Arlene Carol Dahl (born August 11, 1925 or 1928) is an American actress and former MGM contract star, who achieved notability during the 1950s. She has three children, the eldest of whom is actor Lorenzo Lamas.

Biography

Dahl was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of Norwegian descent, to Idelle (née Swan) and Rudolph S. Dahl, a Ford Motor dealer and executive. She cites her year of birth as 1928, although her birth record (1925-43442), available through the Minnesota Historical Society, shows she was born in 1925.

After graduating from Washburn High School, she held various jobs, including performing in a local drama group and briefly working as a model for department stores. Dahl's mother was involved in local amateur theatre. As a child, Dahl took elocution and dancing lessons and was active in theatrical events at Margaret Fuller Elementary School, Ramsey Junior High School and Washburn Senior High School. Dahl briefly attended the University of Minnesota.

In the early 1950s, she met actor Lex Barker; they wed on April 16, 1951, and divorced the following year, and Dahl went on to marry another matinee idol, Fernando Lamas. (Barker married Lana Turner.) In 1958, Dahl and Lamas had their only child, Lorenzo Lamas. Shortly after giving birth to Lorenzo, Dahl slowed and eventually ended her career as an actress, although she still appeared in movies and on television occasionally.

Dahl and Lamas divorced in 1960, and Dahl later remarried. In addition to Lorenzo Lamas, Dahl has two other children: a daughter Christina Carole Holmes (born August 3, 1961) by third husband Christian R. Holmes, and a second son, Rounsevelle Andreas Schaum (born December 8, 1970), by her fifth husband, Rounsevelle W. Schaum. She has six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and divides her time between New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. Dahl has been married to Marc Rosen, a packaging designer, since 1984.