Dominique Wilms was born Claudine Maria Célina Wilmes to French parents in the Belgian town of Montignies-sur-Sambre in the municipality of Charleroi. Much to her mother's chagrin, she abandoned studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to become a model for celebrated fashion designer Edouard
Molyneux. After winning the Miss Saint Germain des Pres Award and, thereby, having achieved a certain level of local fame, she was noticed on the Champs Elysees by the director and impresario
Edmond T. Gréville, who, in turn, recommended her to
Bernard Borderie as the female lead for his next film,
Poison Ivy (1953).
Curvaceous and with her long, strawberry blonde hair, Dominique very much resembled
Veronica Lake, and, like the 'Peek-a-boo Girl', soon found herself cast as femmes fatale in fashionable crime melodramas, often based on the novels of
Peter Cheyney. Her frequent co-stars included the craggy expat American actor
Eddie Constantine and her actor-husband
Jean Gaven with whom she appeared in two exotic adventure films, set in South-East Asia:
The River of Three Junks (1957) and
Adventures in Indochina (1958).
When her popularity in France began to wane, Dominique appeared in Italian and German productions, including (as Queen Astrid) in the sword-and-sandal epic
Caesar the Conqueror (1962) (starring
Cameron Mitchell as an unlikely Julius), in
An Ace and Four Queens (1966) (as a secret service agent) and in an episode of the German crime comedy
Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre (1967).
After quitting show business, Dominique studied at the Ecole du Louvre for four years and then returned to her original passion for painting and restoring art objects.
Jean Gaven, her husband of 57 years (!) died in 2014.
La canne(1972)as Myriam Hork
Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre(1967)as Gwen Mannipole
An Ace and Four Queens(1966)as Petula Menendez, Secret Service Agent
Les voyageurs de l'espace(1966)as Vénus
The Trap Snaps Shut at Midnight(1966)as Maureen
Poison Ivy(1953)
Grand écran(1964)as Self
Cinépanorama(1956)as Self
Trente-Six Chandelles(1954)as Self
Compression(1995)as Self
