Dona Drake

Vivacious Dona Drake (born Rita Novella) was a singer with an all-girl band, the Girl Friends, prior to entering films in 1935 under the name of Rita Rio. She later also used the moniker Rita Ray before settling on Dona Drake. At Paramount in the early '40s, Drake appeared opposite Bob Hope in The Road to Morocco (1942) and took part in the all-star extravaganza Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). She later signed with Columbia but her perhaps most famous role was at Warner Bros., where she played Bette Davis' Indian maid in Beyond the Forest (1949). It was arguably Davis' worst film and did nothing for Drake's standing in Hollywood and the former vocalist spent the remainder of her career in potboilers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi