A leading lady of the 1940s, the tall and blonde Foch usually played cool, aloof and often foreign, women of sophistication. As film roles became harder to find, Foch proved to be versatile in many areas. She was a panelist on several TV quiz shows, worked as 'George Stevens and directed plays. Since the 1960s, she has been an acting teacher for USC and the American Film Institute.
Daughter of Dirk Fock, conductor of the Amsterdams Concertgebouworkest, and actress and singer Consuelo Flowerton.
Last name "Foch" rhymes with "Gosh".
In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta , but was also dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi (in My Name Is Julia Ross ); Rina Morelli (in The Ten Commandments ) and Giovanna Scotto.
Ex-daughter-in-law of Lawrence Lipton.
Played the first person whose murder was investigated by the TV detective Lt. Columbo; killed in the pilot episode/TV movie Prescription: Murder .
Her father, Dirk Fock, was born in Batavia, Java (where her grandfather was governor general of the Dutch East Indies) on June 18, 1886. He died in Locarno, Switzerland on May 24, 1973. He studied, composed and conducted orchestral music in Europe, but made his American Debut as conductor with a specially assembled orchestra at Carnegie Hall in N.Y. on April 12, 1920; also conducted orchestral groups elsewhere in the U.S., and in Vienna.
Fell ill while teaching "Directing the Actor," a popular course at USCs School of Cinematic Arts, where she taught for 40 years. She died a day later at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of complications from long-term myelodysplasia, a blood disorder.
Her parents divorced when she was a toddler.
Had a son, Dr. Dirk De Brito (born 1960), with Dennis De Brito.
Nina and her husband James Lipton became lifelong friends with Diana Ross after co-starring with her in Mahogany .
Although she played Charlton Heston s adoptive mother, Yul Brynner s aunt and Cedric Hardwicke s sister in The Ten Commandments , she was a year younger than Heston, four years younger than Brynner and 31 years younger than Hardwicke.
Was left-handed.
