Lisa Davis

English actress, on screen (as Cherry Davis) from early childhood. Lisa was born Shirley Ann Davis into a family with a strong musical background. Her father was banjo player, guitarist and singer Harry Davis, who at one time conducted the Oscar Rabin Orchestra as co-leader. He sister was big band vocalist and occasional actress Beryl Davis. Lisa was trained at the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, West London. She first appeared as a child in British films. At the age of fourteen, she was invited to Hollywood by Walt Disney to audition for a role in Alice in Wonderland. However, the planned live-action version of the Lewis Carroll classic never materialized, nor did her intended part in the MGM movie Young Bess (1953) two years later. Nonetheless, Lisa remained in America, attended acting schools at MGM and Columbia and eventually appeared as guest performer in several TV programs, repeatedly featured in different roles on The Bob Cummings Show (1955), The George Burns Show (1958) and in Perry Mason (1957). On the big screen, she had the female lead in two horse operas: Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956) and The Dalton Girls (1957) (a rare villainous performance as ruthless outlaw Rose Dalton). More on the debit side was her role as Zsa Zsa Gabor's Venusian acolyte Motiya in the lamentable Queen of Outer Space (1958). A decade after her arrival in Hollywood, Disney remembered Lisa Davis and offered her the voice-over part of Cruella De Vil in his animated movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). Being an avid dog lover, the actress opted instead to read for the role of the nicer protagonist Anita Dearly. Lisa also worked on Broadway from 1955 (as Cherry Davis) in Damn Yankees and as understudy for the part of Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera. She retired from acting in 1968 and has latterly resided as Lisa Waltz in Studio City, California.