Noreen Nash dead at 99: MGM star of Giant and The Southerner passes away from natural causes

Silver screen star Noreen Nash, who enjoyed a two-decade acting career during Hollywood’s glamorous studio era, passed away – at age 99 – from natural causes in her Beverly Hills home on Tuesday.

The Washington State-born beauty’s eldest son Lee Siegel Jr. confirmed the sad news to the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

Among Noreen’s more memorable roles was as Texan cotton farmer Becky Devers, the daughter of J. Carrol Naish’s character, in Jean Renoir’s 1945 drama The Southerner. 

Nash (born Norabelle Jean Roth) also portrayed axe killer Frances Henderson in Lesley Selander’s 1958 western The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold. 

The blue-eyed, dark-haired starlet had a cameo in George Stevens’ 1956 epic western as glamorous Hollywood star Lona Lane for a scene about the opening of the Emperador Hotel.

2018 vs. 1950: Silver screen star Noreen Nash, who enjoyed a two-decade acting career during Hollywood’s glamorous studio era, passed away – at age 99 – from natural causes in her Beverly Hills home on Tuesday 

‘What I remember most is, by the time I got on that picture, director George Stevens and James Dean were at each other,’ Noreen Nash said in an interview for the Western Clippings website.

‘Dean did his usual mumbling and Stevens kept saying, “This script cost a lot of money. I want to hear those words!” George didn’t like James’ style of acting!’

Nash – who was crowned Apple Blossom Queen at 18 – was discovered by Bob Hope’s agent Louis Schurr while dining at the celeb favorite Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood.

The thespian signed a contract with MGM as ‘Noreen Roth’ and began starring in films like Norman Taurog and Busby Berkeley’s musical Girl Crazy alongside Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

Noreen went on to act in George Sidney’s 1944 musical Bathing Beauty with Esther Williams, Mervyn LeRoy’s 1944 war film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo with Spencer Tracy, and Tay Garnett’s 1944 drama Mrs. Parkington with Greer Garson.

After retiring from acting in 1962, Nash earned her bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA in 1971, and wrote the 1980 novel By Love Fulfilled and co-wrote the 2015 book Titans of the Muses: When Henry Miller Met Jean Renoir. 

Noreen was last pictured in 2020 enjoying a ‘nostalgic garden lunch’ with self-help coach and author Gary Quinn, who revealed she also used to worked as a model alongside Marilyn Monroe. 

Nash is survived by four great-grandchildren, four grandchildren – including transcendence speaker Sebastian Siegel – as well as her sons Lee Siegel Jr. and Robert James Siegel from her 47-year marriage to ‘Doctor to the Stars’ Lee Edward Siegel.

The chic socialite was also married to two-time Oscar nominee James Whitmore for seven years until his 2009 death.

Pigtails: Among Noreen’s more memorable roles was as Texan cotton farmer Becky Devers, the daughter of J. Carrol Naish’s character, in Jean Renoir’s 1945 drama The Southerner 

Gold rush: Nash (born Norabelle Jean Roth) also portrayed axe killer Frances Henderson in Lesley Selander’s 1958 western The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold

Gorgeous: The blue-eyed, dark-haired starlet had a cameo in George Stevens’ 1956 epic western as glamorous Hollywood star Lona Lane alongside James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson

Final portrait: Noreen was last pictured in 2020 enjoying a ‘nostalgic garden lunch’ with self-help coach and author Gary Quinn (R), who revealed she also used to worked as a model alongside Marilyn Monroe.

Legacy: Nash is survived by four great-grandchildren, four grandchildren – including transcendence speaker Sebastian Siegel (L, pictured in 2019) – as well as her sons Lee Siegel Jr. and Robert James Siegel from her 47-year marriage to ‘Doctor to the Stars’ Lee Edward Siegel