“Without Regret, Deenie Nast” is the brassy film, theatre, vaudeville and cabaret diva’s tribute to herself and her 10th decade in The Biz.  Throughout her career Deenie Nast has lived for her audience refusing to be typecast by the studio system, labeled by the columnists, owned by her husbands, limited by her sex, committed by her doctors or censored by decency laws.  And she remains the hard drinking, hard dancing, hard singing, hard drinking, and brassy veteran of The Industry who refuses to play by the rules, shut up, or be kept down.  She’s the same Deenie Nast her fans know and love, only older and more.  Ms. Nast takes no prisoners as she recounts through stories, song and dance her hits (Sondheim’s “Vamp and Vampires”) and flops (“Hag You Very Much” with W.C. Fields) her victories (an Oscar for “The Lion’s Roar”) and stumbles (MGM’s “Arms to Hold You With”), her conquests (7 marriages) and train wrecks (7 marriages) and her many Phoenix-like comebacks and ignominious falls from grace of her long, long complete full life on stage and screen.  A natural scene-stealer from the time she took the vaudeville stage by force at age 2 to her storming the stage tonight, flying in the face of legal threats by the theatre’s insurance company, Deenie owns the stage alone because no one has the guts to share it with her.  This is not Deenie’s goodbye to her fans, it’s her “Hello, I’m still here!  And this party’s out of liquor!”

 

Deenie Nast Biography Few performers of stage or screen can claim as diverse a legacy as Deenie Nast.  She’s shone as a star in film, theatre, television, radio, and vaudeville for more than 9 decades and shows no sign of slowing down.  The world was first introduced to her incorrigible talent and personality when, at the age of two she stole the vaudeville stage from the headlining dwarf.  The unplanned interruption was quickly incorporated into the act and Deenie became the main attraction of what came to be billed as “Little Deenie the Pipsqueak!”  Deenie learned quickly using her strong personality and unique voice to create her own vaudeville routines at a very early age until she was eventually controlling her own career by the age of 17.

 

From that shining beginning she has been performing almost non-stop.  Her international vaudeville circuit tours eventually landed her roles on Broadway and in London’s West End.  Some of the many plays and musicals she’s starred in include “Angel Food Cake,”

“Cigarette Girl,” “Never Enough,” “Shangri-La La,” “Mr. Medicine, Mrs. Manners,”

“Man Overboard!,” “Goodnight Havana,” “110%,” and Neil Simon’s “Shanks For The Memories.”  Working with such directors as Bob Fosse, Elia Kazan and Harold Princc Ms. Nast originated stage roles in “Arms to Hold You With,” Irving Berlin’s “Me and You Makes Three,” Stephen Sondheim’s “Vamp and Vampires,” Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Imelda,” and Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Agrippina.”

 

Her positive notices on Broadway gained attention across the country.  Hollywood studios, recognizing Ms. Nast’s qualities, were soon harnessing her star power in motion pictures.  Starting with United Artists, she worked under various studio contracts, where she shared the screen with such luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, W.C. Fields, Joan Crawford, Elvis Presley, Bruce Dern, and Tom Selleck.  The list of directors she worked with reads like a history of motion pictures starting with F. W. Murnau, D.W. Griffiths, Cecil B. DeMille, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Sam Fuller, Roger Corman, Brian DePalma, and many more in such films as “The Undeveloped Heart,” “Hey You… You’ll Do,” “Hag You Very Much,” “The Slanted Eye” “You Forsake Me,” Elvis Presley’s “Whoopie Cat” and “The Lion’s Roar” for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1943.

 

While the press has often focused on Ms. Nast’s personal affairs and behavior she has never let that keep her from turning in some of the most captivating performances of the century.  “The Lion’s Roar” and her wildly popular series of biker subculture films of the 60’s and 70’s are just some of the projects that have been acknowledged commercial successes in part due to the media attention Ms. Nast garnered those projects.  An innovator in promotion, Ms. Nast became a master at turning what some would call undesirable tabloid attention into a box-office draw.

 

Perhaps a less public aspect of Deenie Nast has been her humanitarian efforts.  Ms. Nast has used her own difficulties to help others.  She started work in illiteracy during one of her own “dark periods” and has encouraged many troubled children to become future Broadway and film stars at “Deenie Nast’s Summer Camp for Sassy but Gifted Delinquents” where she makes inspirational appearances semi-annually.

 

Starting in the late 1960’s Ms. Nast became known to an entirely different generation of Americans through such popular television programs as “Take That Back!” “The Deenie Nast Show,” “What’s Shakin’?,”  “Toni’s Place” (later called “Deenie’s Place”),  “Mrs. Vinegar, Crime Solver,” and Hallmark Hall of Fame’s “When She Finally Fell Down: The Catherine Steemer Story” for which she was awarded an Emmy for Best Performance by an actress in a drama in 1985.

 

From her powerhouse start on the vaudeville stage to her current cabaret tour and throughout Ms. Nast’s long full life she has been a consummate performer, rarely taking a break from performing and public appearances.  She remains an inimitable talent and incorrigible spirit that never stops giving to those she loves the most – her audience.

 

 

 

 

Press Quotes about Ms. Nast

 

“It is worth enduring the nightmare that is “Shangri-La La La” for one performance.  That is the performance of Miss Deenie Nast.  I am drawn to Miss Nast.  Like a moth to the flame.”

-Lesley Simpson, Global Gazette

 

“After seeing Deenie Nast dance I’ll never be the same.”

-Thomas Gravey, London Times

 

“Someday, somewhere, someone will give Deenie Nast the role she deserves.”

-Geoffrey Tynesdale, The Weekend Post

 

“I believed Mr. Cagney met his match when Miss Nast walked onto the screen in ‘The Slanted Eye.’  Deenie Nast isn’t just a great set of gams.  She’s a dangerous set of gams.”

-Paul Kale, Life Magazine 

 

“After seeing Deenie Nast dance I’ll never be the same.”

-Thomas Gravey, London Times

 

“Miss Deenie Nast takes to the stage in ‘Cigarette Girl’ like she was born to it.  This talent stands to be a star of the 20’s and beyond.”

-Graham Green, New York Daily Bugle

 

 

After a bitter argument and threats of a lawsuit Deenie Nast has been the only actress to be removed from the IMBD website.  Below is an in-progress recreation of her television and film rolls.  If there are those you remember but do not see on here please alert Ms. Nast at Deenie@deenienast.com. 

 

Actress - filmography
(1990s) (1980s) (1960s) (1950s) (1940s) (1930s) (1920s)

 

1.           Flight of the White Whale (1998).... Dr. Ryan Basket

2.           The House Without Doors(1996).... Delores Powers

3.           The Good Nut (1992).... Nurse Crusher

4.           A Beautiful Relationship (1991).... Eva Court

5.           Home Swamp Home (1989).... Ma Chopper

6.           Dance to Live (1988).... Ms. Bernstein

7.           Crawl Space (1988).... Mary Herzog

8.           Big Temptation (1987).... Linda Fire

9.           That Dirty Dog (1986).... Mrs. Kooning

10.      Electric Shankin’ (1985).... Fanny

11.      Force Magnum (1984).... Mary Ahrens

12.      Mrs. Murphy’s Law (1984).... Mrs. Murphy

13.      Beware (1980).... Hattie Gerante

14.      Pay Up Sam (1972).... Marge “Bookie” Berg

15.      The Invasion of the Beasts (1973).... Michelle Myers

16.      I’ll Say When (1968).... Michelle Myers

17.      Big Bad Bikes (1964).... Veronica

18.      Accident Waiting To Happen (1960).... Becky

19.      Go Your Own Way (1959).... Nina Taylor

20.      An Eye for An Eye (1958).... Billie Brown

21.      Bad Day (1958).... Mona Constance

22.      Elvis Presley’s Woopie Cat (1956).... Tawny Brown

23.      Owed (1954).... Mary Prescott

24.      Arms to Hold You With(1953).... Ryley

25.      The Stained Moon (1953).... Lane Spruce

26.      You Forsake Me (1952).... Delores Pink

27.      Snow (1951).... Wicked Stepmother, aka Bonnie

28.      The Bride That Didn’t Blush(1950).... Sadie Scott

29.      In Spades (1949).... Markie

30.      A Strange Land (1948).... Jolie Pote

31.      One Fine Mess (1947).... Janie “Hot House” Schmidt

32.      Buffalo Wings (1947).... Markie

33.      Exit the Jackal (1946).... Tess Game

34.      Madame Yellow Claw (1946).... Lady Nippon

35.      The Slanted Eye (1946).... Lady Nippon

36.      Eagles Soar (1945).... Margaret Moxy

37.      Nurse Butterfly (1944).... Lady Nippon

38.      The Revenge of Lady Nippon (1944).... Lady Nippon

39.      Lady Nippon (1944).... Lady Nippon

40.      The Lion’s Roar (1943)...Sally

41.      The Birdbath (1943).... Vivian Donalds

42.      The Clock Struck Thirteen (1943).... Honey Butler

43.      French Thoughts (1942).... Betty Douglas

44.      Out to Sea (1942).... Frances Dougherty

45.      Our Fightin’ Boys (1941).... Margaret Moxy

46.      Smoke ‘Em Out Joe! (1941).... Claire Meredith

47.      Flyin’Aces (1940).... Anna Paulson

48.      Audrey and God (1940).... Audrey Trexel

49.      The Women (1939).... Crystal Allen

50.      The Follies of 1939 (1938).... Bethany Loot

51.      Won’t Know Till You Try It (1939).... Susanna 

52.      The Women (1939).... Crystal Allen 

53.      The Follies of 1939 (1938).... Bethany Loot 

54.      Wrong Way (1937).... Bethany Loot

55.      Watch It Boys (1936).... Mary ‘Countess’ Dean

56.      Hey You…You’ll Do! (1935).... Ellen “Sissy” Babcock

57.      Wrong Way (1935).... Bethany Loot

58.      Not Like a Lady (1934).... Mary Todd Lincoln

59.      Wir schalten um auf New York (1933)…  Woman

60.      Dancing Gal (1933).... Janie 'Duchess' Barlow

61.      Wrong Way (1932).... Bethany Loot

62.      Possession (1931).... Marian Martin, aka Mrs. Moreland

63.      This Time Around  (1931) ....Winnie Marin

64.      Sinners and Saints (1930).... Bobby Stevens

65.      Bobbie Marks (1930).... Bobbie Marks

66.      Oh Lilith (1929).... Diane Hallman

67.      Untamed (1929).... Alice 'Bingo' Dowling

68.      Dream of Love (1928).... Adrienne Lecouvreur

69.      Our Dancing Daughters (1928).... Diane Hallman

70.      The Shaming of the True (1928) ....Lady #2

71.      West Point (1928).... Betty Channing

72.      Tides of Empires (1928).... Josephita Guerrero

73.      Spring Cleaner (1927).... Mona Price

74.      Twelve Miles Long(1927) .... Josie

75.      The Known (1927).... Nianza Dixon

76.      The Undeveloped Heart (1927).... May

77.      The Taxi Dancer (1927) ....(Singing and dancing for Pauline)

78.      Winners of the Wildness (1927).... Regina Marsh

79.      Paris (1926).... (uncredited legs and voice of The Girl)

80.      The Boob (1926) (singing voice of Allie)
... aka The Yokel (UK)

1.           Tramps, Vagabond and Thieves (1926)  (Singing voice of Nina)

2.           Sally, Irene and Mary (1925)(Singing voice of Irene)

3.           The Only Thing (1925) (singing voice)

4.           Old Clothes (1925).... (singing voice)

5.           Hag You Very Much (1926) (uncredited).... Lenny

6.           The Circle (1925) (uncredited).... Young Lady Catherine

7.           The Window (1925) (uncredited).... Trina

8.           Slave of Fashion (1925) (uncredited).... Mannequin

9.           Pretty Ladies (1925) (voice of Lucille Le Sueur)

10.      Proud Flesh (1925) (uncredited).... Bit Part