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Victoria Shaw; Australian Actress Found by Bob Hope

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Victoria Shaw, the Australian-born actress who came to the United States in the mid-1950s for a series of film roles that included the second wife of Tyrone Power in “The Eddy Duchin Story,” has died in her native land.

Mark Penfield, a longtime friend, said Miss Shaw, born Jeanette Elphick, was 53 when she died last Wednesday in a hospital near Sydney. She had returned to Australia in 1985 because of failing health and died after a lengthy battle with asthma.

Spotted by comedian Bob Hope when Hope was on tour in Australia in 1955, she came to Hollywood for a screen test at Hope’s urging.

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In addition to “Duchin” she was seen in “Edge of Eternity,” “I Aim at the Stars,” “The Crimson Kimono,” “Alvarez Kelly,” “To Trap a Spy” and, her last American film, “Westworld,” in 1973.

The former wife of actor Roger Smith is survived by two sons, a daughter, two grandchildren and her mother, three sisters and a brother in Australia.

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