She was De Carlo, whose shapely figure helped launch her career in B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, rose to more important roles in the s. Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies.
But for TV viewers, she will always be known as Lily Munster in the slapstick horror-movie spoof "The Munsters. Lily, vampire-like in a black gown, presided over the faux scary household and was a rock for her gentle but often bumbling husband, Herman, played by 6-footinch character actor Fred Gwynne decked out as the Frankenstein monster.
While it lasted only two years, the series had a long life in syndication and resulted in two feature movies, "Munster Go Home! At the series' end, De Carlo commented: "It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise.
She was the vampire mom to millions of baby boomers. In that sense, she's iconic," Burns said Wednesday. This was one of the great glamour queens of Hollywood, one of the last ones. George Barris, who created the ghoulish "Munsters" car, equipped De Carlo's Jaguar with spider web hubcaps, a gargoyle hood ornament and a glossy black sunroof. She loved the show so much that she incorporated it into her life, her own car," Barris said Wednesday.
De Carlo sustained a long career by repeatedly reinventing herself. When movie roles became scarce, she ventured into stage musicals. Her greatest stage triumph came on Broadway in with "Follies," which won the Tony award for best original musical score. Over the years, De Carlo augmented her stardom by shrewd use of publicity.
