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Mamie Van Doren Profile
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Photo gallery |
| (Joan Lucille Olander) |
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| 6 February 33 | is born in Rowena, South Dakota, to Warner and Lucille Olander, of Swedish ancestry |
| 39 | moves to Sioux City, Iowa |
| May 42 | moves with her family to Los Angeles |
| Spring 46 | works at the Pantages Theater, Hollywood Boulevard, as an usherette and is discovered for a TV show |
| Summer 49 | is crowned "Miss Palm Springs" and "Miss Eight Ball" |
| Walter Kane, executive vice-president of RKO and Howard Hughes' right-hand man, casts her for Variety Footlights |
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| lunches with Hughes, who gives her a tiny part in Jet Pilot |
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| Early 50 | still a virgin, she marries a manufacturer of men's sportswear, Jack Newman. The marriage ends shortly after the honeymoon in San Francisco, as he tries to throw her off the balcony. |
| Summer 50 | works as a showgirl at El Rancho, Las Vegas |
| meets Charlie Fischetti, one of the cousins of Al Capone, who proves to be a great lover and keeps sending money from Chicago |
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| 51 | while on Broadway for Billion Dollar Baby, she becomes the mistress of ex-champ Jack Dempsey, who proves to be a bad lover |
| 20 January 53 | signs a contract with Universal-International on the day President Eisenhower is inaugurated, so is given the name "Mamie," and "Van Doren" because it sounds Dutch |
| attends the Photoplay Awards as the girlfriend of Rock Hudson |
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| Fall 53 | does a lot of necking with director Joe Pevney while filming Yankee Pasha |
| loses her role in Oklahoma to Gloria Grahame, who is the daughter of her acting teacher, whom she had told about her role call |
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| 54 | Burt Lancaster interviews her for the female lead in his upcoming Vera Cruz |
| attends the premiere of The Glenn Miller Story with hotel chain heir Nicky Hilton |
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| Howard Hughes interviews her for a role in Susan Slept Here |
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| is out with Donald O'Connor while filming Francis Joins the WACs |
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| becomes the lover of Nicky Hilton, but he turns out to be an alcoholic, who's unsatisfying in bed |
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| her friend, actor Bob Francis, introduces her to bandleader Ray Anthony, to whom she soon becomes engaged |
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| meets Prince Axel of Denmark during a studio tour. He invites her to Denmark, but she turns him down thrice. |
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| Confidential magazine threatens to print a story that she and her mother were prostitutes. Her fatherly friend, lawyer Jerry Geisler, helps out. |
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| April 55 | attends the premiere of Daddy Long Legs with Ray Anthony |
| May 55 | has a miscarriage on the set of The Second Greatest Sex |
| has an argument with Anthony when she discovers he has been sending roses to Marilyn Monroe |
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| James Dean takes her for a ride to Coldwater Canyon |
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| declines the lead in Broadway's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, which will become a smash hit for Jayne Mansfield |
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| July 55 | despite all denials, it looks as if she and bandleader Ray Anthony will make that altar trip soon. She slips down to Palm Springs for a vacation after finishing The Second Greatest Sex, before going to Hawaii. |
| August 55 | vacations with Anthony in Europe, but denies the marriage rumors |
| 29 August 55 | pregnant again, she marries Anthony in a rainy Toledo. Her measurements are 37-22 1/2-36. |
| 56 | is jealous when Anthony films The Girl Can't Help It with Jayne Mansfield |
| 57 | her son Perry is born |
| Lana Turner has an eye on husband Lex Barker, who would like to make a hit on her on the set of The Girl in Black Stockings |
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| 2 October 57 | opens at the Riviera, Las Vegas. Later she's picked up by Elvis Presley for a night out |
| 58 | her marriage is tearing apart. When she goes to Rome for the filming of The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina, it's over. |
| appears at the Venice Film Festival and suffers food poisoning and paparazzi |
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| dates the young George Hamilton, but turns down Frank Sinatra |
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| Cary Grant teaches her the use of LSD-25 while she's films The Beat Generation |
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| dates actor Steve Cochran, who's exiting in bed, again |
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| becomes friends with her co-star in Sex Kittens Go to College, Tuesday Weld |
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| 60 | is out with Yves Montand and Laurence Harvey |
| 61 | does the nightclub circuit in the U.S., Mexico, and Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| the divorce from Anthony becomes final |
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| Early 62 | performs in Wildcat in New York |
| Fall 62 | Walter Winchell introduces her to handsome baseball player Bo Belinski |
| February 63 | opens at the ChiChi Club in Palm Springs |
| reaches the heights of ecstasy with Belinski |
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| 1 April 63 | she and Belinski become engaged. Judith Campbell, mistress of JFK and mobster Sam Giancana, helps in selecting the engagement ring. |
| January 64 | accompanied by her gay hairdresser, she leaves for Berlin, West Germany, and Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, to film The Wild, Wild West. On the journey home, she encounters Paris. |
| Summer 64 | sees a lot of rock singer Johnny Rivers |
| Steve McQueen drags her to the bedroom |
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| 65 | develops a relationship with New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath |
| Early May 66 | being pregnant, she secretly marries nineteen-year-old California Angels pitcher Lee Meyers in Boise, Idaho, despite the fact that he's not the father. The child, a boy, is aborted. |
| Summer 67 | divorces Meyers, who's later killed in a car crash |
| 68 | tours Vietnam for the first time |
| 71 | tours Vietnam again |
| October 71 - March 72 | tries to find work in England |
| has a fling with Burt Reynolds, who performs poorly |
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| 72 | becomes involved in President Nixon's reelection campaign |
| October 72 | meets Elvis backstage again |
| marries Ross McClintock, the executive vice president of Fluor Corporation, in Las Vegas, despite not being in love with him |
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| Spring 73 | gets invited to the White House for a dinner with German Chancellor Willy Brandt. Henry Kissinger takes her for a ride. |
| her divorce from McClintock is being prepared for court |
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| March 74 | meets actor Thomas Dixon, thirteen years her junior, while on tour with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? He becomes her lover. |
| 26 June 79 | marries Dixon and lives with him in Newport Beach |
| Sources: Playing the Field: My Story by Mamie Van Doren and Art Aveilhe, Movie Life, Movieland, Modern Screen | |
| Recommended Books: Playing the Field by Mamie Van Doren The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool by Chris Strodder Fifties Blondes by Richard Koper | |
| Links: Filmography Mamie Van Doren's Website The Mamie Van Doren Page The Pin-up Zone JSR Pages: Mamie Van Doren Brian's Drive-In Theater: Mamie Van Doren Mamie Van Doren in Born Reckless (1958) | |