Mamie
Van Doren (born February 6, 1931) is a American actress
and sex symbol.
She was born Joan Lucille Olander
in Rowena, South Dakota, the daughter of Warner Carl
Olander (March 30, 1908-June 4, 1992) and Lucille
Harriet Bennett (January 21, 1912-August 27, 1995).
She is of Swedish ancestry. Her mother
named her after Joan Crawford. In 1939, the family
moved to Sioux City, Iowa. In May 1942, they moved
to Los Angeles.
In early 1946, Joan went to work as
an usherette at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.
The following year she had a bit part on an early
television show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's
band and entered beauty contests. In the summer of
1949, at age sixteen, she won the titles "Miss
Eight Ball" and "Miss Palm Springs."
While doing the Miss Palm Springs
contest, she was discovered by Howard Hughes. She
lunched with him and he gave her a bit part in Jet
Pilot at RKO, which was her motion picture debut.
Her line of dialogue consisted of one word, "Look!"
Though production of the movie was in 1949 and 1950,
it was not released until 1957. The following year,
1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto
Vargas, the painter of the glamorous "Varga Girls."
His painting of Van Doren was on the July cover of
Esquire.
She was briefly married at seventeen,
when she and first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to
Santa Barbara. But it turned out that he was abusive,
so she quickly got out of the marriage.
She did a few more bit parts in movies
at RKO, including His Kind of Woman (1951) starring
Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Vincent Price. About
her appearance in that one, Van Doren has said, "If
you blinked you would miss me. I look barely old enough
to drive."
She then began working on the stage.
She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub
version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh
discovered her for his musicals, then decided she
was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic
training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden.
While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase
production of Come Back, Little Sheba, she was seen
by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal
International.
On January 20, 1953, she signed a
contract with Universal. The studio had big plans
for her, hoping she would bring the success that 20th
Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe, the reigning
sex symbol of the era. It has been said that because
the day she was signed was also the day President
Eisenhower was inaugurated, the studio decided to
give her the name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower,
and Van Doren because it sounds Dutch.
Her first movie for Universal was
Forbidden (1953), playing a singer. She then made
The All American (1953), playing Susie Ward, a girl
from the other side of the tracks who is the man-trap
at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (1954) starring
Tony Curtis and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave
girl, Lilith.
Van Doren starred as the "bad
girl" archetype in several teenage cult movies
of the 1950s. She also appeared in some of the first
movies to feature Rock & Roll music. She became
identified with this rebellious style, and made some
Rock records.
While she and the other blonde bombshells
did not attain the same level of superstar status
as Monroe, Van Doren did become one of the leading
sex symbols of the day. Marilyn, Mamie and Jayne Mansfield
were known as the "Three M's," and Van Doren
achieved legendary status as being the sole survivor.
But while Monroe did Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes and Mansfield had a big success with Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, a part that was originally
written for Van Doren, who turned it down, Universal
stuck Van Doren with Francis the talking mule in Francis
Joins the WACS.
Van Doren has had five husbands, sportswear
manufacturer Jack Newman (married 1950-divorced 1950),
bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony (married
1955-divorced 1961), baseball player Lee Meyers (married
1966-divorced 1967), businessman Ross McClintock (married
1972-divorced 1973) and actor Thomas Dixon (married
1979-present).
She and Anthony had one son, Perry
Ray Anthony (born March 18, 1956).
Her on-again off-again engagement
to baseball player Bo Belinsky broke off for good
in 1964. In her tell-all autobiography, she acknowledged
numerous affairs, including ones with Clark Gable
and Joe Namath.
Some of her more noteworthy movies
include Teacher's Pet (1958) at Paramount, Born Reckless
(1958) at Warner Bros., and High School Confidential!
(1958) at MGM.
But many of the productions she starred
in were low-budget B-movies. They are largely unknown
to later generations, though some have gained a following
for their high camp value. Besides the casting decisions
at Universal, a problem with her career was poor management.
In 1959, Universal chose not to exercise
the option in her contract. Van Doren was now a free
agent and had to struggle to find work. Some of her
later movies were foreign and independent productions,
such as The Blonde from Buenos Aires (1961), The Candidate
(1964), The Navy vs the Night Monsters (1966) and
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968),
which was directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who used
another name, fearing the movie would ruin his reputation.
In 1963, she posed twice for Playboy
to promote her movie Three Nuts In Search of a Bolt
(1964). Although was never a Playmate.
In 1964, Van Doren was at the Whisky
A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood when
The Beatles were at the club, and a drunk George Harrison
accidentally threw his drink on her when he was really
trying to throw it on some bothersome journalists.
She also developed a nightclub act
and did a lot of theatre work. She performed in stage
productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames
at Sea at the Drury Lane Theatre, Chicago, and did
shows such as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and The
Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theatre.
During the Vietnam War she did tours
for U.S. troops in Vietnam, for three months in 1968
and again in 1970. In addition to USO shows, she visited
hospitals, including the wards of amputees and burn
victims that many other celebrities stayed away from.
Her appearances on TV have include
The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island and L.A. Law.
She did a nightclub act in Las Vegas in the 1970s.
In 1987, she wrote her autobiography,
with Art Aveilhe, titled Playing the Field: My Story,
published by GP Putnams, New York.
Starting at age sixty, she has had
plastic surgery to maintain a youthful appearance.
She has written about this and discussed it in interviews.
You can read about Mamie Van Doren
and her past exploits at her very own website, where
"the first authentic sex-kitten in cyberspace"
gives one of the most intimate looks at a celebrity's
personal life on the Internet. Included at her long,
detailed site are photos, stories and anecdotes about
Hollywood and her career, and an articulate and opinionated
political weblog. "The Web is the perfect place
for an appreciation of Hollywood Glamour. Take a look
at it through my eyes, kids!"
Mamie Van Doren has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard
in Hollywood.
Filmography
Jet Pilot (Production: 1949-1950) (Released: 1957)
(RKO) ... WAF
His Kind of Woman (1951) (RKO) ... Lodge guest at
bar (uncredited)
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) (RKO) ... (credited
as Joan Olander)
Footlight Varieties (1951) (RKO) ... Blonde in theatre
(credited as Joan Olander)
Forbidden (1953) (Universal) ... Singer (uncredited)
The All American (1953) (Universal) ... Susie Ward
Hawaiian Nights (1954) (Universal)
Yankee Pasha (1954) (Universal) ... Lilith
Francis Joins the WACS (1954) (Universal) ... Cpl.
Bunky Hilstrom
Ain't Misbehavin' (1955) (Universal) ... Jackie
The Second Greatest Sex (1955) (Universal) ... Birdie
Snyder
Running Wild (1955) (Universal) ... Irma Bean
Star in the Dust (1956) (Universal) ... Ellen Ballard
The Girl in Black Stockings (1957) (United Artists)
... Harriet Ames
Untamed Youth (1957) (Warner Bros.) ... Penny Lowe
Teacher's Pet (1958) (Paramount) ... Peggy DeFore
Born Reckless (1958) (Warner Bros.) ... Jackie Adams
Le Bellissime gambe di Sabrina (1958) Italian (Cinecittà
Studios) ... Sabrina ... aka The Beautiful Legs of
Sabrina
High School Confidential! (1958) (MGM) ... Gwen Dulaine
Guns, Girls, and Gangsters (1959) (United Artists)
... Vi Victor
The Beat Generation (1959) (MGM) ... Georgia Altera
... aka This Rebel Age
The Big Operator (1959) (MGM) ... Mary Gibson
Girls Town (1959) (MGM) ... Silver Morgan
Vice Raid (1959) (United Artists) ... Carol Hudson
The Big Operator (1959) (MGM) ... Mary Gibson
Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) (Allied Artists)
... Dr. Mathilda West
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1961) (Universal)
... Evie Simms
College Confidential (1960) (Univeral) ... Sally Blake
The Blonde from Buenos Aires (1961) (Argentinian Films)
Three Nuts In Search of a Bolt (1964) (Adrian Weiss
Productions) ... Saxie Symbol
Freddy und das Lied der Prärie (1964) German
... Olivia ... aka The Wild, Wild West (USA)
The Candidate (1964) (Cosmat Production) ... Samantha
Ashley
The Navy vs the Night Monsters (1966) (Real Art) ...
Nora Hall
Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966) (Woolner Brothers) ...
Boots Malone
You've Got to be Smart (1967) (Producers Releasing
Organization) ... Miss Hathaway
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) (Filmgroup
Production) ... Moana
I Fratelli di Arizona (1971) Italian ... Girlfriend
... aka The Arizona Kid
That Girl from Boston (1975) (Moonstone Films)
Free Ride (1986) (Galaxy International Pictures) ...
Debbie Stockwell
The Vegas Connection (1999) (Pacific Films) ... Rita
Slackers (2002) (Screen Gems, Sony) ... Mrs. Van Graaf
Quotes
"My best asset is my brain. Without my brain,
I don't think the rest of me would be too hot."
"I came to Hollywood determined to follow in
Jean Harlow's footsteps, but I was determined not
to die young. My hope was to endure. And endure I
have."
"I don't wear panties anymore - this startles
the Hollywood wolves so much they don't know what
to pull at, so they leave me alone."
"There is a history of calamitous and violent
deaths among the glamorous girls that boggles the
mind and chills the blood, especially if you're one
of the few survivors... As young women we were told
that we were infinitely desirable and beautiful, only
to discover that there was always someone coming up
behind who was more desirable and beautiful. Our profession
is perhaps the most competitive in the world. For,
to be glamorous, to be beautiful, is to be doomed
eventually to be disappointed."
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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