A curvaceous and comely lead and second lead actress of the 1950s and 1960s screen, Dianne Foster was born with the unlikely stage name of Olga Helen Laruska on October 31, 1928 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Of Ukranian parentage, she began her stage career performing in high school plays and in local community theater productions. Her school drama teacher saw extreme promise in her and encouraged her to continue her studies. Dianne then enrolled at the University of Alberta and majored in drama. She eventually found work in Toronto as a model and as both a radio and stage actress. Encouraged again by her high school teacher, she saved up enough money to go to England for further training and to find work. She won a stage role in the play "The Hollow" starring Jeanne De Casalis that later toured. Following a radio job with Orson Welles , she was handed (by Welles) the part of Cassio's whore in a West End production of "Othello" while Laurence Olivier was holding court at the St James Theater. Welles and Peter Finch starred as Othello and Iago, respectively, with Olivier in the director's seat. After establishing herself as a "bad girl" second lead in such "B" level British films as The Quiet Woman (1951), in which she played a scheming ex-girlfriend of Derek Bond and The Lost Hours (1952) as a temptress opposite Mark Stevens , Dianne was encouraged to come to Hollywood in the early 1950's. Her first role in Hollywood was as a British character in a TV episode of "Four Star Playhouse" opposite 'David Niven'. As a result of her fine performance, Harry Cohn placed her under a Columbia Pictures contract even though she had yet secured an agent. Most of her subsequent films were standard adventures in which she provided a pleasant diversion from the rugged action going on around her. On occasional she was handed more substantial roles. Dianne made a sturdy US cinematic debut in the film noir favorite Bad for Each Other (1953) as a dedicated nurse and love interest to Dr. Charlton Heston . It was Lizabeth Scott who played the bad girl here. Dianne would make a strong stand in westerns notably opposite Dana Andrews in Three Hours to Kill (1954), Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson in The Violent Men (1955) and James Stewart and Audie Murphy in Night Passage (1957). Audie Murphy . She was also quite good, if not better, as Richard Conte 's wife in The Brothers Rico (1957) as they struggle together to distance him from his mob ties. On occasion Dianne returned to England to film where she appeared in Isn't Life Wonderful! (1954), as a snooty American heiress out to impress Robert Urquhart , and, briefly, in Gideon's Day (1958) as Ronald Howard 's wife who threatens Jack Hawkins ' title character. Her last two films of the 1950s decade were opposite Alan Ladd in The Deep Six (1958) and Spencer Tracy in The Last Hurrah (1958). In the 1960s Dianne moved into episodic TV with guest parts in dramas ( "Perry Mason" (1957), "Route 66" (1960), "Peter Gunn" (1958), "Ben Casey" (1961), "Hawaiian Eye" (1959), "The Detectives" (1959), "Honey West" (1965)), comedies ( "Petticoat Junction" (1963), "My Three Sons" (1960), "Green Acres") and, of course, westerns ( "Bonanza" (1959), "The Deputy" (1959), "Have Gun--Will Travel", "Laramie" (1959), "Wagon Train" (1957), "Gunsmoke" (1955), "The Big Valley" (1965)). She appeared in only two more films before retiring in 1967 -- co-starring with David Janssen in King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) and with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery in the light comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963). Married twice, Dianne has one child from her first marriage and twins from her second. She retired in order to focused on marriage and family, as well as painting. She continues to live in California.

Fraternal twins: a son Jason & a daughter Jodi (b. 14 February 1956). Jason was named after the actor Jason Robards and Jodi was a combination of their names: Joel & Dianne.She is of Ukranian descent.She holds dual citizenship: Canadian & American.She has 5 grandchildren: One of whom, Jordan Matheson Rowe, was named after the writer Richard Matheson . Richard Matheson lived next door to Ms. Foster when she resided in Hidden Hills, California. As a result, her son Jason grew very fond of the entire Matheson family.She is a very talented and accomplished painter/artist.Was asked to play the part of Fred MacMurray 's new wife for the hit TV show "My Three Sons" (1960). She turned the part down in order to stay at home with her 3 children. The part was eventually played by the actress Beverly Garland .According to a 2009 interview given by Dianne to James Rosin for "Films of the Golden Age" vintage movie magazine, Dianne skipped two grades in elementary school. She was 13 when she started high school.Is an accomplished pianist.She had a wonderful working relationship with Mickey Rooney while filming Drive a Crooked Road (1954). Rooney later recommended her to Burt Lancaster when he started directing The Kentuckian (1955) and she won the role.She married first husband Andrew Allan (1907-1974), Scots-born national head of CBC Radio Drama, in 1951 but the marriage was over by the time she made her move to America in 1953. He stayed in England. Son and daughter twins Jason and Jodi were born to her during this five-year second marriage to radio/TV writer Joel Murcott in America. A third marriage in 1961 to a dentist, Dr. Harold Rowe, produced her third child, Dustin Louis. The marriage lasted happily until his death in 1994.She was supposed to work with 'Alan Ladd' in a film while she was in England in the early 1950s. She did not agree, however, to the four-year option in the contract because she wanted the freedom of working in theater and already had a binding film contract with Tempean Films. The tabloids papers unkindly suggested that Dianne "walked out" on Ladd. Years later, after coming to America, Dianne was offered the lead in The Deep Six (1958) that was to star Ladd. Dianne thought Ladd would never agree to her casting after the earlier incident. He did, surprisingly, and told her that he admired and respected what she did back then.