Arlene Dahl, Actress Turned Beauty Mogul, Dead at 96

Arlene Dahl, veteran Hollywood actress turned beauty writer and cosmetics executive, passed away on Monday in New York. She was 96.

The news was confirmed by Dahl's son, Lorenzo Lamas, who shared a heartfelt tribute to his mother on social media.

"She was the most positive influence on my life. I will remember her laughter, her joy, her dignity as she navigated the challenges that she faced. Never an ill word about anyone crossed her lips," Lorenzo, 63, wrote on both Instagram and Facebook.

"Her ability to forgive left me speechless at times," Lorenzo continued. "She truly was a force of nature and as we got closer in my adult life, I leaned on her more and more as my life counselor and the person I knew that lived and loved to the fullest."

He also sent out condolences to his mother's widower, Marc Rosen, whom Dahl married in 1984. "My sympathies go to her loving husband @marcrosennyc who, for the last 37 years, made her life so wonderful and joyous," Lorenzo added.

Dahl got her start in late 1940s-era Hollywood, with film credits including The Bride Goes Wild, Reign of Terror and 1959's Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Mason.

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She also was featured in the 1953 films Sangaree and Diamond Run, which both starred Fernando Lamas — whom Dahl would wed in 1954.

Concurrent with her busy screen career in the 1950s, Dahl founded Arlene Dahl Enterprises, which sold lingerie and cosmetics.

At the same time, the actress also began working as a beauty columnist, before eventually stepping away from acting to work as an advertising executive for Sears, Roebuck & Co. She later founded a perfume company as part of her career of accomplishments.

Dahl still moonlighted as an actress as well, going on to guest star in shows such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat.

She also enjoyed stints in soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live, in which she played Lucinda Schenck over four episodes in the mid-80s.

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Dahl is survived by her sixth husband, Rosen, sons Lorenzo and Rounsevelle Andreas Schaum, daughter Carole Holmes McCarthy and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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