Search

Mamie Van Doren Profile

Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren
Photo of Mamie Van Doren
Photo gallery
(Joan Lucille Olander)
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
lunches with Hughes, who gives her a tiny part in Jet Pilot
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
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
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
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
Howard Hughes interviews her for a role in Susan Slept Here
is out with Donald O'Connor while filming Francis Joins the WACs
becomes the lover of Nicky Hilton, but he turns out to be an alcoholic, who's unsatisfying in bed
her friend, actor Bob Francis, introduces her to bandleader Ray Anthony, to whom she soon becomes engaged
meets Prince Axel of Denmark during a studio tour. He invites her to Denmark, but she turns him down thrice.
Confidential magazine threatens to print a story that she and her mother were prostitutes. Her fatherly friend, lawyer Jerry Geisler, helps out.
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
James Dean takes her for a ride to Coldwater Canyon
declines the lead in Broadway's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, which will become a smash hit for Jayne Mansfield
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
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
dates the young George Hamilton, but turns down Frank Sinatra
Cary Grant teaches her the use of LSD-25 while she's films The Beat Generation
dates actor Steve Cochran, who's exiting in bed, again
becomes friends with her co-star in Sex Kittens Go to College, Tuesday Weld
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)