Birth Name: Eunice Westmoreland
Date of Birth: November 15, 1914
Place of Birth: Miami, Florida, U.S.
Date of Death: June 20, 1989
Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Ethnicity: African-American
Dona Drake was an American actress, singer, dancer, and bandleader. She played roles of various ethnicities including Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and European.
Dona was born to African-American parents but passed as white Hispanic in order to succeed as an entertainer in the 1930s and 1940s. She also went by the names Una Villon/Velon, Rita Rio, and Rita Shaw. Various sources stated that Dona was of Mexican or Puerto Rican descent but this is incorrect.
Dona was married to costume designer William Travilla with whom she had one child.
Dona’s parents were Novella and Joseph Westmoreland. Novella was born in Alabama. Joseph was born in Arkansas. On the 1920 and 1930 Census, Dona and her family are listed as “Mulatto” or “Negro”
On the 1950 Census, Dona listed herself as “White” and her birthplace as New York.
Genealogy of Dona Drake:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GMC9-88M
Dona and her family on the 1920 Census:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GMC9-88M
Dona and her family on the 1930 Census:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GMC9-88M
Dona on the 1950 Census:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/GMC9-88M
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