous schoolteacher who prefers to be admired for her brain rather than her curves. Ruth changes her tune, however, when a published photo of her in a swimsuit causes her to be fired by the uptight schoolboard. She sues for reinstatement and in the process learns that swimsuits and sex appeal do have a place in her world, after all. Written by Dan Navarro

The Girl from Jones Beach

1949

So This Is New York poster
6.7

A small town man inherits a significant fortune and takes his family to New York City whereupon they are continually shocked at the alien culture of the Big Apple.

So This Is New York

1948

Star Spangled Rhythm poster
6.2

Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his son arrives in Hollywood on shore leave with his buddies, Pop enlists the aid of the studio's dizzy switchboard operator in pulling off the charade. Things get more complicated when Pop agrees to put together a show for the Navy starring Paramount's top contract players.

Star Spangled Rhythm

1942

The Doolins of Oklahoma poster
6.8

When the Daltons are killed at Coffeyville, gang member Bill Doolin, arriving late, escapes but kills a man. Now wanted for murder, he becomes the leader of the Doolin gang. He eventually leaves the gang and tries to start a new life under a new name, but the old gang members appear and his true identity becomes known. Once again he becomes an outlaw trying to escape from the law.

The Doolins of Oklahoma

1949

Hot Rhythm poster
5.5

Jimmy O'Brien (Robert Lowery)and Sammy Rubin (Sidney Miller), write jingle commercials for radio, and meet Mary Adams (Dona Drake), who wants to break into radio as a soloist for a band.

Hot Rhythm

1944

Aloma of the South Seas poster
7.0

A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education and returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution.

Aloma of the South Seas

1941

Louisiana Purchase poster
6.3

A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.

Louisiana Purchase

1941

Beyond the Forest poster
6.7

Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.

Beyond the Forest

1949

I Look at You poster
8.3

Alan Ladd was discovered by Sue Carol for his incredible voice in radio. And then she married him. In I Look At You, he is sweet and graceful. And at the very beginning of his career in film. He sings and leads Rita Rio's all-girl band while she dances around him.

I Look at You

1941

Salute for Three poster
9.0

Press agent Jimmy Gates gets an idea while watching a New York parade, for a returned war hero Sergeant Buzz McAllister, with his chief client, singer Judy Ames; Dona Drake, leader of an all-girl orchestra; his photographer Foggy, and his secretary Myrt. Jimmy, thinking Judy needs publicity in order to get a singing job on a radio program, thinks that a romance between her and the war hero would be just the ticket.

Salute for Three

1943

Dangerous Millions poster
5.4

Eight strangers meet in Shanghai to stake claims to the fortune of a late shipping magnate, then must evade a murderer in their midst.

Dangerous Millions

1946

No artwork available
NR

A Soundie with Dona Drake.

Feed the Kitty

1941

No artwork available
NR

Dona Drake sings "Sticks and Stones".

Sticks and Stones

1943

Series credits