Narda Onyx

Born in 1931, Narda became friends with Robert I. McCarthy when she was an eleven-year-old laundress for McCarthy's anti-aircraft battalion in Bonn. In 1944, she was a child actress in Estonia. To escape the Russians, she, her grandparents, her mother and 2-year-old brother took to the sea bound for Sweden. Picked up as Germans, they were taken to Danzig. Amidst much confusion, because they spoke fluent German they were able to meld into the daily life there. The Onyx family later made their way to the American occupied forces at Bonn and sought refuge with the Swedish Red Cross. Later the family moved to Sweden; Narda resumed her acting career. Traveling to England where she worked for the Old Vic Company. She then went to Canada to perform on stage and television. After appearing in some 70 television shows over the past six years, on October 20, 1961, she became an American citizen. While in Canada she met and married George Virand, also an Estonian refuge, where they moved to Hollywood.