\n\tOnce called the \u201cSwingingest Sexpot in Show Business,\u201d the redhead made a 3D splash in Wings of the Hawk (1953), starring Van Heflin and Julie Adams<\/a>. She also appeared with Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea in Ride Clear of Diablo (1954), with Ford in The Americano (1955), with Dennis O\u2019Keefe in Chicago Syndicate (1955) and with Wilde, who also directed, in Maracaibo (1958).<\/p>\n \n\tThe Brooklyn native had married the Spanish-born, Cuba-raised Cugat in Miami in 1952 after he had spotted her singing in a Broadway show when she was nearing 16 and he was approaching 49. She fronted his Latin music orchestra and toured with him throughout Europe before she initiated their Mexican divorce in June 1964.<\/p>\n \n\tShe quickly remarried, and two years later Cugat wed another much younger entertainer, Charo, the last of his five wives.<\/p>\n \n\tLane wrote about her marriage to Cugat in the 1993 roman \u00e0 clef But Where Is Love?, which publisher Warner Books promoted as a \u201criveting, glitzy, star-splashed tale of passion, obsession and one young woman\u2019s poignant search for happiness. Peopled with Hollywood luminaries both real and imagined, it features tantalizing lore and gossip only a true insider could provide.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Lane said she suffered \u201cconstant mental abuse\u201d from Cugat. \u201cHe told me when to eat, when to sleep, when things had to be done,\u201d she said. \u201cI never argued with him. There was no point. His will prevailed in all cases.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAbigail Francine Lassman was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 14, 1932, and raised in Manhattan. She sang on the radio and modeled, attended the High School of Music and Art for a year and then, billed as Abbe Marshall, performed on Broadway in 1947-48 in George Abbott\u2019s Barefoot Boy With Cheek and in Michael Todd\u2019s As the Girls Go.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat\u2019s when I met Cugie,\u201d she said<\/a> in 1963. \u201cHe was looking for a new vocalist when he saw me doing a calypso number in the stage show one night. The very next day Cugie was a guest with Vincent Lopez [on Lopez\u2019s TV show, where she was a performer], and he saw me again. He liked my style and voice and asked me to audition the next day. I did and he hired me.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAbbe Lane with bandleader Xavier Cugat in the 1950s.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n \n\tAfter being accompanied by her mother on the road for about a year, she and Cugat wed \u2014 \u201cI figured, I\u2019ll marry him and travel, I didn\u2019t realize that there would be other things involved,\u201d she explained<\/a> in a 2005 interview.<\/p>\n \n\tThe couple toured Italy and performed as themselves in cha-cha-cha nightclub acts seen in Lo Scapolo\u00a0(1955) and Donatella<\/a> (1956). Soon, she was starring in such Italian films as The Lady Doctor (1957), Honor Among Thieves (1957) and Roulotte e roulette (1959).<\/p>\n \n\tIn 1957, Lane performed backed by her husband on NBC\u2019s The Xavier Cugat Show and on The Ed Sullivan Show, and a year later, she was paired with Tito Puente and his mambo orchestra on the album Be Mine Tonight. A review<\/a> of the LP notes that she \u201ccommands the spotlight from start to finish, galvanizing otherwise innocuous lyrics with wit, sophistication and sheer lust.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLane also partnered with bandleader Sid Ramin on a 1959 album of pop tunes as she recorded for RCA Victor and then Mercury Records.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n