Tyra Vaughn (March 13, 1923 – August 9, 2015) was an American actress, model, and showgirl, who appeared in motion pictures and television throughout the 1940s and late 1950s, and who later found a second career as a professional dance instructor.
Early life
She was born on March 13, 1923, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[1] Her father was a police sergeant who was highly respected and she was the oldest of four children.[2] She attended West Scranton High School from which was she was active in the drama club and graduated in June 1941. With the outbreak of World War II, she moved to Los Angeles and joined the USO as a professional dancer.[1]
In 1943, she joined other variety showgirls in protesting a waiters' strike at Earl Carroll's Theater-Restaurant in Hollywood.[3] She was a swimsuit model,[4][5] named "Miss Springtime of 1944"[6] by the Blue Book modeling agency, run by Emmeline Snively.[7] Later in 1944 she appeared as an artist's model in a segment for NBC's People are Funny program.[8]
Vaughn died aged 92 on August 9, 2015, in Northridge, California, from natural causes.[1] Her remains were donated to medical science at the UCLA Medical Center.[12] Vaughn never married. In 1947, she adopted and raised a son.[13]
Upon her passing, she was survived by her son, a daughter-in-law, one younger sister, and several nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Vaughn, who was of Irish descent, was a self-described lifelong Roman Catholic and a conservative minded Republican.[13]
^ abcdeLentz, Harris M. III (2016). "Vaughn, Tyra". Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2015. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 357–358. ISBN978-0-7864-7667-1.
^An Interview with Tyra Vaughn, Skip E. Lowe, 1995