Devera Kettner (Devera Burton), actress, model
Hyfler/Rosner
SOURCE: SF Chronicle Staff Writer
BYLINE: Carl Nolte
Devera Burstein Kettner, a former actress and model who once managed the
Curran Theatre in San Francisco, died Thursday at her San Francisco home
after a long illness. She was 77.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Mrs. Kettner was a famous beauty who
graduated from Lowell High School and worked as a professional fashion
model.
She acted in local small theater productions and then moved to Southern
California, where she studied theater at the Pasadena Playhouse. She soon
got a number of bit parts in movies.
Her big break came in 1949, when, under her screen name Devera Burton, she
landed a starring role in the South Seas epic "Omoo-Omoo the Shark God,"
which was loosely based on a novel by Herman Melville. The movie remains a
minor cult classic still available on videotape. After the film, she gave up
her screen career to marry the late Max Kettner and move to New York.
Mrs. Kettner returned to San Francisco in the 1970s and worked as a personal
shopper for I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue and the Gap. In the early 1980s,
she returned to her theatrical roots to manage the Curran Theatre for the
Shorenstein-Nederlander Group in San Francisco.
She is survived by her daughters, Brooke Kettner and Alexandra Victor, both
of Los Angeles; a sister, the author and editor Merla Zellerbach of San
Francisco; her brother, Sandor Burstein; and two granddaughters.
There will be no services. Memorial donations may be made to the Ernest
Rosenbaum Cancer Research Foundation, c/o Mount Zion Health Fund, 3330 Geary
Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118.