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Vikki Dougan Profile
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| (Edith Tooker) |
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| 29 | is born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to Wilber and Mary Tooker, nee Dougan |
| 30 | lives with her parents in the Brooklyn home of her grandparents, Thomas and Edith Dougan |
| ? | becomes a model at the age of 11 |
| ? | becomes a "Miss Rheingold" finalist at the age of 16 and is then disqualified for being underage |
| c. 46 | marries William Symons, owner of a photo studio, at age 16 |
| February 48 | columnist Walter Winchell reports that Art Ford mailed her “50 tickets on Canada’s war vet sweepstakes. The Grand National, as a Valentine gift....” |
| May 48 | is a highly paid New York model and poses as a prize-winning skater in a Cutex advertisement |
| December 48 | columnist Walter Winchell knows: “Art Ford (the disc-joc) gave his Big Thing (Vikki Dougan of the mag fronts) a radio that can be tuned in only to the station over which he discs all night....” |
| ? | Symons walks out on her after three years of marriage, so she travels to Mexico for a divorce |
| February 52 | columnist Walter Winchell reports that she established Florida residency for her freedom. She’s a cover girl at Ciro’s, Miami Beach. |
| ? | agent Louis Shurr signs her as a client |
| ? | poses for a Decca record album cover. Jim Henaghan, an executive with John Wayne’s Batjac company, signs her for $250 a week. |
| 26 October 53 | tagged an actress, model, and mother, she is on the cover of Life |
| November 53 | Winchell reports her and her ex, Bill Symons, smitten again |
| ? | together she and publicity man Milton Weiss develop the idea of a low-cut dress in the back, instead of in the front, to challenge buxom girls like Jayne Mansfield. In Las Vegas she’s presented to the press. |
| April 54 | columnist Earl Wilson takes her out to dinner with playboy Porfirio Rubirosa at the Pavilion. There they meet the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover. |
| May 54 | is seen at the Little Club with producer Sam Spiegel after posing as "Miss General Electric" earlier in the day |
| July 54 | columnist Cholly Knickerbocker knows: “Cover beauty Vikki Dougan completely denied the change supply at Pygmalion the other night long-distancing Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas. He cooed and she was billed $23 worth in nickels, dimes and quarters...” |
| August 54 | has cocktails at Chez Cardinal wearing a black monocle and puffing a small pipe |
| September 54 | Winchell tells: “Steve Cochran and model Vikki Dougan had that glazed look at the Savoy Plaza Lounge...” |
| December 54 | young actor Vince Edward falls hard for her |
| March 56 | meat-packing heir Georgie Hormel, the ex of Leslie Caron, is serious about her |
| columnist Harrison Carroll knows: “James Hanson, former fiancé of Audrey Hepburn, flew into town with London publisher Gordon White, a member of Princess Margaret’s set. The two lost no time in dating Pat Blake and Vikki Dougan.” |
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| July 56 | is the monopoly of young and wealthy William Kerrigan |
| November 56 | John Wayne signs her to a contract with his firm, Batjac. He has Anita Ekberg, with whom Vikki was in Back to Eternity, under a similar contract. |
| 57 | Bob Hope introduces her and other debs to Hollywood |
| March 57 | is seen at Jack's at the Beach with Manning Ross |
| April 57 | most of Hollywood's hostesses shun her because of her insistence on turning up in those much-publicized backless evening dresses |
| May 57 | is launched by Batjac Productions as “The Back” |
| July 57 | columnist Jim Mahoney reports: “Vikki Dougan, whose wardrobe now bolsters more than two dozen backless gowns, says her newest, being designed by Allie Mae, ‘is strictly the end.’ ‘What’ll it feature?’ I dared to ask. ‘Me’ she laughed...” |
| is noted at the Oyster House with Steve Crane |
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| August 57 | is way out front with Arthur Loew, Jr., former escort of actress Joan Collins |
| is seen out with young actor Skip Ward |
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| hopes to further her career by replacing Tina Louise in Broadway's Li'l Abner while Tina's in Hollywood for God's Little Acre |
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| June 57 | Screen Stories asks why "she usually looks like she tossed some hair in the air and ran under it" |
| September 57 | is crowned September's Sweetheart by Western Trucking |
| October 57 | attends the annual Ballyhoo Ball of the Publicists’ Association in Hollywood as Lady Godiva on an artificial horse. The event will hit the news when a fellow guest, drunken Errol Flynn, starts a brawl with a policeman. |
| the public learns that she was officially engaged to actor Lance Fuller. It didn’t look like that when she showed up at Carol Channing’s Mocambo opening with Ted Tillinghast III, estranged husband of actress Nancy Valentine. “Lance and I have talked about it, though,” she says, “and we may get engaged when he comes back from the location of God’s Little Acre. I plan to visit him on location and he will fly here to escort me to the Deb Stars’ Ball.” |
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| c. 58 | is dropped by Batjac after one year |
| January 58 | is reported chased by actor Lance Fuller |
| February 58 | will be part of the title role in MGM’s upcoming Party Girls |
| April 58 | is met at the Los Angeles airport by Brazilian multimillionaire "Baby" Pignatari |
| June 58 | is back with Lance Fuller at the Round Robin |
| Summer 58 | along with Mamie Van Doren and others, she tests for the part of Darlin’ Jill in the upcoming God’s Little Acre. The role eventually goes to Fay Spain. |
| November 58 | television actor Manning Ross is her escort during her "backless" days |
| is at the Captain’s Table with Ted Tillinghast, and he says they are going steady. Columnist Harrison Carroll wonders what happened to her romance with Lance Fuller. |
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| December 58 | her date at Al Zugsmith’s party to celebrate The Beat Generation is Ted Tillinghast, who gets into an argument with TV’s Tom Duggan. Bystanders intervene to stop the threatened fight. Columnist Harrison Carroll thinks that her romance with Ted is cooling off. |
| May 59 | maybe she’s the girl to cure John Drew Barrymore’s loneliness since his separation from Clara Williams. She and John ran into each other at a coffee house. Later, he picked her up at her apartment. “We drove to the beach, then all over Beverly Hills. We talked and talked. It was 7 a.m. when John finally dropped me off at my apartment.” According to her, John is one of the most interesting men she has met. “He is under analysis and so am I. I have been emotionally upset over the breakup of my two-year romance with Lance Fuller.” |
| starts to date Ted Jordan, the ex of stripper Lily St. Cyr. "She reminds me so much of Lily," he says. "They have the same nose and mouth, the same beautifully arched back. Vikki is not quite as tall as Lily, but, otherwise, their measurements are about the same. And I heard Vikki sing. She'd really do great in nightclub work. I know the ropes and I could help her." |
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| October 59 | is seen at the Star on the Roof with actor George Raft |
| November 59 | her idyll with Lance Fuller is ended by actress Janet Day |
| February 60 | says about her backless days: “It was a mistake. I took a publicity man’s advice and everyone got the idea I was an idiot. Everyone forgot that I gave a very good performance as Keenan Wynn’s girl in The Great Man.” |
| March 60 | is seen at the Gourmet Beverly with Art Adelman |
| June 60 | Mervyn LeRoy’s son, Warner, is reported paging her for his New York production Between Two Thieves. Vikki says her role would be that of Mary Magdalene. |
| 29 August 60 | she and actor Jim Sweeney, former Texas Christian football halfback, get their marriage license in Los Angeles. She displays a diamond engagement ring and another band she calls a friendship ring - both on the fourth toe of her left foot. |
| 3 September 60 | as Edythe A. Tooker, she marries James R. Sweeney at the Modernistic Wayfarers' Chapel in Palos Verde Estates, California. He's 25; she's 24. She is dressed in a modest yellow gingham and organdy dress. Her friend Gloria Pall is among the guests. |
| January 61 | is the corroborating witness for fellow glamour girl Greta Thyssen in Greta's divorce from actor Ron Starr in Los Angeles. Afterwards they pose for the press. |
| November 61 | is seen performing the twist in New York's Peppermint Lounge |
| January 62 | is seen at Bon Soir with college boy Bob Young |
| April 62 | is squired at the Chateau Madrid by Fernando Parra, ex-escort of Kim Novak |
| 18 January 63 | appears in Los Angeles court to divorce Sweeney. She claims he deserted her after going through her $10,000 savings. She accepts only $1 per month alimony for two and one-half years of marriage. |
| January 64 | is featured in the nude in Cavalier. A lawsuit later envelops and will end in court. |
| February 66 | columnist Walter Winchell reports that she “struck oil on a reasonable facsimile. She met a billionaire’s son unwinding from his mate...” |
| August 66 | is seen at the Other Place with Steve Peck |
| February 67 | columnist Harrison Carroll reports: “Despite the fact that she took along four wigs, my scouts spotted actress Vikki Dougan at a Houston prizefight with famed attorney Melvin Belli. And they looked just as affectionate as they did recently at Scandia. Can’t blame Melvin. Vikki is a beauty. Understand the two also were in Chicago together and visited Hugh Hefner.” |
| March 67 | is seen at the Hong Kong bar with Art Stark |
| June 69 | is off to Athens, Greece, for the opening of the Club Alexander, a new gambling casino, in the Acropolis Palace Hotel. Other celebrity guests are Jane Russell, Eartha Kitt, Eve Arden, Lisa Kirk, Will Hutchins, and Ross Martin. |
| May 68 | attends Jim Kimberly’s party at Chasens. Carroll reports that at the party she “lost the pin Kimberly gave her on her birthday. Also a jade ring from her purse.” |
| November 68 | attends the premiere of Ice Station Zebra with David Janssen’s nephew, Dio Roberts |
| November 69 | says Cavalier magazine paid her $75,000 to settle a suit brought after it displayed her in the nude in a 1964 issue. The magazine's publisher, Fawcett Publications, Inc., says it didn't pay that much. She claims she posed nude for photos to be used in Playboy. She later backed out. Then 12 shots of her in the altogether showed up in Cavalier without her permission. |
| ? | is a salesperson for Mary Kay Cosmetics |
| ? | her grandson, Hudson is born |
| 22 April 21 | is featured in the New York Times |
| 22 | lives on 225 N Crescent Dr #236C in Beverly Hills, CA 90210 |
| January 23 | is featured in Classic Images |
| Sources: Gloria Pall, The Lima News, The Post-Standard, Chronicle-Telegram, Nevada State Journal, The Daily Independent, The Lethbridge Herald, The Zanesville Signal, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Mansfield News-Journal, The Coshocton Tribune, The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, The Vidette-Messenger, Indiana Evening Gazette, Ironwood Daily Globe, The Post-Standard, Classic Images, The Times Recorder, Reno Evening Gazette, News-Herald, Daily Tribune, The Wisconsin State Journal, San Antonio Light, Humboldt Standard, Oshkosh Northwestern, Star-News, The Daily Gleaner, The Odessa American, Star-News, New Castle News, Picturegoer, Photoplay, "Fay Spain" in Adam, Screen Stories, www.Ancestry.com | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography Java's Bachelor Pad What Happened to Vikki Dougan? by Isabel Slone Interview with Vikki Dougan by Jennifer George | |