Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France, but she did not spend much time there as her mother, Belle Hart, an ambulance driver on the front lines during World War I and a dancer with the renowned Isadora Duncan, brought her back to the United States just two months after her birth.
Growing up, Andrea lived in Forest Hills, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, and she adopted her stepfather's surname of McKee when she began acting professionally at the age of 14. Prior to signing with Warner Bros. in 1944, she had already appeared in three Broadway plays and two national companies, and managed to squeeze in her first screen appearance in The March of Time's first feature-length film, The Ramparts We Watch, in 1940.
After signing with Warner Bros. and changing her professional name, Andrea's career took off quickly, and she appeared in nine films in just 18 months. The Warner Bros. studio photographers voted her the most photogenic actress on the lot for the year 1945. Her first leading role came early on with Hotel Berlin in 1945, and until she left the studio system in 1946, she continued to work as a glamorous, often mysterious leading lady.
Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Andrea continued to work steadily in leading roles and "bad girl" second leads, and made many starring television appearances, including the original 1953 live broadcast of Witness for the Prosecution for Lux Video Theatre opposite Edward G. Robinson. For her early work in television, she received one of the first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Andrea continued to make occasional TV and film appearances through the late 1990s, until shortly before her death in 2003. She also wrote children's stories and an autobiography. Her daughter Deb Callahan lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Tim, and Andrea has three grandchildren: Kate, Drew, and Chris.
