 |
Mr. Prinz took a moment before he answered. Then he assured Andrea that there was no one named Georges André Barry, a Frenchman, in the Lafayette Escadrille. In fact, the Lafayette Escadrille was a relatively small unit of a dozen or so volunteer American pilots, each one quite familiar to him.
How could Belle have made such a clumsy mistake with her details? Unless she had always hoped Andrea would figure it out. Regardless, she at last knew that her mother’s pilot story had been fabricated. But why? To what purpose? She had her own suspicions, but for now at least the truth would remain unsubstantiated.
Andrea continued her acting career as a freelance artist throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. She added many films to her credit and several significant early television appearances, including a live telecast of “Witness For the Prosecution,” opposite Edward G. Robinson, for the Lux Video Theatre on CBS.
 |
In 1955, Andrea and Nat welcomed their baby daughter Deborah Anne Willis into the world. And in 1960, Andrea was one of the first to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame for her contribution to the medium of television. But Andrea would face her toughest challenge in life when her beloved Nat was diagnosed with lung cancer and succumbed to the disease in 1970.
The question of Andrea’s birth arose one last time when an old friend of Belle’s came for a visit in the early 1980s. Evelyn Yates Inman, daughter of the late Alonzo Yates, paid Andrea and her mother a visit at their Beverly Hills home, and during a quieter moment alone, Evelyn made a stunning confession to Andrea. She politely asked her if she had known all along that they were half-sisters. Andrea listened to Evelyn’s story, speechless at first, then admitted to having drawn the same conclusion. Evelyn said her own mother had understandably hated Belle for years. Even Mrs. Yates had known the truth. Then Andrea and Evelyn both shared a good laugh over what, at one point many years earlier, must have caused everyone involved enormous pain and anguish.
The mystery had been solved, at least in Andrea’s eyes.
Whether or not Andrea King was the illegitimate daughter of Belle Hart and the vice-consul of Paris, Alonzo Colt Yates, could probably never be proven. It’s safe to say that it’s a more probable theory than Belle’s fabricated French fighter pilot, Georges André Barry. And what about good, old Georges? It’s even possible that such a man existed, regardless of his true name or identity. Women in the volunteer ambulance corps in 1918 were forbidden to marry, and Belle would have had to keep her marriage a secret for fear of being discharged and sent home to the States. She could have easily altered the facts to protect herself and Andrea’s ill-fated father, whether his name was Georges or not … whether she was even married or not.
 |
Either way, Belle took the truth with her to her grave when she passed away in 1986 at the impressive age of 101.
For the next several years, Andrea lived happily in Los Angeles. She continued to act well into the 1990s, making occasional film and television appearances. She also became the proud grandmother of Kate, Drew, and Christopher Callahan. During the 1970s and ’80s, Andrea began writing a series of children’s stories. She was ever-hopeful they would someday find an audience. Her general philosophy in life remained positive throughout her later years, and she always maintained a marvelous sense of humor.
Sadly, on the morning of April 22, 2003, Andrea passed away in her sleep, in Woodland Hills, California. She died of natural causes at the age of 84. She was a beautiful light, and she is deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.
Back in the early 1990s, Andrea took great interest and satisfaction in co-authoring a “creative nonfiction” biography entitled “More Than Tongue Can Tell,” with her good friend (yours truly) Paul Miles Schneider. Although our book was unpublished during her lifetime, it was released over a decade after her passing, in 2014, in both paperback and Kindle editions. It tells the fascinating 100-year saga of a mother and daughter, each searching for their dreams … the story of Belle Hart and her daughter Andrea King.
| << back | Page 3 |