Dina Merrill, heiress and actress, dead at 93

NEW YORK (AP) — Dina Merrill, the rebellious heiress who defied her super-rich parents to become a movie star, often portraying stylish wives or "the other woman," has died at age 93.

Starting in the 1950s, Merrill appeared in more than 100 films and television programs, her break coming after Katharine Hepburn recommended her for the 1957 Tracy-Hepburn comedy "The Desk Set."

Merrill, who had the poised, aristocratic beauty of fellow blonde Grace Kelly, co-starred with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in "Operation Petticoat," Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in "The Sundowners" and Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor in "Butterfield 8."

[...] she was part of Robert Altman's ensemble cast for the Hollywood satire "The Player" and in television programs such as "Murder, She Wrote" and "The Nanny."

During the summer she worked at a regional theater where she painted scenery, sewed costumes and played occasional small roles.

After his Marine Corps' service he became head of the Metal Containers Corp. and a company that made pari-mutuel betting machines.

The major asset was remake rights to RKO movies, and the revived company put together a 1998 version of the 1949 movie "Mighty Joe Young."

In becoming a businesswoman, Merrill was emulating her mother, who in the 1920s had helped build her late father's cereal business into the giant General Foods Corp. Her fortune was estimated at more than $250 million when she died in 1973 at age 86.