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(Joan Lucille Olander)
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| 6 February 33 |
is born in Rowena, South Dakota, to Warner and Lucille Olander, of Swedish ancestry
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| 39 |
moves to Sioux City, Iowa
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| May 42 |
moves with her family to Los Angeles
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| Spring 46 |
works at the Pantages Theater, Hollywood Boulevard, as an usherette and is discovered for a TV show
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| Summer 49 |
is crowned "Miss Palm Springs" and "Miss Eight Ball"
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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.
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| Summer 50 |
works as a showgirl at El Rancho, Las Vegas
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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
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| 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
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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
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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
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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
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| May 55 |
has a miscarriage on the set of The Second Greatest Sex
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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.
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| August 55 |
vacations with Anthony in Europe, but denies the marriage rumors
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| 29 August 55 |
pregnant again, she marries Anthony in a rainy Toledo. Her measurements are 37-22 1/2-36.
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| 56 |
is jealous when Anthony films The Girl Can't Help It with Jayne Mansfield
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| 57 |
her son Perry is born
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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
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| 58 |
her marriage is tearing apart. When she goes to Rome for the filming of The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina, it's over.
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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
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| 61 |
does the nightclub circuit in the U.S., Mexico, and Buenos Aires, Argentina
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the divorce from Anthony becomes final
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| Early 62 |
performs in Wildcat in New York
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| Fall 62 |
Walter Winchell introduces her to handsome baseball player Bo Belinski
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| February 63 |
opens at the ChiChi Club in Palm Springs
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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.
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| 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.
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| Summer 64 |
sees a lot of rock singer Johnny Rivers
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Steve McQueen drags her to the bedroom
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| 65 |
develops a relationship with New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath
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| 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.
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| Summer 67 |
divorces Meyers, who's later killed in a car crash
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| 68 |
tours Vietnam for the first time
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| 71 |
tours Vietnam again
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| October 71 - March 72 |
tries to find work in England
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has a fling with Burt Reynolds, who performs poorly
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| 72 |
becomes involved in President Nixon's reelection campaign
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| October 72 |
meets Elvis backstage again
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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.
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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.
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| 26 June 79 |
marries Dixon and lives with him in Newport Beach
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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 |
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 |
