Dana Delany

But her main internet venue has been her Official Web Site (http://www.danadelany.com/), online since 1996, which includes a guestbook that she occasionally posts to, answering questions from her fans, and updating them on her life and work. They write that Esmond's feelings of betrayal were genuine despite the unconventional nature of the marriage. Since the mid-1990s, she has participated in several online chat events promoting various projects. The biographies describe the marriage as a relatively happy one, based on mutual respect and affection and their shared love of theatre. A rather unique facet to Dana's career is her presence on the internet. Since the deaths of Esmond and Olivier, biographers have written that Olivier was bisexual for his entire life, and that his marriage with Esmond was convenient for both of them, as she was also bisexual. Working with director Bob Saget, Dana starred in the TV movie For Hope (1996), based on Saget's sister Gay, who had died as a result of the disease. She did not remarry, and died in Wimbledon, London.

Since the mid-'90s, Dana has served on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation (http://www.srfcure.org/srf/index.htm), and with her friend Sharon Monsky, she helped campaign for support in finding a cure for scleroderma. In her later years, Esmond discussed the bitterness she still felt towards Olivier and her feeling that she had sacrificed her career so that he could further his own, only to find herself cruelly discarded. Dana also found time to get back to the stage, on and off Broadway, in Translations (1995 - Broadway), Dinner With Friends (2000 - New York City, Los Angeles, Boston), and Much Ado About Nothing (2003 - San Diego). Her acting appearances grew more sporadic with the passage of time and she made her final film appearance in 1955. Thus, she focused on roles in TV series, such as the shortlived Pasadena (2001) and Presidio Med (2002); TV movies like True Women (1997), Resurrection (1999), A Time to Remember (2003) and Baby for Sale (2004); and feature films by indie film producers, such as The Outfitters (1999), and Spin (2003). She starred in the Broadway production of The Morning Star in 1942, a production noted for the acting debut of Gregory Peck. The latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s showed Dana's preference for projects that challenged her. She returned briefly to acting and appeared in such popular films as Journey for Margaret, The Pied Piper and Random Harvest (all 1942) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).

This resulted in her being one of the few to be mentioned by name in the Animaniacs theme song. Pressed by Olivier, who was anxious to marry Leigh, she eventually agreed and they were divorced in 1940. animated productions of Superman in the 1990s. Esmond withstood the publicity of Olivier's affair with Vivien Leigh and did not seek a divorce. Dana provided voice-over work as Lois Lane in the Warner Bros. Her career continued to ascend while Olivier's own career languished, but when his career began to show promise after a couple of years, she began to refuse roles. Dana took on controversial roles such as Margaret Sanger in the TV movie Choices of the Heart(1995), Mistress Lisa in the 1994 feature film adaptation of the Anne Rice book Exit to Eden, and a gun-owning mother in an episode of the TV series Family Law (1999) (which was not rerun, due to sponsorship withdrawal). She also appeared in two Broadway productions with Olivier - Private Lives in 1931 with Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, and The Green Bay Tree in 1933.

Leveraging this newfound fame, Dana appeared in feature films such as Light Sleeper (1992), Housesitter (1992), and Tombstone (1993), and TV movies such as Promise to Keep (1991), and Wild Palms (1993). Returning to the United Kingdom she made her film debut with a starring role in an early Alfred Hitchcock film The Skin Game (1931), and over the next few years appeared in several British and Hollywood films, including Thirteen Women (1932). The significant break for Dana occurred when she was cast as Colleen McMurphy on China Beach, airing from 1988 to 1991, bringing intense media attention to the actress. Olivier continued to follow Esmond, and after proposing to her several times, she agreed and the couple were married in 1930. The next few years consisted of small parts in various films and TV guest spots, including 3 notable episodes on Magnum P.I. and an appearance on Moonlighting (TV series).. Esmond won rave reviews for her performance. Her early TV work included As the World Turns and Love of Life, then going on to perform in A Life on Broadway in 1980. Determined to be near Esmond he travelled to New York where he found work as an actor.

After growing up in Connecticut, Dana attended Phillips Academy in Andover, then Wesleyan University. When Bird in the Hand was being staged on Broadway, Esmond was chosen to join the American production - but Olivier was not. Known mainly for her 2-time Emmy Award winning performance as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television show China Beach (1988-1991), Dana Delany has been an actress in films, television, and stage since the late 1970s. In his autobiography Olivier later wrote that he was smitten with Esmond, and that her cool indifference to him did nothing but further his ardour. Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956 in New York City, New York) is an American film, stage, and television actress. In 1928 she appeared in the production of Bird in the Hand where she met fellow cast member Laurence Olivier for the first time. In 1925, she starred with her mother in a play Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, and after a few more successful roles, won critical praise for her part as a young suicide in Outward Bound.

After reassessing her future and coming to terms with her father's death she studied with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and returned to the West End stage in 1924. When her father died suddenly in 1922 Esmond returned to school and at the time considered abandoning her ambition to act. She made her stage debut playing Wendy to Gladys Cooper's Peter Pan but her success was shortlived. While her parents toured with theatre companies, Esmond spent her childhood in boarding schools until she decided at the age of fourteen to become an actress.

Esmond and Eva Moore. Esmond was born in London, England, the daughter of stage actors Henry V. Jill Esmond (January 26, 1908 – July 28, 1990) was a British actress.