Mamie Van Doren
Encyclopedia
Mamie Van Doren is an American
actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures
's version of 20th Century Fox
's Marilyn Monroe
.
She starred in several cult classic
Hollywood films including Untamed Youth
(1957); High School Confidential
(1958); Born Reckless
(1958); Guns, Girls, and Gangsters
(1959); Girls Town
(1959); Vice Raid
(1960); and, College Confidential
(1960). These films earned Van Doren two nicknames: "Hollywood's Bad Girl" and one of "The Three M's". The other two were, Marilyn Monroe
and Jayne Mansfield
.
, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander (March 30, 1908 – June 4, 1992) and Lucille Harriet Bennett (January 21, 1912 – August 27, 1995). She is of three-quarters Swedish
ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. Her mother named her after Joan Crawford
. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa
. In May 1942, they moved to Los Angeles
.
In early 1946, Joan began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre
in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television
show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered beauty contest
s. Van Doren was married for a brief time at seventeen. She and first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara
. The marriage dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles "Miss Eight Ball" and "Miss Palm Springs." She was also engaged to marry legendary boxer Jack Dempsey
, but broke off the engagement when she signed her first contract with Universal
.
Joan was discovered by famed producer Howard Hughes
on the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for several years. Hughes launched her career by placing her in several RKO films.
at RKO, which was her motion picture
debut. Her line of dialogue
consisted of one word, "Look!" and she appears uncredited in the film. Though production of the movie was from 1949 to 1953 (delays by Hughes), it was not released until 1957. The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl
artist Alberto Vargas
, the painter of the glamorous "Vargas Girls." His painting of Van Doren was on the July cover of Esquire.
Van Doren did a few more bit parts in movies at RKO, including His Kind of Woman
(1951
) starring Robert Mitchum
, Jane Russell
and Vincent Price
. About her appearance in that one, Van Doren has said, "If you blinked you would miss me. I look barely old enough to drive."
Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York
in Monte Proser's nightclub
version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter
Jimmy McHugh
discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line
and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba
, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International
.
with Universal Studios
. The studio
had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox
had with Marilyn Monroe
. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration
of President
Eisenhower
, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower
. Other Van Dorens, who were unrelated to Mamie, were a prominent and noted family of American intellectuals; these Van Dorens included two Pulitzer Prize
winning brothers, Carl (biographer) and Mark
(poet), and Mark's wife Dorothy, an academic and historian. Mark and Dorothy's son, Charles Van Doren
, made front page news both by winning $129,000 on a television game show in 1957, then admitting in 1959 that the program was rigged. The publicity around this scandal kept the 'Van Doren' name in the newspapers and tabloids.
Van Doren's first movie role for Universal was in the Tony Curtis
film Forbidden (1953
), playing a bit part
as a singer. She then made The All American
(1953), (also starring Tony Curtis), playing her first starring role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha
(1954
), starring Jeff Chandler
and Rhonda Fleming
, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955
, Van Doren was cast in Ain't Misbehavin'
, a musical comedy starring Rory Calhoun
; and starred in the crime
-drama
film, Running Wild
.
In 1956
, she played opposite a young "unknown" at the time Clint Eastwood
in Star in the Dust
. The film starred John Agar
and Richard Boone
. Van Doren (second billed in the opening credits), appears in a rather small role as a daughter of a ranch owner. Star in the Dust was Van Doren's last film with Universal, for she was tired of being cast in small non-"breakthrough" roles; therefore, she stopped accepting film offers from Universal, and started working more successfully with other studios.
Van Doren went to star in several bad girl movies
that later became cult
films. She also appeared in some of the first movies to feature Rock & Roll
music and became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records
. In the film Untamed Youth
in 1957, she was the first woman to sing rock and roll in a Hollywood musical (Eddie Cochran
did the music for the film). This film was later featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000
s "Untamed Youth" (1990).
Some of Van Doren's more noteworthy movies include Teacher's Pet
(1958
) at Paramount
, Born Reckless
(1958) at Warner Bros.
, High School Confidential
(1958), and The Beat Generation
(1959
), the latter two at MGM
. But Van Doren was just as well known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town
(1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
(1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina
(1959), Sex Kittens Go to College
(1960) and Vice Raid
(1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles.
Many of Van Doren's film roles showcased her ample curves, and her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring (for the era) swimsuits, but she and such other blonde bombshell contemporaries as Cleo Moore
, Sheree North
, Joi Lansing
, Greta Thyssen
, and Barbara Nichols
did not attain the same level of superstar
status as Marilyn Monroe
. Marilyn, Mamie and Jayne Mansfield
were known as "The Three M's." But by comparison, where Monroe succeeded in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Mansfield had a big success with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
, (a part that was originally written for Van Doren, who turned it down), Universal stuck Van Doren with Francis the Talking Mule
in Francis Joins the WACS
, in 1954.
s. They are largely unknown to later generations, though some have gained a following for their high camp
value.
In 1959, Universal chose not to renew her contract. Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work. Some of her later movies were foreign and independent productions, which would do little to keep her image in front of the public's eye.
The first one these "forgettable" films was Sex Kittens Go to College
(1960
), co-starring Tuesday Weld
. The following year, she won first billing in the foreign
production; The Blonde from Buenos Aires
. Afterward Van Doren took time off; not returning to the screen until 1964
; having a top role in The Candidate
. Perhaps her best "later career" film was 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
, co-starring and directed by Tommy Noonan
.
Two years later The Las Vegas Hillbillys
was released by Woolner Brothers
. This film co-starred Jayne Mansfield
; a rival of Mamie's; this was the only time two of "The Three M's" appeared together in a film. The film's sequel
was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House
, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing
. She then appeared in The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
(1966
), a science-fiction film; two years later she starred in another sci-fi film Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
(1968
), directed by Peter Bogdanovich
; that featured a completely unknown cast other than Van Doren. She denied the option to appear in the British
horror film
The Ice House
(1969), and was replaced by Sabrina
.
In 1971, Van Doren had a supporting role in The Arizona Kid
. From here on out Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearance
in low-budgeted forgettable films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in Slackers in 2002.
(married 1955-divorced 1961); to baseball player Lee Meyers (married 1966-divorced 1967); to businessman Ross McClintock (married 1972-divorced 1973); and to actor Thomas Dixon (married 1979–present).
She and Anthony had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (born March 18, 1956).
Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball
player Bo Belinsky
ended for good in 1964. She acknowledged numerous affairs in her autobiography, including ones with Clark Gable
, Howard Hughes
, Johnny Carson
, Elvis Presley
, Burt Reynolds
, Jack Dempsey
, Steve McQueen
, Johnny Rivers
, Robert Evans
, Eddie Fisher
, Warren Beatty
, Tony Curtis
, Steve Cochran
, and Joe Namath
. Claiming fidelity to each lover, she said about Hollywood life, "I don't wear panties anymore – this startles the Hollywood wolves so much they don't know what to pull at, so they leave me alone."
She posed twice for Playboy
in 1963 to promote her movie 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
(1964), though she was never a Playmate. By this point in her career, her voluptuous figure measured 38DD-26-36 (self-described in 1997). She said about her curves, "I don't even want to say double-D, because they're even bigger than that."
In 1964, Van Doren was a guest at the Whisky a Go Go
on the Sunset Strip
in West Hollywood
when The Beatles
were at the club visiting with Jayne Mansfield
, and an inebriated George Harrison
accidentally threw his drink on her when trying to throw it on some bothersome journalists.
Van Doren developed a nightclub act and did live theatre. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
and Dames at Sea
at the Drury Lane Theatre
, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theatre.
During the Vietnam War
, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam
for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. In addition to USO
shows, she visited hospitals, including the wards of amputees and burn victims that many other celebrities avoided.
Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury
, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show
, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island
, Burke's Law
, Vega$
, and L.A. Law
.
In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas
.
In 1980, Van Doren was referenced in the controversial Canadian Top 20 hit High School Confidential by the popular 1980s Canadian New Wave
rock band Rough Trade
. In 2005, "High School Confidential" was named the 38th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
Van Doren's autobiography, Playing the Field (1987), brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting.
She has consistently denied in interviews ever having breast implants. In 2006, Mamie posed for photographs for Vanity Fair
with Pamela Anderson
, as part of its annual Hollywood issue.
Van Doren and her husband, Thomas, maintain her web site. There, she sells autographed "nipple prints" and home-made short films starring herself, such as A Girl and Her Banana. Her contemporary topless and nude photos, and outspoken political views, have helped create a larger fan base than at any time in her career.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard.
|}
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
's version of 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
.
She starred in several cult classic
Cult Classic
Cult Classic is a Blue Öyster Cult studio recording released in 1994, containing remakes of many of the band's previous hits.-Track listing:# " The Reaper" - 5:05# "E.T.I...
Hollywood films including Untamed Youth
Untamed Youth
Untamed Youth is a 1957 film starring Mamie Van Doren and released by Warner Bros. The film has been featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.-Plot:...
(1957); High School Confidential
High School Confidential (film)
High School Confidential is a 1958 crime drama film directed by Jack Arnold. It stars Mamie Van Doren, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, Jackie Coogan. The film also features a cameo by Jerry Lee Lewis who opens the movie singing a song of the same name, which Lewis co-wrote with Ron...
(1958); Born Reckless
Born Reckless (1958 film)
Born Reckless is a 1958 western drama film starring Mamie Van Doren and released through Warner Bros. studios.-Plot:Kelly Cobb travels and performs in various country rodeos in order to get enough money to buy a patch of land to call his own. One day he picks up Jackie Adams,a saloon singer and...
(1958); Guns, Girls, and Gangsters
Guns, Girls, and Gangsters
Guns, Girls and Gangsters is a 1959 B-movie crime/drama starring Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:Chuck Wheeler is released from prison and begins to set up an elaborate heist of an armored truck carrying money from a Las Vegas casino. Chuck enlists the help of nightclub owner Joe Darren as well as Vi Victor,...
(1959); Girls Town
Girls Town
Girls Town is a 1959 film produced by MGM, starring Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé and Ray Anthony; Paul Anka also appears in his first acting role. Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent who is sent to a girls school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister...
(1959); Vice Raid
Vice Raid
Vice Raid is a 1960 B-movie crime drama starring Mamie Van Doren and Richard Coogan.-Plot:Police Sgt. Whitey Brandon works for the Vice Squad and is determined to beat corruption in the city. He encounters Carol Hudson who is working as a model. She is sent to frame him and succeeds. Carol's sister...
(1960); and, College Confidential
College Confidential (film)
College Confidential is a 1960 B-movie drama starring Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows and Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:A sociology professor Steve McInter starts conducting a survey at Collins College about the lifestyles and sexual urges of the younger generation. One of his students Sally Blake excels with...
(1960). These films earned Van Doren two nicknames: "Hollywood's Bad Girl" and one of "The Three M's". The other two were, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
and Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
.
Early life
Van Doren was born Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South DakotaRowena, South Dakota
Rowena is an unincorporated community in Minnehaha County, South Dakota along South Dakota State Highway 42.Rowena is located at , just over a mile north of the border with Iowa, about east of Sioux Falls, and west of the Minnesota border, at an elevation of 1,411 feet...
, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander (March 30, 1908 – June 4, 1992) and Lucille Harriet Bennett (January 21, 1912 – August 27, 1995). She is of three-quarters Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. Her mother named her after Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
. In May 1942, they moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
In early 1946, Joan began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre
Pantages Theatre (Hollywood)
The Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at Hollywood and Vine , Hollywood, California, USA. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages...
in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show. She also sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered beauty contest
Beauty contest
A beauty pageant or beauty contest, is a competition that mainly focuses on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...
s. Van Doren was married for a brief time at seventeen. She and first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
. The marriage dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles "Miss Eight Ball" and "Miss Palm Springs." She was also engaged to marry legendary boxer Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
, but broke off the engagement when she signed her first contract with Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
.
Joan was discovered by famed producer Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
on the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for several years. Hughes launched her career by placing her in several RKO films.
Early career
Hughes provided Van Doren with a bit part in Jet PilotJet Pilot (film)
Jet Pilot is a 1957 Cold War romantic comedy film starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh. Written by Jules Furthman, the Technicolor movie went through several directorial changes. Josef von Sternberg directed between October, 1949 and February, 1950...
at RKO, which was her motion picture
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
debut. Her line of dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
consisted of one word, "Look!" and she appears uncredited in the film. Though production of the movie was from 1949 to 1953 (delays by Hughes), it was not released until 1957. The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
artist Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas
Alberto Vargas was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists...
, the painter of the glamorous "Vargas Girls." His painting of Van Doren was on the July cover of Esquire.
Van Doren did a few more bit parts in movies at RKO, including His Kind of Woman
His Kind of Woman
His Kind of Woman is a black-and-white 1951 film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting roles by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, and Charles McGraw...
(1951
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) starring Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
, Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
and Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
. About her appearance in that one, Van Doren has said, "If you blinked you would miss me. I look barely old enough to drive."
Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in Monte Proser's nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Jimmy McHugh
Jimmy McHugh
James Francis McHugh was a U.S. composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs...
discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line
Chorus line
A chorus line is a substantial group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms such as ponies, gypsies and twirlies...
and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba
Come Back, Little Sheba (play)
Come Back, Little Sheba is a 1950 play by the American dramatist William Inge. The play was Inge's first, written while he was a teacher at Washington University in St...
, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
.
Career
On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contractContract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
with Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. The studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
had with Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...
. Other Van Dorens, who were unrelated to Mamie, were a prominent and noted family of American intellectuals; these Van Dorens included two Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winning brothers, Carl (biographer) and Mark
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...
(poet), and Mark's wife Dorothy, an academic and historian. Mark and Dorothy's son, Charles Van Doren
Charles Van Doren
Charles Lincoln Van Doren is an American intellectual, writer, and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s...
, made front page news both by winning $129,000 on a television game show in 1957, then admitting in 1959 that the program was rigged. The publicity around this scandal kept the 'Van Doren' name in the newspapers and tabloids.
Van Doren's first movie role for Universal was in the Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
film Forbidden (1953
1953 in film
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
), playing a bit part
Bit part
A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue . In British television, bit parts are referred to as under sixes...
as a singer. She then made The All American
The All American
The All American is a 1953 film released through Universal Pictures and starring Tony Curtis, Lori Nelson and Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:Nick Bonelli is a quarterback for Mid-State and proves himself an All American in the championship, however his parents die in a car accident on the way to see the game...
(1953), (also starring Tony Curtis), playing her first starring role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha
Yankee Pasha
Yankee Pasha is a 1954 romantic adventure film starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, and featured Mamie Van Doren. The movie was released by Universal Pictures.-Cast:*Jeff Chandler as Jason Starbuck*Rhonda Fleming as Roxana Reil...
(1954
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
), starring Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (actor)
Jeff Chandler was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna and Phillip Grossel. He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities...
and Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming , is an American film and television actress.She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most beautiful and glamorous actresses of her day...
, she played a slave girl, Lilith. In 1955
1955 in film
The year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
, Van Doren was cast in Ain't Misbehavin'
Ain't Misbehavin' (film)
Ain't Misbehavin is a 1955 musical film released by Universal Studios and starring Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, Jack Carson and Mamie Van Doren.-Cast:* Rory Calhoun as Kenneth Post* Piper Laurie as Sarah Bernhardt Hatfield* Jack Carson as Hal North...
, a musical comedy starring Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
; and starred in the crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
-drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
film, Running Wild
Running Wild (1955 film)
Running Wild is a 1955 crime/drama film starring William Campbell and Mamie Van Doren. It was distributed through Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
.
In 1956
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
, she played opposite a young "unknown" at the time Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in Star in the Dust
Star in the Dust
Star in the Dust is a 1956 American western film made by Universal International Pictures and starring John Agar, Mamie Van Doren, and Richard Boone....
. The film starred John Agar
John Agar
John George Agar was an American actor. He starred alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, but was later relegated to B movies, such as Tarantula, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Flesh and the Spur, and Hand of Death...
and Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
. Van Doren (second billed in the opening credits), appears in a rather small role as a daughter of a ranch owner. Star in the Dust was Van Doren's last film with Universal, for she was tired of being cast in small non-"breakthrough" roles; therefore, she stopped accepting film offers from Universal, and started working more successfully with other studios.
Van Doren went to star in several bad girl movies
Bad girl movies
"Bad girl movies" are a subcategory of film noir labeled by latter-day movie buffs to describe the dark films of the 1940s and 1950s starring beautiful women on the wrong side of the spirit and/or the letter of the law...
that later became cult
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
films. She also appeared in some of the first movies to feature Rock & Roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music and became identified with this rebellious style, and made some rock records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. In the film Untamed Youth
Untamed Youth
Untamed Youth is a 1957 film starring Mamie Van Doren and released by Warner Bros. The film has been featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.-Plot:...
in 1957, she was the first woman to sing rock and roll in a Hollywood musical (Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
did the music for the film). This film was later featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
s "Untamed Youth" (1990).
Some of Van Doren's more noteworthy movies include Teacher's Pet
Teacher's Pet (1958 film)
Teacher's Pet is a 1958 romantic comedy film starring Clark Gable and Doris Day. It was directed by George Seaton and co-starred Gig Young and Mamie Van Doren-Characters:The main characters include:...
(1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
) at Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Born Reckless
Born Reckless (1958 film)
Born Reckless is a 1958 western drama film starring Mamie Van Doren and released through Warner Bros. studios.-Plot:Kelly Cobb travels and performs in various country rodeos in order to get enough money to buy a patch of land to call his own. One day he picks up Jackie Adams,a saloon singer and...
(1958) at Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, High School Confidential
High School Confidential (film)
High School Confidential is a 1958 crime drama film directed by Jack Arnold. It stars Mamie Van Doren, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, Jackie Coogan. The film also features a cameo by Jerry Lee Lewis who opens the movie singing a song of the same name, which Lewis co-wrote with Ron...
(1958), and The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation is a film by MGM starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, Vampira, and Ray Anthony...
(1959
1959 in film
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
), the latter two at MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. But Van Doren was just as well known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town
Girls Town
Girls Town is a 1959 film produced by MGM, starring Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé and Ray Anthony; Paul Anka also appears in his first acting role. Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent who is sent to a girls school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister...
(1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (film)
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve is a 1960 comedy film starring Mickey Rooney, who also co-directed and Mamie Van Doren. It is a U.S. B-movie in which the plot revolves around a modern couple who dream that they are Adam and Eve. Others of their acquaintance assume the roles of various characters...
(1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina
The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina
The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina is a 1959 low-budgeted German crime-drama-comedy film, starring Mamie Van Doren; the movie co-starred, Antonio Cifariello and Rossana Martini....
(1959), Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College also known as Beauty and the Robot, is a 1960 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Mijanou Bardot.-Cast:* Mamie Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West* Tuesday Weld as Jody* Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne...
(1960) and Vice Raid
Vice Raid
Vice Raid is a 1960 B-movie crime drama starring Mamie Van Doren and Richard Coogan.-Plot:Police Sgt. Whitey Brandon works for the Vice Squad and is determined to beat corruption in the city. He encounters Carol Hudson who is working as a model. She is sent to frame him and succeeds. Carol's sister...
(1960) audiences were clued in as to the nature of the films from the titles.
Many of Van Doren's film roles showcased her ample curves, and her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring (for the era) swimsuits, but she and such other blonde bombshell contemporaries as Cleo Moore
Cleo Moore
Cleouna "Cleo" Moore was an American actress, usually seen in the role of a blonde bombshell, in 1950s Hollywood films. She was known as Columbia Pictures's clone of 20th Century Fox's, Marilyn Monroe...
, Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
, Joi Lansing
Joi Lansing
Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, as well as a nightclub singer. She was most noted for her pin-up photos, and for her minor roles in B-movies...
, Greta Thyssen
Greta Thyssen
Greta Thyssen is a Danish-born American film actress and former model. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, she appeared in films and television shows between 1956 and 1967.-Career:...
, and Barbara Nichols
Barbara Nichols
Barbara Nichols was an American actress who often played brassy comic roles in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life and Career:...
did not attain the same level of superstar
Superstar
A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...
status as Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. Marilyn, Mamie and Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
were known as "The Three M's." But by comparison, where Monroe succeeded in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Mansfield had a big success with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes that opened on Broadway October 13, 1955, starring Orson Bean , Martin Gabel , Jayne Mansfield , Harry Clark , Carol Grace , Lou Gallo , William Thourlby and Walter Matthau .It...
, (a part that was originally written for Van Doren, who turned it down), Universal stuck Van Doren with Francis the Talking Mule
Francis the Talking Mule
Francis the Talking Mule was a mule celebrity, featured in seven movie comedies in the 1950s. The character originated in a novel by writer David Stern, and Universal Studios bought the rights for a film series, with Stern adapting his own script for the first entry, simply titled...
in Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS
Francis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American comedy film starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills. A young man is brought back into the U.S. Army, but a computer error assigns him to the Women's Army Corps...
, in 1954.
Film career in decline
As Van Doren's career declined, many of the productions she starred in were low-budget B-movieB-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
s. They are largely unknown to later generations, though some have gained a following for their high camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
value.
In 1959, Universal chose not to renew her contract. Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work. Some of her later movies were foreign and independent productions, which would do little to keep her image in front of the public's eye.
The first one these "forgettable" films was Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College
Sex Kittens Go to College also known as Beauty and the Robot, is a 1960 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Mijanou Bardot.-Cast:* Mamie Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West* Tuesday Weld as Jody* Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne...
(1960
1960 in film
The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
), co-starring Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
. The following year, she won first billing in the foreign
Foreign
Foreign may refer to:*Foreign corporation, a corporation that can do business outside its jurisdiction*Foreign key, a constraint in a relational database*Foreign language, a language not spoken by the people of a certain place...
production; The Blonde from Buenos Aires
The Blonde from Buenos Aires
The Blonde from Buenos Aires is a 1961 Argentine romantic-comedy film...
. Afterward Van Doren took time off; not returning to the screen until 1964
1964 in film
The year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
; having a top role in The Candidate
The Candidate (1964 film)
The Candidate is a 1964 low-budgeted film that starred the 1950s sex symbol Mamie Van Doren...
. Perhaps her best "later career" film was 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt is a 1964 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren and Tommy Noonan, who also directed and co-wrote the film.-Plot:...
, co-starring and directed by Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan
Tommy Noonan was a comedy genre film performer, screenwriter and producer. He acted in a number of 'A' and 'B' pictures from the 1940s through the 1960s, and he is best known for his supporting performances as Gus Esmond, Marilyn Monroe's wealthy boyfriend, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , and as the...
.
Two years later The Las Vegas Hillbillys
The Las Vegas Hillbillys
The Las Vegas Hillbillys is a 1966 American country music comedy film directed by Arthur C. Pierce.-Cast:*Ferlin Husky ... Woody*Jayne Mansfield ... Tawny*Mamie Van Doren ... Boots Malone*Don Bowman ... Jeepers*Billie Bird ... Ma...
was released by Woolner Brothers
Woolner Brothers
The Woolner Brothers were an American film releasing company formed in 1955 made up of Lawrence , Bernard , and David Woolner. After US Army service in World War II Lawrence started a New Orleans drive-in theatre in 1948...
. This film co-starred Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
; a rival of Mamie's; this was the only time two of "The Three M's" appeared together in a film. The film's sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House
Hillbillys in a Haunted House
Hillbillys in a Haunted House is a 1967 American horror comedy film starring Ferlin Husky and Joi Lansing, and directed by Jean Yarbrough. The film is a sequel to The Las Vegas Hillbillys , with Joi Lansing replacing Mamie Van Doren in the role of "Boots Malone".-Plot:Country singers are headed to...
, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing
Joi Lansing
Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, as well as a nightclub singer. She was most noted for her pin-up photos, and for her minor roles in B-movies...
. She then appeared in The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters is a 1966 American science fiction film directed by Michael A. Hoey. The movie was based on the novel The Monster from Earth's End by Murray Leinster.- Plot summary:...
(1966
1966 in film
The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...
), a science-fiction film; two years later she starred in another sci-fi film Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women is a science fiction film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film is an adapted version of Curtis Harrington's Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which in turn is adapted from the Russian 1962 feature Planeta Bur by Pavel Klushantsev...
(1968
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
), directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
; that featured a completely unknown cast other than Van Doren. She denied the option to appear in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
The Ice House
The Ice House (film)
The Ice House is a 1969 American horror-thriller film directed by Stuart E. McGowan...
(1969), and was replaced by Sabrina
Sabrina (actress)
Norma Ann Sykes , better known as Sabrina, was a 1950s English glamour model who progressed to a minor movie career. Her main claim to fame was her hourglass figure of prodigious breasts coupled with a tiny 17" waist...
.
In 1971, Van Doren had a supporting role in The Arizona Kid
The Arizona Kid (1971 film)
The Arizona Kid is a 1971 low-budgeted film. The movie starred Chiquito, Gordon Mitchell, and featured Mamie Van Doren.The film was one of Van Doren's final film roles as her career, that went well and strong in the 1950s, and began to fade when the decade of the 1960s came along. Van Doren's...
. From here on out Van Doren has appeared only in cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in low-budgeted forgettable films. To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in Slackers in 2002.
Personal life
Van Doren has been married five times: to sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman (married & divorced 1950); to bandleader, composer and actor Ray AnthonyRay Anthony
Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.- Biography :...
(married 1955-divorced 1961); to baseball player Lee Meyers (married 1966-divorced 1967); to businessman Ross McClintock (married 1972-divorced 1973); and to actor Thomas Dixon (married 1979–present).
She and Anthony had one son, Perry Ray Anthony (born March 18, 1956).
Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player Bo Belinsky
Bo Belinsky
Robert "Bo" Belinsky was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, who became an instant southern California celebrity as a rookie with the original Los Angeles Angels, especially when the fourth of his season-opening four straight wins was a no-hit, no-run game against his former...
ended for good in 1964. She acknowledged numerous affairs in her autobiography, including ones with Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
, Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
, Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
, Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers
Johnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...
, Robert Evans
Robert Evans
Robert Evans may refer to:*Bob Evans , American football and basketball coach*Robert Harding Evans*Robert Wilson Evans, archdeacon and author*Bob Evans , Welsh international football goalkeeper...
, Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher (singer)
Edwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...
, Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran
Steve Cochran was an American film, television, and stage actor, the son of a California lumberman. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1939...
, and Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
. Claiming fidelity to each lover, she said about Hollywood life, "I don't wear panties anymore – this startles the Hollywood wolves so much they don't know what to pull at, so they leave me alone."
She posed twice for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in 1963 to promote her movie 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt
3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt is a 1964 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren and Tommy Noonan, who also directed and co-wrote the film.-Plot:...
(1964), though she was never a Playmate. By this point in her career, her voluptuous figure measured 38DD-26-36 (self-described in 1997). She said about her curves, "I don't even want to say double-D, because they're even bigger than that."
In 1964, Van Doren was a guest at the Whisky a Go Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
on the Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
when The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
were at the club visiting with Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
, and an inebriated George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
accidentally threw his drink on her when trying to throw it on some bothersome journalists.
Van Doren developed a nightclub act and did live theatre. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...
and Dames at Sea
Dames at Sea
Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise.The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which an understudy steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star...
at the Drury Lane Theatre
Drury Lane Theatre (Chicago)
The Drury Lane Theatres were a group of six theatres in the Chicago area founded by Tony DeSantis. The playhouses were named after the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane, built in London in the 17th century...
, Chicago, and appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (play)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes that opened on Broadway October 13, 1955, starring Orson Bean , Martin Gabel , Jayne Mansfield , Harry Clark , Carol Grace , Lou Gallo , William Thourlby and Walter Matthau .It...
and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theatre.
During the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. In addition to USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
shows, she visited hospitals, including the wards of amputees and burn victims that many other celebrities avoided.
Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury was an hour-long television series hosted by disc jockey Peter Potter which aired in the 1953-54 season on the American Broadcasting Company. It was thereafter syndicated in 1959....
, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show
The Bob Cummings Show
The Bob Cummings Show is an American sitcom starring Robert "Bob" Cummings which was produced from January 2, 1955 to September 15, 1959, and originally sponsored by R.J. Reynolds' Winston cigarettes...
, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, Burke's Law
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
, Vega$
Vega$
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series, was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas...
, and L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
.
In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
Second career in later life
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
rock band Rough Trade
Rough Trade (band)
Rough Trade was a Canadian new wave rock band in the 1970s and 1980s, centred on singer Carole Pope and multi-instrumentalist Kevan Staples. The band was noted for their provocative lyrics and stage antics; singer Pope often performed in bondage attire, and their 1981 hit "High School...
. In 2005, "High School Confidential" was named the 38th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
Van Doren's autobiography, Playing the Field (1987), brought much new attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. Since the book's publication she has often been interviewed and profiled and has occasionally returned to acting.
She has consistently denied in interviews ever having breast implants. In 2006, Mamie posed for photographs for Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
with Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
, as part of its annual Hollywood issue.
Van Doren and her husband, Thomas, maintain her web site. There, she sells autographed "nipple prints" and home-made short films starring herself, such as A Girl and Her Banana. Her contemporary topless and nude photos, and outspoken political views, have helped create a larger fan base than at any time in her career.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
- Footlight Varieties (19511951 in filmThe year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) (uncredited) - His Kind of WomanHis Kind of WomanHis Kind of Woman is a black-and-white 1951 film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting roles by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, and Charles McGraw...
(1951) (uncredited) - Two Tickets to BroadwayTwo Tickets to BroadwayTwo Tickets to Broadway is a 1951 musical film directed by James V. Kern. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording .-Cast:* Tony Martin as Dan Carter* Janet Leigh as Nancy Peterson* Gloria DeHaven as Hannah Holbrook...
(1951) (uncredited) - Forbidden (19531953 in filmThe year 1953 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:A...
) (uncredited) - The All AmericanThe All AmericanThe All American is a 1953 film released through Universal Pictures and starring Tony Curtis, Lori Nelson and Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:Nick Bonelli is a quarterback for Mid-State and proves himself an All American in the championship, however his parents die in a car accident on the way to see the game...
(1953) - Hawaiian Nights (19541954 in filmThe year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
) (short subject) - Yankee PashaYankee PashaYankee Pasha is a 1954 romantic adventure film starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, and featured Mamie Van Doren. The movie was released by Universal Pictures.-Cast:*Jeff Chandler as Jason Starbuck*Rhonda Fleming as Roxana Reil...
(1954) - Francis Joins the WACSFrancis Joins the WACSFrancis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American comedy film starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills. A young man is brought back into the U.S. Army, but a computer error assigns him to the Women's Army Corps...
(1954) - Ain't Misbehavin'Ain't Misbehavin' (film)Ain't Misbehavin is a 1955 musical film released by Universal Studios and starring Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, Jack Carson and Mamie Van Doren.-Cast:* Rory Calhoun as Kenneth Post* Piper Laurie as Sarah Bernhardt Hatfield* Jack Carson as Hal North...
(19551955 in filmThe year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
) - The Second Greatest SexThe Second Greatest SexThe Second Greatest Sex is a 1955 film directed by George Marshall. It stars Jeanne Crain and George Nader.-Cast:*Jeanne Crain as Liza McClure*George Nader as Matt Davis*Kitty Kallen as Katy Conors*Bert Lahr as Job McClure...
(1955) - Running WildRunning Wild (1955 film)Running Wild is a 1955 crime/drama film starring William Campbell and Mamie Van Doren. It was distributed through Universal Pictures.-Plot:...
(1955) - Star in the DustStar in the DustStar in the Dust is a 1956 American western film made by Universal International Pictures and starring John Agar, Mamie Van Doren, and Richard Boone....
(19561956 in filmThe year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
) - Untamed YouthUntamed YouthUntamed Youth is a 1957 film starring Mamie Van Doren and released by Warner Bros. The film has been featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.-Plot:...
(19571957 in filmThe year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
) - The Girl in Black StockingsThe Girl in Black StockingsThe Girl in Black Stockings is a 1957 B-movie mystery film starring Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft and Mamie Van Doren-Plot:A girl is murdered and several people staying in a motel are suspected...
(1957) - Jet PilotJet Pilot (film)Jet Pilot is a 1957 Cold War romantic comedy film starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh. Written by Jules Furthman, the Technicolor movie went through several directorial changes. Josef von Sternberg directed between October, 1949 and February, 1950...
(1957) (uncredited) - Teacher's PetTeacher's Pet (1958 film)Teacher's Pet is a 1958 romantic comedy film starring Clark Gable and Doris Day. It was directed by George Seaton and co-starred Gig Young and Mamie Van Doren-Characters:The main characters include:...
(19581958 in filmThe year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
) - High School ConfidentialHigh School Confidential (film)High School Confidential is a 1958 crime drama film directed by Jack Arnold. It stars Mamie Van Doren, Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, Jackie Coogan. The film also features a cameo by Jerry Lee Lewis who opens the movie singing a song of the same name, which Lewis co-wrote with Ron...
(1958) - Born RecklessBorn Reckless (1958 film)Born Reckless is a 1958 western drama film starring Mamie Van Doren and released through Warner Bros. studios.-Plot:Kelly Cobb travels and performs in various country rodeos in order to get enough money to buy a patch of land to call his own. One day he picks up Jackie Adams,a saloon singer and...
(1958) - Guns, Girls, and GangstersGuns, Girls, and GangstersGuns, Girls and Gangsters is a 1959 B-movie crime/drama starring Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:Chuck Wheeler is released from prison and begins to set up an elaborate heist of an armored truck carrying money from a Las Vegas casino. Chuck enlists the help of nightclub owner Joe Darren as well as Vi Victor,...
(19591959 in filmThe year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters....
) - The Beat GenerationThe Beat GenerationThe Beat Generation is a film by MGM starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton, Fay Spain, Maggie Hayes, Jackie Coogan, Louis Armstrong, Vampira, and Ray Anthony...
(1959)
- The Beautiful Legs of SabrinaThe Beautiful Legs of SabrinaThe Beautiful Legs of Sabrina is a 1959 low-budgeted German crime-drama-comedy film, starring Mamie Van Doren; the movie co-starred, Antonio Cifariello and Rossana Martini....
(1959) - The Big OperatorThe Big Operator (1959 film)The Big Operator is a 1959 crime/drama film starring Mickey Rooney as a corrupt union boss, with Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren as co-stars.-Cast:*Mickey Rooney as Little Joe Braun...
(1959) - Girls TownGirls TownGirls Town is a 1959 film produced by MGM, starring Mamie Van Doren, Mel Tormé and Ray Anthony; Paul Anka also appears in his first acting role. Van Doren stars as a juvenile delinquent who is sent to a girls school run by nuns, where she finds herself unable to help her sister...
(1959) - Vice RaidVice RaidVice Raid is a 1960 B-movie crime drama starring Mamie Van Doren and Richard Coogan.-Plot:Police Sgt. Whitey Brandon works for the Vice Squad and is determined to beat corruption in the city. He encounters Carol Hudson who is working as a model. She is sent to frame him and succeeds. Carol's sister...
(19601960 in filmThe year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...
) - College ConfidentialCollege Confidential (film)College Confidential is a 1960 B-movie drama starring Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows and Mamie Van Doren.-Plot:A sociology professor Steve McInter starts conducting a survey at Collins College about the lifestyles and sexual urges of the younger generation. One of his students Sally Blake excels with...
(1960) - Sex Kittens Go to CollegeSex Kittens Go to CollegeSex Kittens Go to College also known as Beauty and the Robot, is a 1960 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Mijanou Bardot.-Cast:* Mamie Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West* Tuesday Weld as Jody* Mijanou Bardot as Suzanne...
(1960) - The Private Lives of Adam and EveThe Private Lives of Adam and Eve (film)The Private Lives of Adam and Eve is a 1960 comedy film starring Mickey Rooney, who also co-directed and Mamie Van Doren. It is a U.S. B-movie in which the plot revolves around a modern couple who dream that they are Adam and Eve. Others of their acquaintance assume the roles of various characters...
(1960) - The Blonde from Buenos AiresThe Blonde from Buenos AiresThe Blonde from Buenos Aires is a 1961 Argentine romantic-comedy film...
(19611961 in filmThe year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...
) - The CandidateThe Candidate (1964 film)The Candidate is a 1964 low-budgeted film that starred the 1950s sex symbol Mamie Van Doren...
(19641964 in filmThe year 1964 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 29 - The film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is released....
) - The Sheriff Was a LadyThe Sheriff Was a LadyThe Sheriff Was a Lady is a 1964 low-budgeted German musical-western film, starring Freddy Quinn. Notable German co-stars, include, Rik Battaglia, Beba Loncar, and Carlo Croccolo. Playing a small role of Olivia is, Mamie Van Doren, a 1950s Hollywood sex goddess...
(1964) - 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt is a 1964 comedy film starring Mamie Van Doren and Tommy Noonan, who also directed and co-wrote the film.-Plot:...
(1964) - The Las Vegas HillbillysThe Las Vegas HillbillysThe Las Vegas Hillbillys is a 1966 American country music comedy film directed by Arthur C. Pierce.-Cast:*Ferlin Husky ... Woody*Jayne Mansfield ... Tawny*Mamie Van Doren ... Boots Malone*Don Bowman ... Jeepers*Billie Bird ... Ma...
(19661966 in filmThe year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...
) - The Navy vs. the Night MonstersThe Navy vs. the Night MonstersThe Navy vs. the Night Monsters is a 1966 American science fiction film directed by Michael A. Hoey. The movie was based on the novel The Monster from Earth's End by Murray Leinster.- Plot summary:...
(1966) - You've Got to Be SmartYou've Got to Be SmartYou've Got to Be Smart is a 1967 low-budgeted drama film. The movie was released in few theaters in 1967. The film starred Tom Stern, Roger Perry, Gloria Castillo, and Mamie Van Doren. The movie was one of the few drama films that Van Doren made during the decade of the 1960s...
(19671967 in filmThe year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....
) - Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric WomenVoyage to the Planet of Prehistoric WomenVoyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women is a science fiction film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film is an adapted version of Curtis Harrington's Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which in turn is adapted from the Russian 1962 feature Planeta Bur by Pavel Klushantsev...
(19681968 in filmThe year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
) - The Arizona KidThe Arizona Kid (1971 film)The Arizona Kid is a 1971 low-budgeted film. The movie starred Chiquito, Gordon Mitchell, and featured Mamie Van Doren.The film was one of Van Doren's final film roles as her career, that went well and strong in the 1950s, and began to fade when the decade of the 1960s came along. Van Doren's...
(19711971 in filmThe year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
) - That Girl from Boston (19751975 in filmThe year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
) - Free RideFree Ride (film)Free Ride is a 1986 comedy film by Moustapha Akkad. Cast includes Mamie Van Doren, Peter DeLuise, Frank Campanella, and Sasha Jenson. Seen on USA Up All Night.- Plot Outline :...
(19861986 in film-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
) - The Vegas Connection (19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
) - Slackers (20022002 in filmThe year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
) (cameoCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
)
|}
Discography
| Year | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | "Still a Troublemaker" |
External links
- Official website
- Inside/Out, Mamie Van Doren's blog
- Bombshells away, at Salon, Karen Abbott, July 19, 2000
- Mamie Van Doren interview by Sandra Bernhard