Celeste Yarnall
Actress BORN JULY 26, 1944 DIED OCTOBER 7, 2018, AGED 74
STAR Trek actress Celeste Yarnall appeared in a number of high-profile TV shows and films in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Long Beach, California, after leaving school Yarnall embarked on a modelling career but, following a chance encounter with actor Ozzie Nelson and his son Ricky en route to an audition, her acting career took off.
In 1962 she was given a guest spot, starring alongside Nelson in the sitcom The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet.
Two years later she became the last woman to be elected Miss Rheingold, becoming the face of the popular American beer.
But she was best known for her role as Yeoman Martha Landon in the Star Trek episode The Apple in 1967. Four decades later she would return in a film called Star Trek: Of Gods And Men.
In 1968 Yarnall was cast in a supporting role in one of Elvis Presley’s last musical comedies Live A Little, Love A Little.
In the film, she captured Presley’s attention and he tried to woo her by breaking into song with A Little Less Conversation.
The role got her noticed by the National Association of Theatre Owners, which named her Most Promising New Star that same year.
Yarnall played her most meaty role in the action thriller Eve after being scouted as the central character by producer Harry Alan Towers at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1970 Yarnall joined the list of Hollywood’s illustrious scream queens, first starring in Beast Of Blood and then The Velvet Vampire a year later.
Moving away from the limelight, Yarnall focused on raising her daughter from a short-lived marriage to Sheldon Silverstein and set up as an estate agent.
She died from ovarian cancer and is survived by second husband, Nazim Nazim, whom she married in 2010.