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Susan Denberg Profile

Susan Denberg
Susan Denberg
Photo of Susan Denberg
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(Dietlinde Ortrun Zechner)
2 August 44 is born in Bad Polzin, Poland, to Anton Gustav Zechner and his wife, Hanni; the oldest of three children. Her brothers are Reinhard and Ulrich.
45 her family moves to Klagenfurt, Austria, where her father starts operating several electrical shops
is into sports and theater during her school days
62 is off to England at age 18, where she works as an au pair girl
has an affair with an airline steward
finds a sugar daddy to keep her in a Chelsea flat
Summer 63 during an afternoon in London’s Hyde Park, she meets tall, redheaded Bluebells girl, Helen Kosta, who introduces her to Peter Baker, the London manager of the Bluebells
Baker sends her to Paris for an audition with Bluebells founder Margaret Kelly. She’s hired for the chorus line, at 80 pounds a week.
64 / 65 performs with the Bluebells at the Las Vegas Stardust Hotel
she shares a Las Vegas apartment with two gays, Ruben and Nicholas, but soon moves in with a Texas gambler, Bud
at a party she falls for Latino Tony Scotti, a singer at the Desert Inn, who will be in the upcoming Valley of the Dolls
she and Tony are at a party thrown by Elvis Presley
6 October 65 marries Anthony Scotti at midnight in Las Vegas. He’s 25; she’s 21.
she deserts the Bluebells for a movie career
Warner Brothers’ publicity department creates a nation-wide promotion to rename her. Over 5,000 responses are received. She herself chooses Susan Denberg.
66 is elected “Miss Headturner”
attends the premiere of The Bible in New York and hits the press with her low-cut dress
Spring 66 her marriage to Scotti fails after six months
uses sex to get ahead. She claims to have had an affair with Stuart Whitman, leading man in her debut film, An American Dream.
has an affair with a rugged six-footer nicknamed Stud, who introduces her to marijuana, amyl nitrate, and swinging parties
dates entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., and television actor Nicholas Pryor
gives her phone number to actor Lee Marvin, but he never gives her a call
takes an apartment in Beverly Hills and acting classes at Desilu Studio Workshop, which leads to a part in “Star Trek”
Playboy magazine chooses her for their upcoming “Miss August 1966”
does a poolside striptease at a party given by Frank Sinatra. She’s the hit of the evening, but the host isn’t too happy about it.
Summer 66 returns to England for the title role in Frankenstein Created Woman. Agents Plunkett Greene brought her to Hammer’s attention via Warner Brothers. She’s paid 12,000 pounds.
she rents a flat in St James’s Street, Mayfair, London
August 66 is Playboy’s “Playmate of the Month”
14 August 66 awards prizes at the Soap Box Grand Prix, a go-kart race at London’s Battersea Park
2 August 66 has her 22nd birthday party on the set of Frankenstein Created Woman. Her evening celebration is at Victor Lowndes’s notorious Playboy Club in Park Lane.
due to her heavy German accent, her voice in Frankenstein Created Woman is dubbed by Jane Hands
? the main prize at Centfox's annual theater owners convention in New York City is the opportunity of being her escort for a night
April 67 is Playboy’s “Playmate of the Year”
May 67 is back to New York for the opening of The Bible. She and her friend Claudine are introduced to actor Anthony Quinn.
dates actors Charles Bronson, Trini Lopez, Hugh O’Brien, and Sidney Poitier and director Roman Polanski
August 67 is considered for the female lead in Girl on a Motorcycle opposite Alain Delon, but looses out to Marianne Faithful
spends her nights at London’s The Mirabelle, The Caprice, The White Elephant in Curzon Street, and Dolly’s Discotheque
meets black actor Jim Brown, while he’s filming The Dirty Dozen at Elstree Studios
to get over her affair with Brown, she’s off to Sardinia, where she discovers LSD in the company of a Swedish man, Lars, and his date, Glenda
back in London, due to the dope, she can’t afford her Mayfair flat anymore and moves to a shabby bedsit at Earl’s Court. She starts taking grass and LSD every day.
her father takes her back to Klagenfurt, Austria, for an appointment with a neurologist; there are rumors of a childhood abuse incident involving “a cousin”
December 67 is expected to be an eyecatch at the Viennese film festival, Viennale, but is transferred to the neurological hospital at Rosenhuegel, Vienna, for electric shock therapy. There she spends 2 months and receives three treatments.
18 / 19 May 68 during a dispute with her mother in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, she tries to beat and strangle her. Neighbors have to restrain her until police arrive. Fourteen days earlier on television, she talked about plans to return to Hollywood.
29 May 68 after ten days at a mental asylum in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, she is discharged and considered cured
68 at age 24, she lives with her mother in Bahn(hof)strasse, Klagenfurt, Carinthia. She’s says, "I took drugs and tranquilizers so as not to eat too much... I became hooked on LSD and marijuana... It calmed me down, and I made such wonderful love... I needed LSD every day, almost every hour...”
October 68 sues two Viennese newspapers for wrongly accusing her of beating her mother
after a ten-minute trial in the district court in Klagenfurt, she is found not guilty. Her mother, a witness for the prosecution, refuses to testify.
23 November 69 the British News of the World covers her story, "in her own words," over three editions. There are rumors that she committed suicide soon after.
tears up an advertising assignment worth ATS 28.000,- for being too low
c. 71 her son Wolfgang-Dieter “Wolfi” is born; his father is of Yugoslavian descent
c. 72 works in a boutique selling ceramics
72 is said to be having an affair with consul Lazi Rath, owner of the Rondell, an adult movie theater in Vienna
June 72 entertains, topless, at the Rondell for ATS 7,000 a month
absconds with some ATS 200 from Rondell’s cashbox according to her employer Rath
7 August 72 ends her assignment at the Rondell, where she worked at the bar and later as some sort of MC
has a 16-month-old son
December 72 is in the papers when she arrives already topless to dance at her new assignment, the Renz nightclub in Vienna
January 74 tours the Viennese nightlife with some acquaintances for money
c. 74 performs nude at the Renz nightclub
June 74 shortly before her act in Geneva, she tries again to commit suicide by swallowing 200 sleeping pills, but is found in time and transferred to canton-hospital D7 in Geneva, Switzerland
March 76 becomes a mother again and lives in a Viennese mental home
14 as Dietlinde Scotti, she resides in the tenth district of Vienna, Austria
Sources:
Hammer Horror Magazine, Kleine Zeitung Graz, Kurier, AZ, Police Gazette, Bild am Sonntag, www.Ancestry.com
Recommended Books:
Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood by Tom Lisanti
Links:
Filmography
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