Candy Jones

For the figure skater, see Candace Jones.

Candy Jones


Candy Jones in YANK magazine, 1945 Born December 31, 1925(1925-12-31)
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Died January 18, 1990 (aged 64)
Manhattan Nationality USA Other names Jessica Arline Wilcox Occupation Pin-up girl, Fashion model, author, radio talk show hostess Known for Modelling and media work, claimed to be a victim of Project MKULTRA

Candy Jones, originally known as Jessica Arline Wilcox (December 31, 1925 – January 18, 1990), was an American fashion model, writer and radio talk show hostess.Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, she was raised and educated in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[1]In the 1940s and 1950s she was a leading model and pin-up girl, and afterwards established a modeling school and wrote several books on modeling and fashion. In 1972, Jones married the popular radio show host Long John Nebel (he was her second husband), and became the co-host of his all-night talk-show on WMCA in New York City. The show dealt with paranormal, UFO, and conspiracy theory claims.Controversially, Jones claimed to be a victim of the CIA mind-control program, Project MKULTRA, in the 1960s.

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Candy Jones was born to a well-off family. Jones reported vivid, conscious memories of physical abuse by her parents, and that she had vague memories of sexual abuse in her youth.[2] She was shuttled between relatives, and her mother, Jones insisted, often kept her cloistered or locked in dark rooms. As a child, Jones said she had an imaginary friend named Arlene to help through her lonely episodes.She grew into an attractive, statuesque young woman who was very tall, about 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m).[3] Changing her name, she pursued a career as a fashion model. She was a quick success, becoming a runner up for Miss New Jersey in the Miss America contest. Jones was able to parlay this into a hostess job at the main Miss America contest, and a successful career. She was one of the leading pin-up girls of the World War II era: in one month in 1943, she appeared on 11 different magazine covers.During a lengthy United Service Organizations (USO) tour in the Philippines, Jones fell ill in 1945, and was treated by a doctor who was still alive when Candy publicised her mind-control claims; Donald Bain gave this doctor the pseudonym “Gilbert Jensen”. According to researcher Martin Cannon, who interviewed Jones before she died in 1990, the “Marshall Burger” pseudonym in Bain’s book who worked with Jensen on the Jones case was actually Dr. William Kroger.

In 1946, Jones married fashion czar Harry Conover, one of the first model agents. They had three sons, and Jones says she didn’t realize Conover was bisexual until some years into their marriage. She recognized some people might consider this naive, but Jones insisted her abusive childhood had made her wary of intimate relationships, and though she had many suitors, she was rather sexually inexperienced when she married. She reported that Conover initiated sexual activities with her very few times, and only when he was intoxicated.Without notice, Conover disappeared in late 1958. Jones notified police, and Conover’s absence made the news. When he returned after a long binge, Jones sued for divorce in 1959. After the divorce, she was left with $36, and considerable debts.[4]Jones opened a modeling school, and she also began appearing regularly on NBC’s weekend radio news program Monitor.

On December 31, 1972, Jones married radio host Long John Nebel after a one-month courtship; they had briefly met decades earlier when Nebel was a photographer. Jones was soon the regular co-host of Nebel’s popular overnight radio talk show, which usually discussed various paranormal topics.

Shortly after their marriage, Nebel said, he noted that Jones exhibited violent mood swings, and, at times, seemed to display a different personality. Nebel called this “The Voice … a look, a few moments of bitchiness.” The Voice usually vanished rather quickly, but the change was so drastic from Jones’s usually pleasant demeanor that Nebel was startled and distressed.Colin Bennett writes, “A few weeks after their marriage, [Jones] did tell Nebel that she had worked for the FBI for some time, adding mysteriously that she might have to go out of town on occasion without giving a reason. This left Nebel wondering whether there was a connection between the ‘other’ personality within Candy and the strange trips she said she made for the FBI.”Nebel began hypnotising Jones, and uncovered an alternate personality named “Arlene”. Under hypnosis, Jones related a lengthy, elaborate account of her being trained in a CIA mind-control program, often at west coast colleges and universities. Jones and Nebel eventually recorded hundreds of hours of these hypnotic sessions.Jones said she had some conscious memories of her involvement in the mind-control program: it began in 1960, she said, when an old USO acquaintance (an unnamed retired army general) asked to use Jones’ modeling school as a mailing address to receive some letters and packages. Jones agreed, she said, out of a sense of patriotism.Eventually, said Jones, she was asked to deliver a letter to Oakland, California on a business trip she had scheduled. Again, Jones reported she agreed, and was surprised to discover the letter was delivered to the same Dr. Jensen who had treated her in the Philippines nearly two decades earlier. Jones said that Jensen and his associate, Dr. “Marshall Burger” (another pseudonym) offered hefty amounts of cash if she was willing to engage in further plans; in their earlier meetings, Jensen had noted that Jones was an ideal subject for hypnosis. Jones agreed, she said, because her modeling school was faltering, and she wanted to keep her sons in their costly private schools.During hypnosis sessions, an alternate personality called “Arlene” was reportedly groomed by Jensen, so that Jones would have no memory of Arlene’s activities. Jones allegedly made trips to locations as far away as Taiwan. Wh
il
e hypnotized, Jones claimed that Jensen, Burger and others subjected her to painful tortures in order to test the effectiveness of the alternate personality. Donald Bain writes, “[Jones] would be a messenger for the agency in conjunction with her normal business trips.” This type of “super spy” who would have no memory of her activities was perhaps first suggested by Dr. George Estabrooks in his classic 1943 book, Hypnotism.[original research?]Again with the USO, Jones visited South Vietnam in 1970; she later suspected her visit had some connection to a disastrous attempt to free American prisoners of war from North Vietnam.Jones’s and Nebel’s claims were first made public in 1974 (in Donald Bain‘s The Control of Candy Jones). Nebel apparently accepted his wife’s claims, and openly discussed killing Dr. Jensen in revenge. However, Nebel was a prankster and a hoaxer of long standing and as he was not above hoaxing his radio audience[citation needed], some[who?] doubted the recovered memories of Candy Jones’s past were genuine; later skeptics[who?] would argue that an alleged false memory syndrome was a more plausible explanation.Several years later, Jones’ story gained more notice after the public disclosure of MK-ULTRA in 1977, and Bain’s book was republished by Playboy Press.Bain reported that associates in Jones’ modeling schools asserted that Jones indeed had some puzzling absences — supposed business trips where little or no business seemed to be conducted.[5] Bain also writes that another piece of evidence came forth when “Candy inadvertently held onto a passport of ‘Arlene Grant’: Candy in a dark wig and dark makeup.” Jones says she had no memory of dressing up in such an outfit, or of posing for a passport in a different name.Bain also claimed that a tape recorded answering machine message was left on Jones and Nebel’s home telephone number on July 3, 1973: “This is Japan Airlines calling on oh-three July at 4.10 p.m. … Please have Miss Grant call 759-9100 … she is holding a reservation on Japan Airlines Flight 5, for the sixth of July, Kennedy to Tokyo, with an option on to Taipei. This is per Cynthia that we are calling.” When Jones telephoned the number and asked for Cynthia, she was told that no one of that name worked at the reservations desk. Bain speculates that “Cynthia” might have been “Arlene’s” CIA contact, or perhaps a “code word” meant to trigger a hypnotic suggestion.Additionally, Brian Haughton notes that “There was also a letter [Jones] wrote to her attorney, William Williams, to cover herself in case she died or disappeared suddenly or under unusual circumstances; she told him she was not at liberty to reveal exactly what she was involved in. Bain wrote to Williams who corroborated this fact.” [6]It is also worth noting[original research?] that in 1971, an article by Estabrooks was published in Science Digest, wherein he openly discussed the successful creation of amnesiac couriers of the type Jones claimed to have been.[7]Dr. Herbert Spiegel, a nationally-recognized hypnosis expert, wrote a foreword to the Playboy Press edition of The Control of Candy Jones. Spiegel opined that though Nebel was an amateur hypnotist, he had in fact hypnotized Jones well, and had seemed to avoid planting ideas or leading Jones’ recollection. Spiegel was not convinced that the entire story was accurate, but he thought that the corroborate evidence Jones, Bain and Nebel had uncovered made it difficult to dismiss the account outright.Candy Jones is the subject of the Exit Clov song, “MK ULTRA.”

  • Make Your Name in Modeling and Television, Harper and Brothers, 1960
  • Between Us Girls Harper and Row, 1966
  • Just for Teens , Harper and Row, 1967
  • Candy Jones’ Complete Book of Beauty and Fashion, Harper and Row, 1976
  • More Than Beauty: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Modeling World, Harper and Row, 1970

  • ^ Flint, PB (1990-01-19). “Candy Jones Dies; Ex-Model, Teacher, And Writer Was 64”. The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3D61739F93AA25752C0A966958260. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  • ^ Bain, 1976
  • ^ Bennett, C (2001-07-01). “Candy Jones: How a leading American fashion model came to be experimented upon by the CIA mind control team”. Fortean Times. http://www.forteantimes.com/features/profiles/497/candy_jones.html. Retrieved 2008-10-16. 
  • ^ Candy Jones page at hypnotism.org
  • ^ Bain, 1977
  • ^ A brief history of Candy Jones as spy “Arlene Grant”
  • ^ Hypnosis Comes of Age, George Estabrooks, Science Digest, April 1971
    • Bain, Donald. The Control of Candy Jones, Playboy Press, Chicago, 1976.

    Rita Hayworth

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    Text document with page number icon.svg This article cites its sources but does not provide page references. You can help to improve it by introducing citations that are more precise. Rita Hayworth


    Hayworth as Doña Sol des Muire in Blood and Sand (1941) Born Margarita Carmen Cansino
    October 17, 1918(1918-10-17)
    Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Died May 14, 1987 (aged 68)
    New York City, New York, U.S. Occupation Actress, dancer Years active 1934–1972 Spouse Edward C. Judson (1937–1942)
    Orson Welles (1943–1948)
    Prince Aly Khan (1949–1953)
    Dick Haymes (1953–1955)
    James Hill (1958–1961)

    Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s not only as one of the era’s top stars, but also as a great sex symbol, most notably in Gilda (1946). She appeared in 61 films over 37 years[1] and is listed as one of the American Film Institute‘s Greatest Stars of All Time.

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    Born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn, New York City, she was the daughter of flamenco dancer Eduardo Cansino, Sr., who was himself a Sephardic Jewish Spaniard from Castilleja de la Cuesta (Seville), and Ziegfeld girl Volga Hayworth who was of Irish and English descent. She was raised as a Roman Catholic.[2] Her father wanted her to become a dancer while her mother hoped she would become an actress.[3] Her grandfather, Antonio Cansino, was the most renowned exponent in his day of Spain’s classical dances; he made the bolero famous. His dancing school in Madrid was world famous. He gave Hayworth her first instruction in dancing.[4]“I didn’t like it very much,” revealed Hayworth, “but I didn’t have the courage to tell my father, so I began taking the lessons. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, that was my girlhood.”[5]“From the time I was three and a half,” Hayworth said, “. . . as soon as I could stand on my own feet, I was given dance lessons.” She attended dance classes every day for a few years in a Carnegie Hall complex under the instruction of her uncle Angel Cansino.By the age of eight, Cansino and his family had moved west to Hollywood, where he established his own dance studio. Famous Hollywood luminaries received specialized training from Cansino himself, including James Cagney and Jean Harlow.Rita Hayworth’s rise to fame was a silver lining of the Great Depression. The family’s investments were wiped out instantly. Musicals were no longer in vogue. Interest in her father’s work collapsed as dancing classes were no longer foremost on anybody’s mind during difficult economic times. But, when his nephew’s dancing partner in a theater play broke a leg, her mother suggested her daughter could replace him: “Margarita can do it!”[attribution needed]Her mother’s idea led to her father having an epiphany. He saw his daughter could be his partner in a dancing team called “The Dancing Cansinos”. Since Hayworth was not of legal age to work in nightclubs and bars according to California state law, she and her father traveled across the border to the city of Tijuana in Mexico, a popular tourist spot for Los Angeles citizens in the early 1930s. Hayworth performed in such spots as the Foreign Club and the Caliente Club.It was a
    t
    the Caliente Club where Hayworth was first discovered by the head of the Fox Film Corporation, Winfield Sheehan. A week later, Hayworth was brought to Hollywood to make a screen test for Fox. Impressed by her screen persona, Sheehan signed Hayworth (who was now being referred to as Rita Cansino) to a short-term six-month contract.During her time at Fox, Hayworth appeared in five pictures, in which her roles were neither important nor memorable. By the end of her six-month contract, Fox had now merged into 20th Century Fox, with Darryl F. Zanuck serving as the executive producer. Taking little concern for Sheehan’s interest in her, Zanuck decided not to renew her contract.By this time, Hayworth was eighteen years old and she married businessman Edward C. Judson, who was twice her age. Feeling that Hayworth still had screen potential, despite just being dropped by Fox, Judson managed to get her the lead roles in several independent films and finally managed to arrange a screen test for her with Columbia Pictures. Studio head Harry Cohn soon signed her to a long-term contract, slowly casting Hayworth in small roles in Columbia features.Cohn argued that Hayworth’s image was too much of a Mediterranean style, which caused Hayworth to be cast into stereotypical Hispanic roles. She began to undergo a painful electrolysis to broaden her forehead and accentuate her widow’s peak. When Hayworth returned to Columbia, she had transformed into a redhead and changed her name to Rita Hayworth (Hayworth from her mother’s maiden name).

    Hayworth had an awkward transition from teen nightclub dancer to major movie star. She was a dancer first and foremost; acting was an afterthought seen as a way to earn a living.Gossip columnist Louella Parsons did not think Hayworth would be successful. She met Hayworth just when she was starting out, and saw her as a “painfully shy” girl who “couldn’t look strangers in the eye” and whose voice was so low it could hardly be heard.In 1935, when Hayworth was 17, she was dropped from the movie Ramona and replaced by Loretta Young. “It was the worst disappointment of my life,” Hayworth said. She was devastated but did not give up. In 1937, she appeared in five minor Columbia pictures and three minor independent movies. In 1938, Hayworth appeared in five more Columbia B films.In 1939, Cohn pressured director Howard Hawks to use Hayworth for a small but important role as a man-trap in the aviation drama Only Angels Have Wings, in which she played opposite Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. A large box-office success, fan mail for Hayworth began pouring into Columbia’s publicity department and Cohn began to see Hayworth as his first and official new star (the studio had never officially had large stars under contract, except for Jean Arthur, who was trying to break out of her Columbia contract).Cohn began to build Hayworth up the following year, in features such as Music in My Heart, The Lady in Question, and Angels Over Broadway. He even loaned Hayworth out to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to appear in Susan and God, opposite Joan Crawford.On loan to Warner Brothers, Hayworth appeared as the second female lead in The Strawberry Blonde (1941), opposite James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland. A large box-office success, Hayworth’s popularity rose and she immediately became one of Hollywood’s hottest properties. So impressed was Warner Brothers that they tried to buy Hayworth’s contract from Columbia, but Harry Cohn refused to release her.Her success in that film led to an even more important supporting role in Blood and Sand (1941), opposite Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell, ironically by Fox, the studio that had dropped her six years before. In one of her most notable screen roles, Hayworth played the first of many screen sirens as the temptress Dona Sol des Muire. This was another box-office smash, Hayworth receiving strong critical acclaim.Hayworth returned in triumph to Columbia Pictures and was cast in the musical You’ll Never Get Rich (1941), opposite Fred Astaire in one of the highest-budgeted films Columbia had ever made. So successful was the picture that the following year, another Astaire-Hayworth picture was released You Were Never Lovelier. In 1942, Hayworth also appeared in two other pictures, Tales of Manhattan and My Gal Sal.It was during this period that Hayworth posed for a famous pin-up in Life Magazine, which showed her in a negligee perched seductively over her bed. When the U.S. joined World War II in December 1941, Hayworth’s image was admired by millions of servicemen, making her one of the top two pin-up girls of the war years, the other being creamy blonde Betty Grable. In 2002, the satin nightgown she wore for the picture sold for $26,888.[6]Rita Hayworth was called the “Love Goddess.” (One biopic and one biography used the moniker in reference to her.) Despite being a sex symbol, due to her Spanish heritage of female decency she showed discretion. “Everybody else does nude scenes,” Hayworth said, “but I don’t. I never made nude movies. I didn’t have to do that. I danced. I was provocative, I guess, in some things. But I was not completely exposed.”[7]


    Hayworth in October 1941 in a pink and silver lamé evening dress designed by Howard Greer.For three consecutive years, starting in 1944, Rita Hayworth was named one of the top movie box office attractions in the world. In 1944, she made one of her best-known films, the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. The film established her as Columbia’s top star of the 1940s. Although her singing voice was dubbed in her films, Hayworth’s exuberant and powerful dancing set her apart from the other top musical stars of the day, as she was equally adept in ballet, tap, ballroom, and Spanish routines. Cohn continued to effectively showcase Hayworth’s talents in Technicolor films: Tonight and Every Night (1945), with Lee Bowman, and Down to Earth (1947), with Larry Parks.


    Hayworth in the strip scene from Gilda.Her erotic appeal was most notable in Charles Vidor‘s black-and-white film noir Gilda (1946), with Glenn Ford, which encountered some difficulty with censors. This role–in which Hayworth in black satin performed a legendary one-glove striptease–made her into a cultural icon as the ultimate femme fatale. Alluding to her bombshell status, in 1946 her likeness was placed on the first nuclear bomb to be tested after World War II (at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean‘s Marshall Islands) as part of Operation Crossroads.Hayworth performed one of her best-remembered dance routines, the samba from Tonight and Every Night (1945), while pregnant with her first child, Rebecca Welles (daughter with Orson Welles). Hayworth was also the first dancer to partner with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on film–the others being Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Vera-Ellen, and Leslie Caron.Hayworth delivered one of her most acclaimed performances in Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Its failure at the box office was attributed in part to director/co-star Welles having had Hayworth’s famous red locks cut off and the remainder of her hair dyed blonde for her role. This was done without Cohn’s knowledge or approval and he was furious over the change. Her next film, The Loves of Carmen (1948), aga

    in with Glenn Ford, was the first film co-produced by Columbia and Hayworth’s own production company, The Beckworth Corporation (named for her daughter Rebecca); it was Columbia’s biggest moneymaker for that year. She received a percentage of the profits from this and all her subsequent films until 1955 when she dissolved Beckworth to pay off debts she owed to Columbia.

    Hayworth had a strained relationship with Columbia Pictures for many years. In 1943, she was suspended without pay for nine weeks because she refused to appear in My Client Curley.[8] (During this period in Hollywood actors did not get to choose their films as they do today; they also had salaries instead of a fixed amount per picture.) In 1945, Hayworth received notice of her suspension by her employers, Columbia Pictures, “on the day she entered the maternity hospital in Hollywood.”[9]In 1947, Rita Hayworth’s new contract with Columbia provided a salary of US$250,000 plus 50% of film profits.[10] In 1951 Columbia alleged it had $800,000 invested in properties for her, including the film she walked out on when she left Hollywood and married Aly Khan. She was suspended again for failing to report for work, this time for Affair in Trinidad. In 1952 she refused to report for work because “she objected to the script.”[11] In 1955, she sued to get out of a contract with the studio, asking for her $150,000 salary, alleging filming failed to start work when agreed.[12]“I was in Switzerland when they sent me the script for Affair in Trinidad and I threw it across the room. But I did the picture, and Pal Joey too. I came back to Columbia because I wanted to work and first, see, I had to finish that goddamn contract, which is how Harry Cohn owned me!”[13]“Harry Cohn thought of me as one of the people he could exploit,” alleged Hayworth, “and make a lot of money. And I did make a lot of money for him, but not much for me.”[14]Hayworth was still upset with Columbia and its head Harry Cohn many years after her film career had ended and he was dead. “I used to have to punch a time clock at Columbia,” lamented Hayworth. “Every day of my life. That’s what it was like. I was under exclusive contract — like they owned me… He felt that he owned me… I think he had my dressing room bugged… He was very possessive of me as a person — he didn’t want me to go out with anybody, have any friends. No one can live that way. So I fought him … You want to know what I think of Harry Cohn? He was a monster.”[15]Another source of “gnawing resentment” for Hayworth was her studio’s failure to train her to sing or even encourage her to learn how to sing.[16] She was dubbed. The public didn’t know this closely guarded secret, and she ended up embarrassed because she was constantly asked by the troops to sing.[17]“I wanted to study singing,” Hayworth complained, “but Harry Cohn kept saying, ‘Who needs it?’ and the studio wouldn’t pay for it. They had me so intimidated that I couldn’t have done it anyway. They always said, ‘Oh, no, we can’t let you do it. There’s no time for that; it has to be done right now!’ I was under contract, and that was it.”[18]Although Cohn had a reputation as a hard taskmaster, he also had legitimate criticisms of Hayworth. He had invested heavily in her before she began a reckless affair with a married man (Aly Khan) even though it could have caused a backlash against her career and Columbia’s success. Indeed a British newspaper called for a boycott of Hayworth’s films. “Hollywood must be told,” said The People, “its already tarnished reputation will sink to rock bottom if it restores this reckless woman to a place among its stars.”[19]Cohn himself expressed his frustration with Hayworth’s relationships in an interview with Time magazine. “Hayworth might be worth ten million dollars today easily! She owned 25% of the profits with her own company and had hit after hit and she had to get married and had to get out of the business and took a suspension because she fell in love again! In five years, at two pictures a year, at 25%! Think of what she could have made! But she didn’t make pictures! She took two or three suspensions! She got mixed up with different characters! Unpredictable!”[20]

    After her marriage to Aly Khan collapsed in 1951, Hayworth returned to America with great fanfare to star in a string of hit films: Affair in Trinidad (1952) with favorite co-star Glenn Ford, Salome (1953) with Charles Laughton and Stewart Granger, and Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) with José Ferrer and Aldo Ray, for which her performance won critical acclaim. Then she was off the big screen for another four years, due mainly to a tumultuous marriage to singer Dick Haymes.After making Fire Down Below (1957) with Robert Mitchum and Jack Lemmon, and her last musical Pal Joey (1957) with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak, Hayworth finally left Columbia. She received good reviews for her acting in such films as Separate Tables (1958) with Burt Lancaster and David Niven, and The Story on Page One (1960) with Anthony Franciosa, and continued working throughout the 1960s. In 1962, her planned Broadway debut in Step on a Crack was cancelled for health reasons.[21]She continued to act in films until the early 1970s and made a well-publicized 1971 television appearance on The Carol Burnett Show.Her last film was The Wrath of God (1972).


    Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford in GildaRita Hayworth was a top glamour girl in the 1940s. She was a pin-up girl for military servicemen and a beauty icon for women. At 5’6″ (168 cm) and 120 lb (55 kgs)[22] she was tall for women of her time and her height was a concern to her movie star dancing partners like Fred Astaire.Hayworth got her big motion picture break because she was willing to change her hair color whereas another actress was unwilling. She changed her hair color eight times in eight movies.[23]Although she was never a fashion icon, Hayworth had a unique beauty style. From the time she became a celebrity until she died she had natural long nails. “I take care of my nails myself,” she said. “I find my cuticle never tears and my nails don’t break if I rub cream into them every night.”[24] She was once the cover girl of Nails magazine. In 1940 she started a manicure trend. Hers were longer than previously worn, more oval than pointed, and fully covered with shocking pink polish. (Previously there was no polish covering the moon of the nail or the tip.)In 1949 Hayworth’s lips were voted best in the world by the Artists League of America.[25] She had a modeling contract with Max Factor to promote its Tru-Color lipsticks and Pan-Stik make-up.Barbara Leaming writes in her biography of Hayworth If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth (1989), that due to her fondness for alcohol and stressful lifestyle, Hayworth aged before her time. Re-appearing in New York to begin work on her first film in three years in 1956 “despite the artfully applied make-up and shoulder-length red hair, there was no concealing the ravages of drink and stress. Deep lines had crept around her eyes and mouth, and she appeared wo

    rn, exhausted — older than her thirty-eight years.” Leaming goes on to report that on the filming of Fire Down Below she overheard a remark apparently unintended for her ears that she should hurry up as ‘no amount of time was going to make her look any younger.’ Additionally, while in San Francisco the following year filming Pal Joey she was signing autographs when one fan blurted out ‘She looks so old’. In the first case Hayworth is reported to have cried and in the second, although she blanked it at the time, it was clear that her premature aging was a sensitive subject to her. It was also one which meant she had to be carefully lit in films for the rest of her career.

    The following were movies and roles that Hayworth either was considered for, turned down by Hayworth herself, replaced with someone else, or never sufficed, for various reasons.

    • A Message To Garcia (1936) Hayworth had a small role as the sister of Barbara Stanwyck but it was deleted before general release.
    • Ramona (1936) Hayworth made color screen tests for the role but Hayworth was later dropped from Fox and given to Loretta Young.
    • The Lady Escapes (1937) Also a Fox feature, Hayworth was dropped before appearing in a Spanish language version of this picture.
    • Holiday (1938) She tested for the role of the sister of Katharine Hepburn but the role was given to Doris Nolan instead.
    • Convicted Woman (1940) This would have been Hayworth’s first feature with Glenn Ford but she was eventually loaned out to appear in MGM’s Susan and God.
    • Boom Town (1940) Hayworth made a screen test for this picture, but the role instead went to MGM contractee Hedy Lamarr.
    • Tars and Spurs (1946) Hayworth was the first choice for the role but pregnancy forced her to drop out. The role was given to Janet Blair.
    • Dead Reckoning (1947) Hayworth demanded a complete rewrite for this picutre and was replaced by Lizabeth Scott.
    • In the mid-1940s, Fox considered a musicial biography of the Duncan sisters and had planned to pair Hayworth with Betty Grable. But the studio was not able to obtain legal clearance.
    • In 1947, Columbia cast Hayworth in a Technicolor western called Lona Hanson, which was to pair her with William Holden. It was first postponed and later cancelled.
    • Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) Hayworth was placed on suspension and was replaced with Lucille Ball.
    • Born Yesterday (1950) Although purchased especially for Hayworth, Judy Holliday reprised her stage role and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
    • From Here to Eternity (1953) Hayworth demanded a vacation before shooting this picture. Deborah Kerr soon accepted the role.
    • Human Desire (1954) Hayworth failed to appear for the first scenes, was placed on suspension, and replaced with Gloria Grahame.
    • Hayworth was given the female lead in a biblical film Joseph and His Brethren. The film was cancelled after Cohn refused to allow ex-husbands Orson Welles and Dick Haymes to appear.
    • The Barefoot Contessa (1954) Hayworth turned down the role made famous by Ava Gardner. Hayworth felt there were too many similarities in it from her own life.
    • Hayworth was given the lead in I Want My Mother! but the film was cancelled. Hayworth would have played the mother of a psychopathic killer awaiting execution in San Quentin.
    • Hayworth was given the lead in the film version There Must Be A Pony but it was later cancelled. She would have played a fading film star in a suicide scandal.
    • Welcome to Hard Times (1967) Hayworth was supposed to co-star with Glenn Ford but eventually both dropped out.
    • She was offered one of the female leads in a horror film along with Lana Turner in the late 1960s but turned down the offer.
    • Tales That Witness Madness (1973) Hayworth worked for four days on this film then quit without explanation and was replaced by Kim Novak.

    Hayworth also admitted that she would have liked to play the lead role in Yerma.

    Naturally shy and reclusive, Hayworth was the antithesis of the characters she played. “I naturally am very shy,” she said, “and I suffer from an inferiority complex.”[26] She once complained, “Men fell in love with Gilda, but they wake up with me.” With typical modesty she later remarked that the only films she could watch without laughing were the dance musicals she made with Fred Astaire. “I guess the only jewels of my life,” Hayworth said, “were the pictures I made with Fred Astaire.”[27]She was close to her frequent co-star and next-door neighbor Glenn Ford.[citation needed] In an interview published in the New York Times, Hayworth denied she was involved with Ford.[27]Hayworth had two younger brothers: Vernon Cansino and Eduardo Cansino, Jr. They were both soldiers in World War II. Vernon left the United States Army in 1946 with several medals, including the Purple Heart. He married Susan Vail, a dancer. Eduardo Cansino Jr. followed Hayworth into acting; he was also under contract with Columbia Pictures. In 1950 he made his screen debut in Magic Carpet.Elisa Cansino, her aunt, ran a dancing school in San Francisco. Her nephew Richard Cansino, is a voice actor in anime and video games; he has done most of his work under the name “Richard Hayworth.”[citation needed]Barbara Leaming claims in her bio book, If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth (1989), that as a child and teenager, Hayworth was a victim of physical and sexual abuse by her father. Leaming also claims that through her life, Hayworth was never without a boyfriend for long, with her choice of partners becoming increasingly poor.

    Hayworth had five marriages, which all ended in divorce, with each one lasting five years or less:1) Edward Charles Judson (1937–1942);2) Orson Welles (1943–1948, one daughter: Rebecca Welles (1944-2004));[28]3) Prince Aly Khan (1949–1953, one daughter: Princess Yasmin Aga Khan);4) Dick Haymes (1953–1955); and,5) James Hill (1958–1961).”Basically, I am a good, gentle person,” Hayworth once said, “but I am attracted to mean personalities.”[29]

    Hayworth was only 18 when, in 1937, she married Edward Judson, a domineering man more than twice her age. They eloped in Las Vegas. He was an oilman turned promoter who had played a major role in launching her acting career. He was a shrewd businessman and became her manager for months before he proposed. “He helped me with my career,” Hayworth conceded after they divorced, “and helped himself to my money.” She alleged Judson compelled her to transfer considerable property to him and promise to pay him $12,000 under threats that he would do her “great bodily harm.”[30] She filed for divorce from him on February 24, 1942 with the complaint of cruelty. She also noted to the press that his work took him to Oklahoma and Texas while she lived and worked in Hollywood. Judson was as old as her father, who was enraged by the marriage, which caused a rift between Hayworth and her parents until the divorce. Judson neglected to inform Hayworth before they married that he had previously been married twice.[31] When she finally walked out on him, she literally had no money. She asked her friend, Hermes Pan, if she could eat at his home, because she didn’t have any money to buy food.

    Rita Hayworth then rushed into a marriage with Orson Welles on September 7, 1943. None of her colleagues even knew about the planned marriage (before a judge) until she annou

    nced it the day before they got married. For the civil ceremony she wore a beige suit, ruffled white blouse, and a veil. A few hours after they got married, they returned to work at the studio. They had a daughter, Rebecca. After marital struggles, and a final attempt at reconciliation, Hayworth said he told her he didn’t want to be tied down by marriage.”During the entire period of our marriage,” she declared, “he showed no interest in establishing a home. When I suggested purchasing a home, he told me he didn’t want the responsibility. Mr. Welles told me he never should have married in the first place; that it interfered with his freedom in his way of life.”[32]


    Hayworth as Rosalind Bruce in Tonight and Every Night (1945).

    In 1948 she left her film career to marry Prince Aly Khan, a son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III, the leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. They were married on May 27, 1949. Her bridal trousseau was Dior‘s New Look — after seeing her wearing it, every woman began to wear the somewhat-controversial longer hemline. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, in writing and directing The Barefoot Contessa (1954), was said to have based his title character, Maria Vargas (played on film by Ava Gardner), on Hayworth’s life and her marriage to Aly Khan.Aly Khan and his family were heavily involved in horse racing, so although Hayworth did not like horses or thoroughbred horse racing, she became a member of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Hayworth’s filly Double Rose won several races in France and notably finished second in the 1949 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.[33]In 1951, while still married to her, he was spotted dancing with Joan Fontaine in the nightclub where they met. She responded by issuing him an ultimatum and threatening to divorce him in Reno, Nevada. In early May she moved to Nevada to establish legal residence to qualify for a divorce. She holed up in Lake Tahoe with her daughter despite a threat to kidnap her child. When she filed for divorce from Khan on September 2, 1951, she did so on the grounds of “extreme cruelty, entirely mental in nature.”[34]Hayworth once said she might become a Muslim like her husband. During the custody fight over their daughter Yasmin, Prince Khan said he wanted her raised as a Muslim; whereas Hayworth said she intended to raise her in the Christian faith.[35] In fact, Hayworth turned down a $1,000,000 offer if she’d raise Yasmin as a Muslim from age seven and allow her to go to Europe for two or three months each year.”Nothing will make me give up Yasmin’s chance to live here in America among our precious freedoms and habits,” declared Hayworth. “While I respect the Muslim faith and all other faiths it is my earnest wish that my daughter be raised as a normal, healthy American girl in the Christian faith. There isn’t any amount of money in the entire world for which it is worth sacrificing this child’s privilege of living as a normal Christian girl here in the United States. There just isn’t anything else in the world that can compare with her sacred chance to do that. And I’m going to give it to Yasmin regardless of what it costs.”[36]The Hayworth-Khan custody battle for little Yasmin was one of the most public custody battles in the history of Hollywood. Hayworth feared that Princess Yasmin would be kidnapped by her father, taken to his foreign country, and she’d never see her daughter again. She didn’t trust him. It was a very long and protracted legal process that played out publicly in the news. It included Hayworth and her lawyers doing extreme negotiations, Hayworth dragging her heels about agreeing to let Khan have temporary custody of Yasmin, requiring “insurance” money to discourage him from keeping her, then Hayworth changing her mind at the last minute, etc., and her fourth husband interfering with the entire process.

    When Rita and Dick first met, he was still married and his singing career was waning, but when the Love Goddess showed up at the clubs, he got a larger audience. (Without her, hardly anyone paid attention.) Haymes was desperate for money; he was a deadbeat dad and two of his former wives were after him for alimony. In fact his financial problems were so bad he could not even return to California without being arrested.[37] On July 7, 1954, his ex-wife Nora Haymes got a bench warrant for his arrest, because he owed her $3,800 in alimony. Less than a week prior, his other ex-wife, Joanne Dru, also got a bench warrant because she said he owed $4,800 in support payments for their three children.[38] It was Hayworth who ended up paying most of Haymes’s debts.Haymes was born in Argentina, and didn’t have solid proof of American citizenship. The authorities initiated proceedings to have him deported back to Argentina for being an illegal alien not long after he met Hayworth. He hoped, however, she could influence the government and keep him in the United States. Haymes manipulated the situation, exploiting Hayworth for publicity at every opportunity and getting her to throw herself publicly behind his case. When she assumed responsibility for his citizenship, a bond was formed that led to marriage. The two were married on 24 September 1953 at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, their wedding procession marching through the casino itself.From the start, their marriage was in trouble with Haymes deeply indebted to the Internal Revenue Service. When Rita took time off from attending his comeback performances in Philadelphia, crowd numbers plummeted and when Haymes’s $5000 weekly salary was attached by the IRS to pay a $100,000 bill, he was unable to even pay his pianist. Meanwhile ex-wives continued to hound Haymes for money while Hayworth publicly bemoaned the lack of alimony she was receiving from Aly Khan. At one point, the couple was effectively imprisoned in a hotel room for 24 hours in New York at the Hotel Madison as sheriff’s deputies waited outside threatening to arrest the hysterical Haymes for outstanding debts. All of this happened against a backdrop of death threats to Hayworth’s children and an ongoing custody battle she was fighting with Khan. During this time, while she was living in a hotel in New York, Hayworth sent the children to live with their nanny in deprived area of Westchester. There they were found and photographed by a reporter from Confidential magazine. That the photographer had been able to access them easily at the time of death-threats to them was one thing, but the article also depicted them “in a trash littered backyard, playing among an assortment of loaded ash cans.” The article caused a national scandal, highly damaging to Hayworth, bringing charges of neglect and bad parenting against her.Hayworth and Haymes’s world descended further into a maze of litigation, injunction and Haymes’s verbal and physical violence. After a tumultuous two years together Haymes overstepped the mark when in 1955 he struck her in the face in public at the Coconut Grove night club in Los Angeles. It was the final straw in their relationship. Hayworth packed her bags, walked out, and never returned.The extreme event leading to Hayworth’s separation shook her so badly she had a “severe emotional shock,” according to her doctor, who ordered her to remain in bed for several days.[39] Hayworth also found herself very short of money after her marriage to Haymes and having pursued Aly Khan for child support money throughout her marriage to Haymes, she now sued Orson Welles for back payment of child support she claimed had never been paid. As well as being ultimately

    unsuccessful, this only added to her stressed condition and on the set of Fire Down Below she was seen tearing up her bundle of mail and scattering the scraps in the sea. On being told one of these letters may have contained money she remarked “more trouble than money”.

    After Haymes, Hayworth began another relationship with film producer James Hill, whom she went on to marry. By his own account, Hill started with the best intentions but wound up ‘as anxious to use her as all the rest.’ On February 2, 1958, Hayworth married Hill, who put her in one of her last major films, Separate Tables. On September 1, 1961, Hayworth filed for divorce from Hill, alleging extreme mental cruelty. He later wrote the book Rita Hayworth: A Memoir in which he suggested their marriage collapsed because he wanted Hayworth to continue making movies while she wanted both of them to retire from the Hollywood scene.Charlton Heston, in his book, In the Arena, sheds some light on Hayworth’s brief marriage to Hill. Heston had never met her when he and his wife Lydia joined Hayworth and Hill for dinner in a restaurant in Spain with director George Marshall and Rex Harrison, Hayworth’s co-star in The Happy Thieves. Heston, who was in Spain making El Cid, writes on page 253 of his memoir (HarperCollins paperback version) that “it turned into the single most embarrassing evening of my life,” describing how Hill heaped “obscene abuse” on Hayworth until she was “reduced to a helpless flood of tears, her face buried in her hands.” Heston writes how they all sat stunned, witnesses to a “marital massacre” and though he was “strongly tempted to slug him” (Hill), he instead simply took his wife Lydia home when she stood up, almost in tears herself. Heston ends by writing, “I’m ashamed of walking away from Miss Hayworth’s humiliation. I never saw her again.”She never married again.


    Hayworth in Blood and Sand.Hayworth struggled with alcohol throughout her life. “I remember as a child,” said her daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, “that she had a drinking problem. She had difficulty coping with the ups and downs of the business. . . . As a child, I thought, ‘She has a drinking problem and she’s an alcoholic.’ That was very clear and I thought, ‘Well, there’s not much I can do. I can just, sort of, stand by and watch.’ It’s very difficult, seeing your mother, going through her emotional problems and drinking and then behaving in that manner. . . . Her condition became quite bad. It worsened and she did have an alcoholic breakdown and landed in the hospital.”[40]In 1972, aged 54, Hayworth no longer wanted to act, but she signed up for The Wrath of God because she had money problems. The experience, however, exposed her bad health and worsening mental state. She couldn’t remember her lines, so they had to film her scenes one line at a time. Extreme memory loss left her very nervous and resistant to doing at least one scene, which was then done by a double.Even so, the following year Hayworth agreed to do one more movie, Tales That Witness Madness (1973). Her health was even worse by that time, so she abandoned the movie set, and returned to America. She never returned to acting.[41]In March 1974, both her brothers died within a week of each other, saddening her greatly, and causing her to drink even more heavily than before.In 1976 at London’s Heathrow Airport, Hayworth was removed from a TWA flight during which she had an angry outburst while traveling with her agent. “Miss Hayworth had been drinking when she boarded the plane,” revealed a TWA flight attendant, “and had several free drinks during the flight.” The event attracted much negative publicity; a disturbing photograph was published in newspapers showing her looking very disheveled, sad, lost, ill, and barely recognizable.[42]Rita Hayworth’s drinking problem confused her family, friends, colleagues—and even doctors—who were unable to immediately recognize Alzheimer’s disease. “For several years in the 1970s, she had been misdiagnosed as an alcoholic.”[43]“It was the outbursts,” said her daughter, “She’d fly into a rage. I can’t tell you. I thought it was alcoholism-alcoholic dementia. We all thought that. The papers picked that up, of course. You can’t imagine the relief just in getting a diagnosis. We had a name at last, Alzheimer’s! Of course, that didn’t really come until the last seven or eight years. She wasn’t diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s until 1980. There were two decades of hell before that.”[44]In July 1981, Hayworth’s health had worsened to the point where a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that because she was suffering from senile dementia, and no longer able to care for herself, she should be placed under the care of her daughter, Princess Yasmin Khan of New York City.[45]She then lived in an apartment at The San Remo on Central Park West next to her daughter, who looked after her during her final years until she died.

    Rita Hayworth lapsed into a semicoma in February 1987. She died a few months later on May 14 at age 68 of Alzheimer’s disease in her Manhattan apartment.A funeral service for Hayworth was held on May 19, 1987 at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. Pallbearers included actors Ricardo Montalbán, Glenn Ford, Don Ameche and choreographer Hermes Pan.She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California (location: Grotto, Lot 196, Grave 6 (right of main sidewalk, near the curb)). Her headstone includes the inscription: “To yesterday’s companionship and tomorrow’s reunion.””Rita Hayworth was one of our country’s most beloved stars,” said President Ronald Reagan, who himself had been an actor at the same time as Hayworth. “Glamorous and talented, she gave us many wonderful moments on stage and screen and delighted audiences from the time she was a young girl. In her later years, Rita became known for her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Her courage and candor, and that of her family, were a great public service in bringing worldwide attention to a disease which we all hope will soon be cured. Nancy and I are saddened by Rita’s death. She was a friend who we will miss. We extend our deep sympathy to her family.”[46]


    Hayworth receives National Screen Heritage Award in 1977.Hayworth appeared with John Wayne in Circus World (1964) (U.K. title: Magnificent Showman), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama, her only notable-award nod.[citation needed]In 1977, Hayworth was the recipient of the National Screen Heritage Award.Despite appearing in 61 films over 37 years,[1] including leading roles in successful, classic films like Gilda, she never received an Academy Award nomination. Nevertheless, Rita Hayworth is listed as one of the American Film Institute‘s Greatest Stars of All Time.

    One of the major fund raisers for the Alzheimer’s Association is the annual Rita Hayworth Gala, held in New York City and Chicago, Illinois. Hayworth’s daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, has been the hostess for these events. Since 1985 they have raised more than US$42 million for the Association.[47] The

    film I Remember Better When I Paint (2009) features a stirring interview with Hayworth’s daughter describing how her mother took up painting while struggling with Alzheimer’s and produced beautiful works of art.[48]

    Actress Lynda Carter portrayed Hayworth in the television movie “Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess” (1983). Actress Veronica Watt also portrayed her in the feature film Hollywoodland (2006).[49]

    • Anna Case in La Fiesta (Short subject, 1926, Unconfirmed)
    • Cruz Diablo aka The Devil’s Cross (Uncredited, 1934)
    • In Caliente (1935) (scenes deleted)
    • Under the Pampas Moon (1935)
    • Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)
    • Dante’s Inferno (1935)
    • Paddy O’Day (1935)
    • Human Cargo (1936)
    • Meet Nero Wolfe (1936)
    • Rebellion (1936)
    • The Dancing Pirate (1936)
    • Old Louisiana (1937)
    • Hit the Saddle (1937)
    • Trouble in Texas (1937)

    • Criminals of the Air (1937)
    • Girls Can Play (1937)
    • The Game That Kills (1937)
    • Paid to Dance (1937)
    • The Shadow (1937)
    • Who Killed Gail Preston? (1938)
    • Special Inspector (1938)
    • There’s Always a Woman (1938)
    • Convicted (1938)
    • Juvenile Court (1938)
    • The Renegade Ranger (1938)
    • Homicide Bureau (1939)
    • The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939)
    • Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
    • Music in My Heart (1940)
    • Blondie on a Budget (1940)
    • Susan and God (1940)
    • The Lady in Question (1940)
    • Angels Over Broadway (1940)
    • The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
    • Affectionately Yours (1941)
    • Blood and Sand (1941)
    • You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)
    • My Gal Sal (1942)
    • Tales of Manhattan (1942)
    • You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
    • Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
    • Cover Girl (1944)
    • Tonight and Every Night (1945)
    • Gilda (1946)
    • Down to Earth (1947)
    • The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
    • The Loves of Carmen (1948)
    • Champagne Safari (1952)
    • Affair in Trinidad (1952)
    • Salome (1953)
    • Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)
    • Fire Down Below (1957)
    • Pal Joey (1957)
    • Separate Tables (1958)
    • They Came to Cordura (1959)
    • The Story on Page One (1959)
    • The Happy Thieves (1962)
    • Circus World (1964)
    • The Money Trap (1965)
    • The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
    • L’Avventuriero (1967)
    • I Bastardi (1968)
    • The Naked Zoo (1971)
    • Road to Salina (1971)
    • The Wrath of God (1972)

  • ^ a b Gerald Faris, “A Screen Goddess and Hollywood Rebel Loses The Battle Against Disease,” The Age, May 18, 1987. Accessed June 7, 2009.
  • ^ “Princess Born to Rita After Pre-dawn Dash to Clinic,” AP, Dec. 28, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Delights Papa and Mama Cansino.” Ellensburg Daily Record, July 13, 1944. Accessed June 7, 2009.
  • ^ “Actress Rita Hayworth’s Grandfather Dies at 89.” Los Angeles Times. June 22, 1954.
  • ^ Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein, “Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth,” New York: Dell, 1983, 16.
  • ^ “LOT 37 RITA HAYWORTH NIGHTGOWN FROM HER FAMOUS WORLD WAR II PUBLICITY PHOTOS”. http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?sale_number=N07818&live_lot_id=37. Retrieved 2010-02-07. 
  • ^ Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein, “Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth,” New York: Dell, 1983, 234.
  • ^ “Screen News Here and in Hollywood,” New York Times, Mar. 22, 1943.
  • ^ Leonard Lyons, “The Lyons Den,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 23, 1945.
  • ^ Hedda Hopper, “Looking at Hollywood,” AP, Oct. 22, 1947. Accessed June 4, 2009.
  • ^ “Hayworth, Studio Agree Once Again,” New York Times, Jan. 9, 1952.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Files Suit to End Film Contract, Los Angeles Times, Apr. 9, 1955.
  • ^ John Hallowell, “Rita Hayworth: Don’t Put the Blame on Me, Boys,” New York Times, Oct. 25, 1970.
  • ^ Nancy Anderson, “Rita Hayworth Still Ranks as Beauty,” Copley News Service, Feb. 11, 1972. Accessed June 2, 2009.
  • ^ John Hallowell, “Rita: Hollywood Still Is Her Town But No One Knows She’s There,” St. Petersburg Times, June 23, 1968. Accessed June 4, 2009. [1]
  • ^ John Kobal Rita Hayworth: Portrait of a Love Goddess, 1977, p.103
  • ^ John Kobal Rita Hayworth: Portrait of a Love Goddess, 1977, p.124
  • ^ John Kobal Rita Hayworth: Portrait of a Love Goddess, 1977, p.104
  • ^ “Call For Boycott Of Rita Hayworth,” AAP, Apr. 30, 1951
  • ^ Quoted in John Kobal Rita Hayworth: Portrait of a Love Goddess, 1977, p.163
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Replaced in Play,” AP, Aug. 24, 1962.
  • ^ Jerry Mason. “Meet Rita Hayworth.” The Spokesman-Review. January 3, 1942. Accessed June 5, 2009.
  • ^ John Chapman, “Red Heads,” Chicago Daily Tribune, May 25, 1941.
  • ^ Lydia Lane, “Rita Hayworth Cites Care of Hands, Feet, Hair as Important to Beauty,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 19, 1952.
  • ^ “Presenting: Ten Most Perfect Features in the World,” AP, Feb 17, 1949. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  • ^ Louella O. Parsons, “Rita, Shy Off Set, Now Groomed for Vamp Role,” St. Petersburg Times, May 25, 1941.[2] Accessed June 2, 2009.
  • ^ a b John Hallowell. “Rita Hayworth, “Don’t Put the Blame on Me, Boys,” New York Times, Oct. 25, 1970
  • ^ Find A Grave Memorial# 10325453
  • ^ “Chatter,” People, July 15, 1974. Accessed June 6, 2009.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Tells of Threats by Ex-Mate,” Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1943, A16
  • ^ John Kobal, Rita Hayworth, Berkley: 1983, p. 62.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Wins Divorce From Orson Welles,” AP, Nov. 10, 1947. Accessed June 6, 2009.
  • ^ Staff writer, “Love’s Long Shot”, Time October 17, 1949. Accessed May 29, 2009.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Files Divorce Action in Reno,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 2, 1951.
  • ^ “Prince Wants Yasmin Back,” AP, Oct. 31, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009.
  • ^ “Rita Says No to Million,” Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 13, 1953. Accessed June 13, 2009. [3]
  • ^ “Dick Haymes Faces Arrest Over Alimony,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 5, 1956
  • ^ “Haymes Hears Sour Music,” AP, July 7, 1954.
  • ^ “Marriage Falls Down and So Does Rita,” UP, Aug. 30, 1955.
  • ^ Pia Lindstrom, “Alzheimer’s Fight in Her Mother’s Name,” New York Times, Feb. 23, 1997.[4] Accessed June 6, 2009.
  • ^ Stephanie Thames, “The Wrath of God,” TCM.com. Accessed June 14, 2009
  • ^ “Actress Helped from Jet,” St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 21, 1976.
  • ^ ” ‘Love Goddess’ Rita Hayworth is Dead at 68,” AP, May 16, 1987.
  • ^ Paul Hendrickson, “Alzheimer’s: A Daughter’s Nightmare,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 11, 1989.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Placed in Conservatorship,” AP, Jul 23, 1981.
  • ^ Krebs, Albin. “Rita Hayworth, Movie Legend, Dies”, obituary, The New York Times, May 16, 1987. Accessed May 29, 2009.
  • ^ “Rita Hayworth Galas”. http://www.alz.org/galas/Rita/overview.asp
  • ^ Rosalia Gitau (March 11, 2010). “Art Therapy for Alzheimer’s”. HuffingtonPost. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rosalia-gitau/art-therapy-for-alzheimer_b_495914.html
  • ^ http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0085668/
    • Kobal, John. Rita Hayworth: The Time, the Place, the Woman (1977). ISBN 0-393-07526-5
    • McLean, Adrienne L. Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity, and Hollywood Stardom (2004). ISBN 0-813-53389-9
    • Morella, Joe and Epstein, Edward Z. Rita: The Life of Rita Hayworth (1983). ISBN 0-385-29265-1
    • Peary, Gerald. Rita Hayworth: A Pyr

      amid Illustrated History of the Movies (1976). ISBN 0-515-04116-5

    • Ringgold, Gene. The Films of Rita Hayworth: The Legend and Career of a Love Goddess (1974). ISBN 0-806-504-390
    • Roberts-Frenzel, Caren. Rita Hayworth: A Photographic Retrospective (2001). ISBN 0-810-91434-4

    Jayne Mansfield

    <![CDATA[

    Jayne Mansfield


    At Jockeys’ Ball in Los Angeles, Calif., 1957 Born Vera Jayne Palmer
    April 19, 1933(1933-04-19)
    Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States Died June 29, 1967 (aged 34)
    U.S. Highway 90 near Slidell, Louisiana, United States Occupation Actress, singer, model Years active 1954–1967 Spouse(s) Paul Mansfield (m. 1950–1958) «start: (1950)–end+1: (1959)»”Marriage: Paul Mansfield to Jayne Mansfield” Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield)
    Miklós Hargitay (m. 1958–1964) «start: (1958)–end+1: (1965)»”Marriage: Miklós Hargitay to Jayne Mansfield” Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield)
    Matt Cimber (m. 1964–1966) «start: (1964)–end+1: (1967)»”Marriage: Matt Cimber to Jayne Mansfield” Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield)

    Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood.[1] One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,[2] Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.While Mansfield’s film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes. She won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe and a Golden Laurel. As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield was relegated to low-budget film melodramas and comedies, but remained a popular celebrity.In her later career she continued to attract large crowds in foreign countries and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Mansfield had been a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times. She died in an automobile accident at age 34.

    Contents

    [3]
    Waist: 21 in (53 cm)[3]
    Hips: 32 in (81 cm)[3] Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) (5ft 8in according to her autopsy)

    Mansfield, of German and English ancestry, was the only child of Herbert William and Vera (née Jeffrey) Palmer. Her birthname was Vera Jayne Palmer.[4] A natural brunette, she was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, but spent her early childhood in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. When she was three years old, her father, a lawyer who was in practice with future New Jersey governor Robert B. Meyner, died of a heart attack while driving a car with his wife and daughter. After his death, her mother worked as a school teacher. In 1939, when Vera Palmer remarried, the family moved to Dallas, Texas. Mansfield’s desire to become an actress developed at an early age. In 1950, Vera Jayne Palmer married Paul Mansfield, thus becoming Jayne Mansfield, and the couple moved to Austin, Texas.She studied dramatics at the University of Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin. Her acting aspirations were temporarily put on hold with the birth of her first child, Jayne Marie Mansfield, on November 8, 1950, when Mansfield was 17. She juggled motherhood and classes at the University of Texas at Austin, then spent a year at Camp Gordon, Georgia, during her husband’s service in the United States Army. Mansfield’s husband at the time, Paul Mansfield, hoped the birth of their child would discourage her interest in acting. When it did not, he agreed to move to Los Angeles in late 1954 to help further her career.[5] In 1954, they moved to Los Angeles and she studied dramatics at UCLA. Between a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as a candy vendor at a movie theatre, she attended UCLA during the summer, and then went back to Texas for fall quarter at Southern Methodist University.In Dallas she became a student of actor Baruch Lumet, father of director Sidney Lumet and founder of the Dallas Institute of the Performing Arts. On October 22, 1953, she first appeared on stage in a production of Arthur Miller‘s Death of a Salesman.
    F
    requent references have been made to Mansfield’s very high IQ, which she advertised as 163. She spoke five languages, and was a classically trained pianist and violinist.[6] Mansfield admitted her public didn’t care about her brains. “They’re more interested in 40-21-35,” she said.[7] While attending the University of Texas, she won several beauty contests, with titles that included “Miss Photoflash,” “Miss Magnesium Lamp” and “Miss Fire Prevention Week.” The only title she ever turned down was “Miss Roquefort Cheese,” because she believed that it “just didn’t sound right.” Early in her career, the prominence of her breasts was considered problematic, leading her to be cut from her first professional assignment, an advertising campaign for General Electric, which depicted several young women in bathing suits relaxing around a pool.[8]

    Mansfield’s movie career began with bit parts at Warner Brothers. She was signed by the studio after one of its talent scouts discovered her in a production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mansfield had small roles in Female Jungle (1954), and in Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955) which starred Jack Webb. In 1955, Paul Wendkos offered her the dramatic role of Gladden in The Burglar, his film adaptation of David Goodis‘ novel. The film was done in film noir style, and Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. The Burglar was released two years later when Mansfield’s fame was at its peak. She was successful in this straight dramatic role, though most of her subsequent film appearances would be either comedic in nature or capitalize on her sex appeal. She made two more movies with Warner Brothers, one of which gave her a minor role as Angel O’Hara, opposite Edward G. Robinson, in Illegal (1955).


    In The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. Returning to Hollywood she starred in the film production of Frank Tashlin‘s The Girl Can’t Help It (1956). This was Mansfield’s first starring role and she portrayed an outrageously voluptuous but apparently tone-deaf girlfriend of a retired racketeer. The film features some early performances from Fats Domino, The Platters and Little Richard.[9]


    In Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)On May 3, 1956, Mansfield signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. She then played a straight dramatic role in The Wayward Bus in 1957. With her role in this film she attempted to move away from her “dumb blonde” image and establish herself as a serious actress. This film was adapted from John Steinbeck‘s novel, and the cast included Dan Dailey and Joan Collins. The film enjoyed reasonable success at the box office. She won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year – Actress, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood, for her performance as a “wistful derelict” in The Wayward Bus. It was “generally conceded to have been her best acting,” according to The New York Times, in a fitful career hampered by her flamboyant image, distinctive voice (“a soft-voiced coo punctuated with squeals”),[10] voluptuous figure, and limited acting range.Mansfield reprised her role of Rita Marlowe in the 1957 movie version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, co-starring Tony Randall and Joan Blondell. The Girl Can’t Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? were popular successes in their day and are considered classics. Mansfield’s fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (1957) in which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself she is little more than comedy relief while Grant’s character shows a preference for a sleek, demure redhead portrayed by fashion model Suzy Parker. Kiss Them for Me was a box office disappointment and would prove to be her final starring role in a mainstream Hollywood studio film. The movie was described as “vapid” and “ill-advised”.[11] It was also one of the last attempts of 20th Century Fox to publicize her.[12] The continuing publicity around her physical presence failed to sustain her career.[13] Mansfield was offered a part opposite Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle, but had to turn it down due to pregnancy.


    In Promises! Promises!, the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.[14]Despite the publicity and her public popularity, good film roles dried up for Mansfield after 1959. She kept busy in a series of low-budget films, mostly made in Europe. Fox tried to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman in his ill-fated first attempt at comedy, Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!, but Mansfield’s Wayward Bus co-star Joan Collins was selected for the role. In 1960 Fox lent her to appear in two independent gangster thrillers in England. These were Too Hot to Handle, which was directed by Terence Young and co-starred Karlheinz Böhm, and The Challenge, co-starring Anthony Quayle. Fox also lined up It Happened in Athens. This Olympic-themed movie was filmed in Greece and would not be released until 1962. Despite receiving top billing in It Happened in Athens, Mansfield was relegated to a colorful, scantily-clad supporting role.In 1963, Tommy Noonan persuaded Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude with a starring role in the film Promises! Promises!. Photographs of a naked Mansfield on the set were published in Playboy. In one notorious set of images, Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. The sold-out issue resulted in an obscenity charge for Hugh Hefner, which was later dropped. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, but it enjoyed box office success elsewhere. As a result of the film’s success, Mansfield landed on the Top 10 list of Box Office Attractions for that year.[15] The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield’s Wild, Wild World, she wrote together with Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises! and contains 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.[16]By 1962 Mansfield still commanded high prices as a live performer, though she openly yearned to establish a more sophisticated image. She announced that she wanted to study acting in New York, in apparent emulation of Marilyn Monroe’s stint with the Actors’ Studio. But her reliance on the racy publicity that had set her path to fame would also prove to be her downfall. Fox did not renew its contract with her in 1962.In 1963 Mansfield appeared in the low-budget West German movie Homesick for St. Pauli with Austrian-born schlager singer Freddy Quinn. She played Evelyne, a sexy American singer w

    ho is traveling to Hamburg by ship. She is followed by an Elvis-like American pop star played by Quinn. Mansfield sang two German songs in the movie, though her speaking voice was dubbed. Despite her film career setbacks Mansfield remained a highly visible personality through the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. For her last film Single Room Furnished, Mansfield acted without make up and had worn a black wig to break out of the stereotype.[17]

    Mansfield acted on stage as well as in film. In 1955, she went to New York and appeared in a prominent role in the Broadway production of George Axelrod‘s comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The New York Times described the “commendable abandon” of her scantily clad rendition of Rita Marlowe in the play, “a platinum-pated movie siren with the wavy contours of Marilyn Monroe.[18] In October 1957, Mansfield went on a 16-country tour of Europe for 20th Century Fox. She also appeared in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bus Stop, which were well reviewed and co-starred Hargitay.Dissatisfied with her film roles, Mansfield and Hargitay headlined at the Dunes in Las Vegas in an act called The House of Love, for which the actress earned $35,000 a week. It proved to be such a hit that she extended her stay, and 20th Century Fox Records subsequently recorded the show for an album called Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas, in 1962. With her film career floundering, she still commanded a salary of $8,000-$25,000 per week for her nightclub act. She traveled all over the world with it. In 1967, the year she died, Mansfield’s time was split between nightclub performances and the production of her last film, Single Room Furnished, a low-budget production directed by then-husband Matt Cimber.

    In addition to singing in English and German in a number of films, in 1964, Mansfield released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, on which she recited Shakespeare‘s sonnets and poems by Marlowe, Browning, Wordsworth, and others against a background of Tchaikovsky‘s music. The album cover depicted a bouffant-coiffed Mansfield with lips pursed and breasts barely covered by a fur stole, posing between busts of the Russian composer and the Bard of Avon.[19] The New York Times described the album as the actress reading “30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice”. The paper’s reviewer went on to state that “Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them.”[20]Jimi Hendrix played bass and lead guitar for Mansfield in 1965 on two songs, “As The Clouds Drift By” and “Suey”, released together on two sides. According to Hendrix historian Steven Roby (Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix, Billboard Books) this collaboration happened because they shared the same manager.[21][22]The three musical numbers in this movie – “In the valley of love”, “Strolling down the lane with Billy”, and “If the San Francisco Hills could only talk” – were only lip-synced by Jayne Mansfield; the singing voice was provided by Connie Francis. Of these three, only “In the valley of love” was released on record, albeit only in the United Kingdom and Japan.

    Though her acting roles were becoming marginalized, in 1964 Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant in Gilligan’s Island, claiming that the role, which eventually was given to Tina Louise, epitomized the stereotype she wished to rid herself of.[23]Mansfield toured with Bob Hope for the USO and appeared on numerous television programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Benny Program (where she played the violin), The Steve Allen Show, Down You Go, The Match Game (one rare episode exists with her as a team captain), and The Jackie Gleason Show. Mansfield’s television roles included appearances in Burke’s Law and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.On returning from New York to Hollywood, she made several television appearances, including several spots as a featured guest star on game shows. In 1962, Mansfield appeared with Brian Keith in ABC‘s Follow the Sun dramatic series in an acclaimed episode entitled “The Dumbest Blonde” in which her character “Scottie” is a beautiful blonde who feels insecure in the high society of her older boyfriend, played by Keith. The plot was based on the film of Born Yesterday.[24]

    See also: Jayne Mansfield in popular culture

    • In February 1955, Mansfield was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy,[25] in which she subsequently appeared over 30 times.[26]
    • Although Mansfield was reluctant to appear in the play, she received the Theatre World Award of 1956 for her performance in the Broadway production of George Axelrod‘s comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.[27]
    • Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year – Actress[28][29]
    • Mansfield won a Golden Laurel in 1959 for Top Female Musical Performance for her role in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, a western spoof directed by Raoul Walsh,[30] although the songs were performed by Connie Francis.
    • In 1963, Mansfield was voted one of the Top 10 Box Office Attractions by an organization of American theater owners for her performance in Promises! Promises!, a film banned in areas around the US.[15]
    • Mansfield has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.[31]

    Mansfield was married three times, divorced twice, and had five children. Reportedly she also had affairs and sexual encounters with numerous individuals, including Claude Terrail (the owner of the Paris restaurant La Tour d’Argent), Robert F. Kennedy,[32] John F Kennedy[33] the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, and Anton LaVey. She had a brief affair with Jan Cremer, a young Dutch writer who dedicated his 1965 autobiographical novel, I, Jan Cremer, to her.[34]. Jan Cremer wrote a large part of his book I, Jan Cremer – III about their relationship.[35] She also had a well-publicized relationship in 1963 with the singer Nelson Sardelli, whom she said she planned to marry once her divorce from Hargitay was finalized.[36] At the time of her death, Mansfield was accompanied by Sam Brody, her married divorce lawyer and lover at the time.

    She secretly married Paul Mansfield on January 28, 1950. The couple had a public wedding on May 10, 1950 and were divorced on January 8, 1958. During this marriage they had one child, Jayne Marie Mansfield. Two weeks before her mother’s death, Jayne Marie, then 16, accused her mother’s boyfriend, Sam Brody, of beating her.[37] The girl’s statement to officers of the West Los Angeles police department the following morning implicated her mother in encouraging the abuse, and days later, a juvenile-court judge awarded temporary custody of Jayne Marie to a great-uncle, W.W. Pigue.[38]


    Gate and partial view of Mansfield’s former mansion, the Pink Palace (1997)Mansfield married Miklós Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder, (publicly known as Mickey Hargitay, who won the Mr. Universe title in 1955) on January 13, 1958 at The Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding much easier. Jayne herself wore a transparent wedding gown, adding to the occasion’s publicity aspect. The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico in May 1963. The Mexican divorce was initially declared invalid in California, and the two reconciled in October 1963. After the birth of their third child, Mansfield sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and won. The divorce was recognized in the United States on August 26, 1964. She had previously filed for divorce on May 4, 1962, but told reporters, “I’m sure we will make it up.”[39] Their acrimonious divorce had the actress accusing Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children to force a more favorable financial settlement.[40] During this marriage she had three children — Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born December 21, 1958), Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born August 1, 1960), and Mariska Magdolna Hargitay (born January 23, 1964), an actress best known for her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.In November 1957 (shortly before her marriage to Hargitay), Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallee at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the Pink Palace. Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 worth of free merchandise while paying only $76,000 for the mansion itself[41] (a large sum nonetheless when the average house cost under $7,500 at the time[42]).

    Mansfield married Matt Cimber (alias Matteo Ottaviano, né Thomas Vitale Ottaviano) an Italian-born film director on September 24, 1964. The couple separated on July 11, 1965, and filed for divorce on July 20, 1966.[43] Cimber was a director with whom the actress had become involved when he directed her in a widely praised stage production of Bus Stop in Yonkers, New York, which costarred Hargitay. Cimber took over managing her career during their marriage. With him she had one son, Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (alias Tony Cimber, born October 17, 1965). Work on her last film, Single Room Furnished, was suspended as her marriage to Cimber began to collapse in the wake of Mansfield’s alcohol abuse, open infidelities, and her claim to Cimber that she had only ever been happy with her former lover, Nelson Sardelli.[44]

    Mansfield appeared in about 2,500 newspaper photographs between September 1956 and May 1957, and had about 122,000 lines of newspaper copy written about her during this time.[45] Because of the successful media blitz, Mansfield was a household name. Throughout her career, Mansfield was compared by the media to the reigning sex symbol of the period, Marilyn Monroe.[46] Of this comparison, she said, “I don’t know why you people [the press] like to compare me to Marilyn or that girl, what’s her name, Kim Novak. Cleavage, of course, helped me a lot to get where I am. I don’t know how they got there.”[47] Even with her film roles drying up she was widely considered to be Monroe’s primary rival in a crowded field of contenders that included Mamie Van Doren (whom Mansfield considered her professional nemesis), Diana Dors, Cleo Moore, Barbara Nichols, Joi Lansing, and Sheree North.


    Sophia Loren (left) and Jayne Mansfield (right), at Romanoff’s in Beverly Hills[48]In April 1957, her bosom was the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect attention from Sophia Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star’s honor. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren raising an eyebrow at the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple.[49] A similar incident, resulting in the full exposure of both breasts, occurred during a film festival in West Berlin, when Mansfield was wearing a low-cut dress and her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, picked her up so she could bite a bunch of grapes hanging overhead at a party; the movement caused her breasts to erupt out of the dress. The photograph of that episode was a UPI sensation, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word “censored” hiding the actress’s exposed bosom.The world media was quick to condemn Mansfield’s stunts, and one editorial columnist wrote, “We are amused when Miss Mansfield strains to pull in her stomach to fill out her bikini better. But we get angry when career-seeking women, shady ladies, and certain starlets and actresses … use every opportunity to display their anatomy unasked.”[8] By the late 1950s, Mansfield began to generate a great deal of negative publicity due to her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public “accidents“.Mansfield’s most celebrated physical attributes would fluctuate in size due to her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D (which she was throughout the 1950s), and largest at 46DD, when measured by the press in 1967. According to Playboy, her measurement was 40D-21-36 and her height was 5’6″. According to her autopsy report, she was 5’8″. Her bosom was so much a part of her public persona that talk-show host Jack Paar once welcomed the actress to The Tonight Show by saying, “Here they are, Jayne Mansfield”, a line that was written for Paar by Dick Cavett and became the title of her biography by Raymond Strait.[50]


    Gravestone, picture taken in 2007While in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club, Mansfield stayed at the Cabana Courtyard Apartments, which were near the supper club. After a June 28, 1967 evening engagement, Mansfield, Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress’ children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska, set out in Stevens’ 1966 Buick Electra 225 for New Orleans, where Mansfield was to appear in an early morning television interview. Prior to leaving Biloxi, the party made a stop at the home of Rupert and Edna O’Neal, a family that lived nearby. After a late dinner with the O’Neals, during which the last photographs of Ms. Mansfield were taken, the party set out for New Orleans. On June 29 at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The automobile struck the rear of the semi tractor and went u

    nder it. Riding in the front seat, the adults were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.[51]


    The cenotaph at Hollywood Forever, with incorrect birth yearRumors that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma. This urban legend was spawned by the appearance in police photographs of a crashed automobile with its top virtually sheared off, and what resembles a blonde-haired head tangled in the car’s smashed windshield. It is believed that this was either a wig that Mansfield was wearing or was her actual hair and scalp.[52] The death certificate stated that the immediate cause of Mansfield’s death was a “crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain.”[53] Following her death, the NHTSA began requiring an underride guard, a strong bar made of steel tubing, to be installed on all tractor-trailers. This bar is also known as a Mansfield bar, and on occasions as a DOT bar.[54][55]Mansfield’s funeral was held on July 3, in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was officiated by a Methodist minister, though Mansfield, who long tried to convert to Catholicism, had become interested in Judaism at the end of her life through her relationship with Sam Brody.[56] She is interred in Fairview Cemetery, southeast of Pen Argyl. Her gravestone reads “We Live to Love You More Each Day”. A memorial cenotaph, showing an incorrect birth year, was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California. The cenotaph was placed by The Jayne Mansfield Fan Club and has the incorrect birth year because Mansfield herself tended to provide incorrect information about her age.

    Shortly after Mansfield’s funeral, Mickey Hargitay sued his former wife’s estate for more than $275,000 to support the children, whom he and his third and last wife, Ellen Siano, would raise. Mansfield’s youngest child, Tony, was raised by his father, Matt Cimber, whose divorce from the actress was pending when she was killed. In 1968, wrongful-death lawsuits were filed on behalf of Jayne Marie Mansfield and Matt Cimber, the former for $4.8 million and the latter for $2.7 million.[57] The Pink Palace was sold and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot, and Engelbert Humperdinck.[58] In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year. Much of her estate is managed by CMG Worldwide, an intellectual property management company.[59]In 1980, The Jayne Mansfield Story aired on CBS starring Loni Anderson in the title role and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mickey Hargitay. It was nominated for three Emmy Awards.

    Year Movie Title Role Co-actors Director Producer Note
    1955 Hell on Frisco Bay Mario’s Dance Partner at Nightclub Frank Tuttle Jaguar Productions Uncredited
    1955 Female Jungle Candy Price Burt Kaiser, Kathleen Crowley Bruno VeSota Burt Kaiser, Kathleen Crowley Alternative title: The Hangover
    1955 Pete Kelly’s Blues Cigarette Girl Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Peggy Lee Jack Webb Jack Webb
    1955 Illegal Angel O’Hara Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe Lewis Allen Warner Bros.
    1956 The Girl Can’t Help It Jerri Jordan Tom Ewell, Edmond O’Brien, Julie London, Ray Anthony Frank Tashlin 20th Century Fox
    1957 The Burglar Gladden Dan Duryea, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy Paul Wendkos Columbia Pictures
    1957 The Wayward Bus Camille Oakes Joan Collins, Dan Dailey Victor Vicas 20th Century Fox
    1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Rita Marlowe Tony Randall, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones Frank Tashlin 20th Century Fox Alternative title: Oh! For a Man! (UK)
    1957 Kiss Them for Me Alice Kratzner Cary Grant, Leif Erickson, Suzy Parker Stanley Donen Sol C. Siegel
    1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Kate Kenneth More, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot Raoul Walsh Angel Productions
    1960 The Challenge Billy Anthony Quayle, Carl Möhner, Peter Reynolds John Gilling Alexandra Alternative title: It Takes a Thief (US)
    1960 Too Hot to Handle Midnight Franklin Leo Genn, Karlheinz Böhm, Christopher Lee Terence Young Wigmore Productions Alternative title: Playgirl After Dark (US)
    1960 The Loves of Hercules Queen Dianira/ Hippolyta Mickey Hargitay, Massimo Serato Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Contact Organisation Alternative titles Gli Amori di Ercole (Italy), Les Amours d’Hercule (France), Hercules vs. the Hydra (TV title)
    1961 The George Raft Story Lisa Lang Ray Danton, Julie London, Barrie Chase Joseph M. Newman Allied Artists Pictures Alternative title: Spin of a Coin (UK)
    1962 Lykke og krone Documentary
    1962 It Happened In Athens Eleni Costa Trax Colton, Nico Minardos, Bob Mathias Andrew Marton 20th Century Fox
    1963 Heimweh nach St. Pauli Evelyne Freddy Quinn, Josef Albrecht, Ullrich Haupt Werner Jacobs Rapid Film Alternative title: Homesick for St. Pauli (US)
    1963 Promises! Promises! Sandy Brooks Marie McDonald, Tommy Noonan, Mickey Hargitay King Donovan Tommy Noonan-Donald F. Taylor
    1964 L’Amore Primitivo Dr. Jane Franco Franchi, Ciccio Ingrassia, Mickey Hargitay Luigi Scattini G.L.M. Alternative title: Primitive Love (US)
    1964 Panic Button Angela Maurice Chevalier, Eleanor Parker, Mike Connors George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo Gordon Films Alternative title: Let’s Go Bust (US)
    1964 Dog Eat Dog Darlene/ Mrs. Smithopolis Cameron Mitchell, Dodie Heath, Ivor Salter Richard E. Cunha, Gustav Gavrin Dubrava Film Alternative titles: When Strangers Meet (UK), Einer fri]
    ]>

    Ella Raines

    Ella Raines


    in Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943)

    Born Ella Wallace Raines
    August 6, 1920(1920-08-06)
    Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, U.S.
    Died May 30, 1988 (aged 67)
    Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.
    Years active 1943–1984
    Spouse(s) Kenneth Trout (1942–1945)
    Robin Olds (1947–1975) (divorced) 2 children

    Ella Raines (August 6, 1920 – May 30, 1988) was an American actress.

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    Born Ella Wallace Raines near Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, Raines studied drama at the University of Washington and was appearing in a play there when she was seen by Howard Hawks. She became the first actor signed to the new production company he had formed with the actor Charles Boyer, “B-H Productions”, and made her film debut in Corvette K-225 in 1943.During 1954 she starred in her own television series Janet Dean, Registered Nurse. She also appeared in such television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents, Lights Out, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Christophers.She retired from acting in 1957, but made one further acting appearance with a guest role in the series Matt Houston in 1984.Raines has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, and for television at 6600 Hollywood Boulevard.

    Raines was married in 1947 to United States Air Force fighter pilot Brigadier General Robin Olds.She died from throat cancer in Sherman Oaks, California.

    • Corvette K-225 (1943)
    • Cry ‘Havoc’ (1943)
    • Phantom Lady (1944)
    • Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
    • Tall in the Saddle (1944)
    • Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)
    • The Suspect (1944)
    • The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)
    • The Runaround (1946)
    • White Tie and Tails (1946)
    • Time Out of Mind (1947)
    • The Web (1947)
    • Brute Force (1947)
    • The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)
    • The Walking Hills (1949)
    • Impact (1949)
    • A Dangerous Profession (1949)
    • Singing Guns (1950)
    • The Second Face (1950)
    • Fighting Coast Guard (1951)
    • Ride the Man Down (1952)
    • The Man in the Road (1957)

    Mae Murray

    Mae Murray


    ca. 1920 Born Marie Adrienne Koenig
    May 10, 1889(1889-05-10)
    Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S. Died March 23, 1965 (aged 75)
    Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Occupation Actress, dancer, film producer, screenwriter Years active 1916–1931 Spouse William M. Schwenker Jr. (1908–1909)
    Jay O’Brien (1916–1917)
    Robert Z. Leonard (1918–1925)
    David Mdivani (1926–1934)

    Mae Murray (May 10, 1889 – March 23, 1965) was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as “The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips” and “The Gardenia of the Screen”.[1]

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    Born Marie Adrienne Koenig in Portsmouth, Virginia,[2] she first began acting on the Broadway stage in 1906 with dancer Vernon Castle. In 1908, she joined the chorus line of the Ziegfeld Follies, moving up to headliner by 1915.[3] Murray became a star of the club circuit in both the United States and Europe, performing with Clifton Webb, Rudolph Valentino, and John Gilbert as some of her many dance partners.


    Murray & Monte Blue in Broadway Rose (1922)In 1908, she was briefly married to stockbroker William M. Schwenker, Jr. In 1916, she married Olympic bobsled champion Jay O’Brien and made her motion picture debut in To Have and to Hold that same year. She became a major star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, starring with Rudolph Valentino in The Delicious Little Devil and Big Little Person in 1919. At the height of her popularity, Murray formed her own production company with her director, John M. Stahl. Critics were sometimes less than thrilled with her over-the-top costumes and exaggerated emoting, but her films were financially successful.After divorcing Jay O’Brien in 1917, Murray married the movie director Robert Z. Leonard the following year and, beginning in 1925, Murray, Leonard, and Stahl produced films at Tiffany Pictures, with Souls for Sables (1925), starring Claire Windsor and Eugene O’Brien, as the first film made by Tiffany. For a brief period of time, Murray wrote a weekly column for newspaper scion William Randolph Hearst.At her career peak in the early 1920s, Murray, along with such other notable Hollywood personalities as Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart, Jesse L. Lasky, Harold Lloyd, Hal Roach, Donald Crisp, Conrad Nagel and Irving Thalberg was a member of the board of trustees at the Motion Picture & Television Fund – A charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries without resources. Four decades later, Murray herself received aid from that organization.In the early 1920s, Murray was painted by the well known Hollywood portrait painter Theodore Lukits(1897-1992). This work titled Harmony in Jade and Silver (Private Collection, Northern California) depicted the actress in the nude, gazing in a mirror. This subtle, rather chaste nude was exhibited at the Pacific Asia Museum in 1999 and two other venues as part of the exhibition Theodore Lukits, An American Orientalist.

    Murray’s most famous role was perhaps the title role in the Erich von Stroheim directed film The Merry Widow (1925), opposite John Gilbert. When silent films gave way to talkies, Murray made an insecure debut in the new medium in Peacock Alley (1930), a remake of her earlier 1921 version Peacock Alley. In 1931, she was cast with newcomer Irene Dunne, leading man Lowell Sherman, and with fellow silent screen star Norman Kerry in the talkie Bachelor Apartment. The film was critically panned at the time of release and Murray made only one more film, High Stakes (1931) also with Sherman.A crucial blow to her movie career occurred when her fourth husband, “Prince” David Mdivani (a Georgian faux-nobleman whose brothers, Serge and Alexis, married actress Pola Negri and the heiress Barbara Hutton respectively), became her manager and suggested that his new wife leave MGM. Murray took her husband’s advice and walked out of her contract with MGM, making a powerful foe of studio boss Louis B. Mayer. Later, she would swallow her pride and plead to return, but Mayer would have none of it. In effect, Mayer’s hostility meant that Murray was blacklisted from working for the Hollywood studios.[4] Meanwhile, in 1927, Murray was sued by her then-masseuse, the famous Hollywood fitness guru Sylvia of Hollywood for the outstanding amount of $2,125 during a humiliating and detailed court case.[5]


    Mae Murray, 1926Eventually, Murray and Mdivani, who married in 1926, divorced; they had one child, Koran David Mdivani (born February 1927). Koran was raised by Sara Elizabeth “Bess” Cunning of Averill Park, New York, who began taking care of him in 1936, when the child was recovering from a double mastoid operation (Cunning’s brother Dr. David Cunning was the surgeon). When Murray attempted to regain custody of her son in 1939, Cunning and her other brothers, John, Ambrose, and Cortland, refused, according to the New York Times, at which time Murray and her former husband, Mdivani, entered a bitter custody dispute. It finally ended in 1940, with Murray being given legal custody of the child and the court ordering Mdivani to pay $400 a month maintenance. However, Koran Mdivani continued to be raised by Bess Cunning, who adopted him in 1940 as Daniel Michael Cunning.[6] Reportedly, Mdivani had managed to siphon off most of Murray’s money.[4]In the 1940s, Murray appeared regularly at Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub which specialized in a “Gay ’90s” atmosphere, often presenting stars of the past for nostalgic value. Her appearances collected mixed reviews: her dancing (in p
    ar
    ticular the Merry Widow Waltz) was well received, but Murray refused to acknowledge her age, wearing heavy layers of makeup and fitting her mature figure into short skirted costumes with plunging necklines.

    Murray’s finances continued to collapse, and for most of her later life she lived in poverty. She was the subject of an authorized biography, The Self-Enchanted (1959), written by Jane Ardmore, that has often been incorrectly called Murray’s autobiography.She later moved into the Motion Picture House in Woodland Hills, a retirement community for Hollywood professionals. Mae Murray died at age 75. She is interred in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, North Hollywood, California.

    For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Mae Murray has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6318 Hollywood Blvd. In 2010 author Michael G. Ankerich began work on a biography of Murray.[7]

    Year Film Role Notes
    1916 To Have and to Hold Lady Jocelyn
    Sweet Kitty Bellairs Kitty Bellairs
    The Dream Girl Meg Dugan
    The Big Sister Betty Norton
    The Plow Girl Margot
    1917 On Record Helen Wayne
    A Mormon Maid Dora
    The Primrose Ring Margaret MacLean
    At First Sight Justina
    Princess Virtue Lianne Demarest
    Face Value Joan Darby Writer (story)
    1918 The Bride’s Awakening Elaine Bronson
    Her Body in Bond Peggy Blondin Alternative title: The Heart of an Actress
    Modern Love Della Arnold Writer (story)
    The Taming of Kaiser Bull Miss America
    Danger, Go Slow Mugsy Mulane Writer
    1919 The Scarlet Shadow Elena Evans
    The Twin Pawns Daisy/Violet White Alternative title: The Curse of Greed
    The Delicious Little Devil Mary McGuire
    What Am I Bid? Betty Yarnell Alternative title: Girl For Sale
    Big Little Person Arathea Manning
    The ABC of Love Kate
    1920 On with the Dance” Sonia
    Right to Love Lady Falkland
    Idols of Clay Faith Merrill
    1921 The Gilded Lily Lillian Drake
    1922 Peacock Alley Cleo of Paris
    Fascination Dolores de Lisa
    Broadway Rose Rosalie Lawrence
    1923 Jazzmania Ninon
    The French Doll Georgine Mazulier
    Fashion Row Olga Farinova/Zita (her younger sister)
    1924 Mademoiselle Midnight Renée de Gontran/Renée de Quiros
    Circe, the Enchantress Circe (mythical goddess)/Cecilie Brunne Alternative title: Circe
    1925 The Merry Widow Sally O’Hara
    The Masked Bride Gaby
    1926 Valencia Valencia Alternative title: The Love Song
    1927 Altars of Desire Claire Sutherland
    1930 Peacock Alley Claire Tree
    1931 Bachelor Apartment Mrs. Agatha Carraway Alternative title: Apartamento de Soltero
    High Stakes Dolly Jordan Lennon
    1949 Dick Barton Strikes Back Associate producer
    1950 Shadow of the Past Producer
    Come Dance with Me Associate producer

  • ^ Wortis Leider, Emily (2004). Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino. Macmillan. pp. 64, 64. ISBN 0-571-21114-3. 
  • ^ Menefee, David W. (2004). The First Female Stars: Women Of the Silent Era. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 127. ISBN 0-275-98259-9. 
  • ^ Mae Murray Biography – MaeMurray.com
  • ^ a b Program Note for “High Stakes” issued by Films on the Hill, Washington DC (June 13, 2009).
  • ^ Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary (1931) Brentano’s.
  • ^ “Mae Murray Sues for Son’s Custody: Asserts Up-State Family Refuses to Give Up Mdivani”, The New York Times, 14 September 1939, p. 28; “Mae Murray Opens Fight for Her Son”, The New York Times, 29 September 1939, p. 20; “Mae Murray Wins Case”, The New York Times, 5 March 1940, p. 24.
  • ^ http://www.forgetthetalkies.com/2010/06/seeking-mae-murray.html
    • David W. Menefee, The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004) ISBN 0-275-98259-9
    • Jane Kesner Morris Ardmore, The Self-Enchanted: Mae Murray, Image of an Era. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959)
    • “The Rise to Stardom of Mae Murray” by Jimmy Bangley in Classic Images August 1996 (Muscatine, Iowa: Muscatine Journal, 1996)
    • F. Cugat, “Mae Murray’s Victory”, Movie Weekly (August 19, 1922)
    • Frances Marion, Off With Their Heads! (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972)
    • Adela Rogers St. Johns, “Mae Murray-A Study in Contradictions”, Photoplay (July 1924), 43

    Lilyan Tashman

    Lilyan Tashman

    Born October 23, 1896(1896-10-23)
    Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Died March 21, 1934 (aged 37)
    New York City, New York, U.S. Occupation Actress Years active 1914–1934 Spouse(s) Al Lee (1914–1921)
    Edmund Lowe (1925–1934)

    Lilyan Tashman (October 23, 1896 – March 21, 1934) was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy ‘other woman’.[1] She made sixty-six films over the course of her Hollywood career and although never obtained superstar status, her cinematic performances are “sharp, clever and have aged little over the decades”.[2]Tall, blonde, and slender with fox-like features and a throaty voice,[1] Tashman freelanced as a fashion and artist’s model in New York City. By 1914 she was an experienced vaudevillian, appearing in Zeigfeld Follies between 1916 and 1918. In 1921, Tashman had a role in her first film, Experience, and over the next decade and a half she appeared in numerous silent films. With her husky contralto singing voice she easily navigated the transition to the “talkies”.Tashman married vaudevillian Al Lee in 1914 but they divorced in 1921. She married openly gay actor Edmund Lowe in 1925. Her lesbian affairs in Hollywood were an open secret, and her wardrobe and lavish parties the talk of the town. She died of cancer in New York City on March 21, 1934, at the age of 37. Her last film, Frankie and Johnny, was released posthumously in 1936.

    Contents

    Lilyan Tashman’s entertainment career began in vaudeville, and by 1914 she was an experienced performer, appearing in Song Revue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with rising stars Eddie Cantor and Al Lee. In 1916, she played Viola in a Shakespeare-inspired number for the Ziegfeld Follies and remained with the Follies for the 1917 and 1918 seasons. In 1919, producer David Belasco gave her a supporting role in Avery Hopwood‘s comedy, The Gold Diggers. The show ran two years with Tashman understudying and occasionally filling-in for star Ina Claire.[2]


    Publicity photograph from Stars of the PhotoplayIn 1921, Tashman made her film debut playing Pleasure in an allegorical segment of Experience, and when The Gold Diggers closed she appeared in the plays The Garden of Weeds and Madame Pierre. In 1922, she had a small role in the Mabel Normand film Head Over Heels. Her personal and professional lives in 1922 were not entirely satisfactory (best friend Edmund Lowe moved to Hollywood, for example, and she was fired from Madame Pierre) so she relocated to California and quickly found work in films. In 1924, she appeared in five films (including a cinematic adaptation of The Garden of Weeds) and received good reviews for Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model and Winner Take All. She freelanced, moving from studio to studio, but signed a long-term contract in 1931 with Paramount. She made nine films for the studio.[2]In 1925, she appeared in ten films including Pretty Ladies with Joan Crawford and Myrna Loy. From 1926 to 1929, she appeared in numerous films, became a valued supporting player, and even starred in the independent Rocking Moon (1926) and The Woman Who Did Not Care (1927). She played supporting roles in Ernst Lubitsch‘s farce So This is Paris (1926), Camille with Norma Talmadge (1926), A Texas Steer with Will Rogers (1927), director Dorothy Arzner‘s Manhattan Cocktail (1928), and Hardboiled (1929). Her Variety reviews were good.[2]She managed the transition to “talkies” easily, making a total of 28, and appeared in some of the very first, including United Artists‘s Bulldog Drummond (1929), The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929), the now-lost color musical Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), and New York Nights with Norma Talmadge (1930). She starred as a murderess in the melodrama Murder by the Clock, as a self-sacrificing mother in The Road to Reno (1931), and as a chorus girl in Wine, Women and Song (1933). In 1932, her health began to fail but she appeared in The Wiser Sex, Those We Love, the film on the Russian Revolution, Scarlet Dawn, Mama Loves Papa with Charlie Ruggles (1933), and the musical Too Much Harmony (1933). In early 1934, she appeared in Riptide with Norma Shearer. Her last film, Frankie and Johnny, was released posthumously in 1936.[2] Director George Cukor described Tashman as “a very diverting creature […] outrageous and cheerful and goodhearted.”[1]

    Lilyan Tashman was the tenth and youngest child of Brooklyn, New York clothing manufacturer Maurice Tashman and his wife Rose. She freelanced as a fashion and artist’s model while attending Girl’s High School in Brooklyn and eventually entered vaudeville. In 1914, she married fellow-vaudevillian Al Lee, but the two separated in 1920 and divorced in 1921.[2]Tashman was a lesbian and had numerous backstage same-sex liaisons as a New York City chorine and actress. In Hollywood, she was known to initiate sex in rest rooms with women of all ages, and, if repulsed, would forge ahead with a promise of complete silence on the matter and assurances that such sexual activity was common and very pleasureable.[1] In 1928, Tashman was introduced to Greta Garbo and began a lesbian relationship the same day.[3] The two became inseparable companions.[1] Tashman was a fiercely jealous person however and had frequent altercations with her lovers. By November 1932, Garbo’s patience had worn thin and she ended the relationship, leaving Tashman devastated.[3]On September 21, 1925, Tashman married openly gay actor and longtime friend Edmund Lowe, presumably to present a heterosexual façade to the world.[4] The two became the darlings of Hollywood reporters and were touted in fan magazines as having “the ideal marriage”.[1] Tashman was described by reporter Gladys Hall as “the most gleaming, glittering, moderne, hard-surfaced, and distingué woman in all of Hollywood”.[4] The couple entertained lavishly at “Lilowe”, their Beverly Hills home, and weekly parties became full-blown orgies with A-list celebrities seeking invitations. Her wardrobe cost $1,000,000 and women around the world clamored for copies of her hats, gowns, and jewelry. Servants were ordered to serve her cats high tea and for Easter brunch she had her dining room painted dark blue to provide a contrast to her blonde hair. She once painted her Malibu home red and white, asked her guests to wear red and white, and even dyed the toilet paper red and white.[3]


    Synagogue Emanu-El in New York City was the site of Tashman’s funeral.In 1932, Tashman entered hospital in New York City for an appendectomy that is now considered a concealment for abdominal cancer. She left hospital thin and weak. Although she made five films in her last years, performing with her usual artistry and professionalism, she weakened significantly in the months following her hospitalization and her role in Riptide was trimmed because of her ever-worsening health.[2]In February 1934 she flew to New York City to film Frankie and Johnny for Republic Pictures but her condition necessitated a week of rest in Connecticut with Lowe. She resumed work in March, completing her film role on March 8 and then appearing at the Israel Orphan’s Home benefit on March 10. When she entered hospital for surgery on March 16 it was too late for the doctors to help her. [2]Tashman died, age 37, from cancer at The Doctor’s Hospital in New York City on March 21, 1934.[5] Her funeral was held on March 22 in New York City synagogue Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue with Sophie Tucker, Mary Pickford, Fanny Brice, Cecil Beaton, Jack Benny, and other distinguished celebrities in attendance. Eddie Cantor delivered the eulogy.[2] The burial in Brooklyn’s Washington Cemetery attracted 10,000 fans, mourners, and curious onlookers; it became a near riot when people were injured and a gravestone was toppled. Tashman left no will, but the distribution of her $31,000 in cash and $121,000 in furs and jewels provoked contentious discussion among her husband and sisters, Hattie and Jennie. Her last film, Frankie and Johnny, was released posthumously in May 1936 with her role as Nellie Bly cut to a cameo.[2]

    Year Film Role Other notes
    1921 Experience Pleasure First feature film
    1922 Head Over Heels Efith Penfield
    1924 Nellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model Nita
    Manhandled Pinkie Moran
    Winner Take All Felicity Brown
    The Garden of Weeds Hazel
    The Dark Swan Sybil Johnson
    Is Love Everything? Edythe Stanley
    1925 Ports of Call Lillie
    The Parasite Laura Randall
    Declassée Mrs. Leslie
    A Broadway Butterfly Thelma Perry
    I’ll Show You the Town Fan Green
    Pretty Ladies Selma Larson
    The Girl Who Wouldn’t Work Greta Verlaine
    Seven Days Bella Wilson
    Bright Lights Gwen Gould
    1926 Rocking Moon Sasha Larianoff
    The Skyrocket Ruby Wright
    Whispering Smith Marion Sinclair
    Siberia Beautiful Blonde
    So This Is Paris Georgette Lalle, a dancer
    For Alimony Only Narcissa Williams
    Love’s Blindness Alice, Duchess of Lincolnwood
    Camille Olympe
    1927 Don’t Tell the Wife Suzanna
    Evening Clothes (uncredited) Undetermined Role
    The Woman Who Did Not Care Iris Carroll
    The Prince of Headwaiters Mae Morin
    The Stolen Bride Ilona Taznadi
    A Texas Steer Dixie Style
    French Dressing Peggy Nash
    1928 Happiness Ahead Kay
    Phyllis of the Follies Mrs. Decker
    Lady Raffles Lillian
    Craig’s Wife Mrs. Passmore
    Take Me Home Derelys Devore
    Manhattan Cocktail Mrs. Renov
    1929 Hardboiled Minnie
    The Lone Wolf’s Daughter Velma
    The Trial of Mary Dugan Dagmar Lorne
    Bulldog Drummond Irma
    Gold Diggers of Broadway Eleanor
    The Marriage Playground Joyce Wheater
    New York Nights Peggy
    1930 No, No, Nanette Lucille Early
    Puttin’ on the Ritz Goldie Devere
    On the Level Lynn Crawford
    The Matrimonial Bed Sylvaine
    Leathernecking Edna
    The Cat Creeps Cicily
    1931 One Heavenly Night Fritzi Vajos
    Finn and Hattie The ‘Princess’
    Millie Helen ‘Hel’ Riley
    Up Pops the Devil Polly Griscom
    Murder by the Clock Laura Endicott
    The Mad Parade Lil Wheeler Forgotten Women (US re-release title)
    The Road to Reno Mrs. Jackie Millet
    Girls About Town Marie Bailey
    1932 The Wiser Sex Claire Foster
    Those We Love Valerie
    Scarlet Dawn Vera Zimina
    1933

    Wine, Women and Song Frankie Arnette
    Mama Loves Papa Mrs. McIntosh
    Too Much Harmony Lucille Watkins
    1934 Riptide Sylvia Wilson
    1936 Frankie and Johnnie Nellie Bly released posthumously

  • ^ a b c d e f McLellan, Diana (2000). The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood. New York: Macmillan. pp. 68–9,74–5. ISBN 0-312-24647-1. 
  • ^ a b c d e f g h i j Golden, Eve. “Lilyan Tashman: Show Girl in Hollywood”. Classic Images. http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=/1997/august97/tashman.html. Retrieved 2009-12-20. 
  • ^ a b c Fleming, E. J. (2004). The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling, and the MGM Publicity Machine. McFarland. p. 105. ISBN 0-786-42027-8. 
  • ^ a b Faderman, Lillian; Timmons, Stuart (2006). Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians. New York: Basic Books. pp. 41,63–4. ISBN 978-0-465-02288-5. 
  • ^ Lilyan Tashman Dies In Hospital. New York Times. March 22, 1934. p. 21. 
  • Margaret Nolan

    Vicky Kennedy redirects here. For the spouse of American politician Edward M. Kennedy see Victoria Reggie Kennedy

    Margaret Nolan/Vicky Kennedy Born Margaret Nolan
    29 October 1943 (1943-10-29) (age 66)
    London, England, UK

    Margaret Nolan, also known as Vicky Kennedy, (born 29 October 1943) is a British artist and a former actress and glamour model.

    Contents

    Born in Hampstead, London to Irish parents, Margaret Nolan adopted the name Vicky Kennedy while working in the ‘glamour’ scene during the early 1960s. Her best glamour photo modelling work was with Harrison Marks in Kamera and other magazines.She later reverted to her birth name of Margaret Nolan and appeared in a number of television and film roles, including A Hard Day’s Night with The Beatles and the James Bond film Goldfinger in the small role of Dink, Bond’s masseuse, and several 1970s Carry On films, most sizably Carry on Girls. She also appeared in straight theatre, becoming interested in political themes, and acted in one of the first episodes of police drama The Sweeney.In Goldfinger, it was actually her body painted with gold in the titles and advertisements, not Shirley Eaton‘s as in the narrative of the film. She also appeared in Playboy magazine following her appearance in Goldfinger in 1965. The internet sneeze.gif, where a woman in a one-piece swim suit sneezes and busts open two buttons on her outfit (revealing most of her breasts) is Nolan in Carry On Girls.In a rare interview with Den of Geek,[1] Nolan talked about moving away from England to Spain and becoming an artist. She currently lives there with her husband and two sons. Nolan’s artwork, which mostly consists of photomontages constructed from her old headshots, can be viewed at her official website.

    • The Saint – “Iris” (1963)
    • Crossroads (1964)
    • ITV Play of the Week – “Deep and Crisp and Stolen” (1964)
    • 199 Park Lane (1965)
    • After Many a Summer (1965)
    • Danger Man – “Parallel Lines Sometimes Meet” (1965)
    • Bed Sit Girl (1966)
    • Thirty Minute Theatre – “The Enchanted Night” (1966)
    • World of Wooster (1966)
    • Adam Adamant Lives! – “More Deadly than the Sword” (1966)
    • Buddenbrooks (1966)
    • Hugh and I – “Goodbye Dolly” (1966)
    • Theatre 625 – “A Man Like That” (1966)
    • The Newcomers (1966)
    • Take a Pair of Private Eyes (3 episodes) (1966)
    • Armchair Theatre – “Compensation Alice” (1967)
    • The Des O’Connor Show (1967)
    • The Wednesday Play – “Death of a Private” (1967)
    • The Morecambe and Wise Show (ATV) (1967)
    • Nearest and Dearest – “Take a Letter” (1968)
    • The World of Beachcomber (2 episodes) (1969)
    • The Adventures of Don Quick – “The Benefits of Earth” (1970)
    • Budgie – “Everybody loves a Baby” (1971)
      “Brief Encounter” (1972)
      “Run Rabbit, Run Rabbitt, Run, Run, Run” (1972)
    • Steptoe and Son – “A Star is Born” (1972)
    • The Persuaders! – “Element of Risk” (1972)
    • New Scotland Yard (1 episode) (1972)
    • Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? – “I’ll Never Forget Whatshername” (1973)
    • Last of the Summer Wine – “Pate and Chips” (1973)
    • Black and Blue – “The Middle-of-the-Road Roadshow for all the Family” (1973)
    • Crown Court – “A Crime of Passion” (1973)
    • The Sweeney – “Thin Ice” (1975)
    • I Didn’t Know You Cared – “The Way My Wife Looks at Me..” (1976)
    • Fox (3 episodes) (1980)
    • Brideshead Revisited (1981) … as Effie
    • Crown Court– “Sword in the Hand of David” (1983)

    • One Track Mind (1962, Harrison Marks 8mm glamour short as Margaret Nolan)
    • “Sexational” (196?, Russell Gay 8mm glamour short as Margaret Nolan)
    • It’s a Bare, Bare World! (1963)
    • Vertigo (196?, Russell Gay 8mm glamour short)
    • Tensions (196?, Russell Gay 8mm glamour short)
    • Winsome Miss (Herald Films 8mm glamour short)
    • Presenting the Fabulous Vicky Kennedy (196?, Star Films, 8mm glamour short)
    • Nude in the Sun (1964, Harrison Marks 8mm glamour short)
    • The Four Poster (1964, Harrison Marks 8mm glamour short
    • A Hard Day’s Night (1964) in a cameo
    • Saturday Night Out (1964)
    • Carry on Cowboy (1965) as Miss Jones the Presidents secretary
    • Carry on Henry (1971) as Buxom Lass
    • Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) as Popsy
    • Carry on Matron (1972) as Mrs. Tucker
    • Carry on Girls (1973) as Dawn Brakes
    • No Sex Please, We’re British (1973) as Barbara
    • Carry on Dick (1974) as Lady Daley

    • The Carry On Companion Robert Ross (Batsford 1996)
    • Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (3rd edition) Simon Sheridan (Reynolds & Hearn 2007)

  • ^ “rare interview”. denofgeek.com. 2007-12. http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/7204/the_den_of_geek_interview_margaret_nolan.html
  • This section’s citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

    Dita Von Teese

    This article’s introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia’s lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article’s key points. (July 2009) Dita Von Teese


    Von Teese at 2007 Cannes Film Festival Born Heather Renée Sweet
    September 28, 1972 (1972-09-28) (age 37)
    Rochester, Michigan, USA Occupation Burlesque Model Spouse Marilyn Manson (m. 2005–2007) «start: (2005)–end+1: (2008)»”Marriage: Marilyn Manson to Dita Von Teese” Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dita_Von_Teese) Website http://www.dita.net

    Dita Von Teese (born September 28, 1972) is an American burlesque artist,[1] model and actress.

    Contents

    Dita Von Teese was born Heather Renée Sweet[2] on September 28, 1972 in Rochester, Michigan, the middle of three daughters.[3] Her mother was a manicurist and her father was a machinist[4] at a company that made graphite.[3] She is of partly Armenian heritage.[5]Von Teese is well known for her fascination with 1940s cinema and classic retro style. This began at a young age and was fostered by her mother, who would buy clothes for her daughter to dress up in. Her mother was a fan of old, Golden-era Hollywood films, and it was from her that Von Teese developed a fascination with the actresses of that day, especially Betty Grable.She was classically trained as a ballet dancer from an early age, and danced solo at age thirteen for a local ballet company. Though she originally wanted to be a ballerina, Von Teese states that “By 15 I was as good as I’d ever be.”[4] She was later to incorporate this element into her burlesque shows, where she frequently goes en pointe.The family relocated from Michigan to Orange County, California when her father’s job moved.[3] Von Teese attended University High School in Irvine.[6]As a teenager, Von Teese’s mother took her to buy her first bra, made from plain white cotton, and gave her a plastic egg containing a pair of wrinkly, flesh-colored tights.[6] Von Teese says she was disappointed as she had been hoping to receive beautiful lacy garments and stockings, of the type she had glimpsed in her father’s Playboy magazines. This fueled her passion for lingerie. She worked in a lingerie store as a salesgirl when she was fifteen, eventually as a buyer. Von Teese has been fond of wearing elaborate lingerie such as corsets and basques with fully fashioned stockings ever since.In college Von Teese studied historic costuming and aspired to work as a stylist for period films. She is a trained costume designer, often designing (and copyrighting) the photoshoots herself.[7]

    Von Teese began her career in a local strip club when she was eighteen. Disappointed with the lack of originality in all the other strippers’ acts, Von Teese created a vintage-inspired outfit, with beehive hairstyle and elbow-length gloves coupled with a basque and seamed stockings, piquing the interest of the clientele.

    SDG Von Teese 1.jpg
    It was during this time at the strip club that she began some glamour modeling, before she eventually became a fetish model. Her retro pin-up look, frequently emulating Bettie Page in photo shoots, set her apart from most other fetish models.Her official website is often referred to as one of the first model sites on the internet.[4]Von Teese achieved some level of recognition in the fetish world as a tightlacer. Through the wearing of a corset for many years, she had reduced her natural waistline to 22 inches (56 cm), and can be laced down as far as 16.5 inches (42 cm).[8] A thin person already, Von Teese stands at 5 ft 5″ (165 cm.)[9] and weighs 114 pounds (52 kg).[10][11]Von Teese appeared on a number of fetish magazine covers, including Bizarre [12] and Marquis.[13] It was around this time when she appeared on the cover of Midori‘s book, The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage.[14]Von Teese was featured in Playboy in 1999, 2001 and 2002, with a cover-featured pictorial in 2002.The German metal band Atrocity chose her as the cover model for their 2008 album, Werk 80 II.[15]

    Von Teese is best known for her burlesque routines and is frequently dubbed “the Queen of Burlesque”[16][17] in the press. Von Teese began performing burlesque in 1993[18] and, as a proponent of New Burlesque, has helped to popularize its revival. In her own words, she “puts the tease back into striptease” with long, elaborate dance shows with props and characters, often inspired by 1930s and 1940s musicals and films. Some of her more famous dances have involved a c
    ar
    ousel horse, a giant powder compact, a filigree heart and a clawfoot bathtub with a working shower head. Her feather fan dance, inspired by burlesque dancer Sally Rand, featured the world’s largest feather fans, now on display in Hollywood‘s Museum Of Sex.[19] Her signature show features a giant martini glass.Her burlesque career has included some memorable performances. She once appeared at a benefit for the New York Academy of Art wearing nothing but $5 million worth of diamonds.[20] Additionally, Von Teese became the first guest star to perform at the Parisian Crazy Horse cabaret club with her appearance in October 2006.[21] Also in 2006, Von Teese appeared on an episode of America’s Next Top Model cycle 7 doing a workshop to teach the contestants about sexiness by means of burlesque dancing and posing. In 2007 Von Teese performed at the adult entertainment event Erotica 07 in London alongside Italian Rock noir band Belladonna.Cameron Diaz performed a tribute to Von Teese’s martini glass routine[22] in the film Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.[19] Von Teese’s name appears in the credits, listed under “Special Thanks.”Von Teese’s first book, which consisted of her opinions on the history of burlesque and fetish, Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese, was published in 2006 by HarperCollins. Vanity Fair called her “a Burlesque Superheroine.”In 2008 Von Teese was one of the contributors to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna‘s book Cherry Bomb.[23]Von Teese participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia as part of the stage performance for the German entry “Miss Kiss Kiss Bang.” The act placed 20th out of 25 participants in the final round of the contest.[24] Later, she said her cleavage was censored during the show because of her voluptuous figure.[25]

    Von Teese is also an occasional actress. In her early years she appeared in fetish-related, soft-core pornographic movies, such as Romancing Sara, Matter of Trust, in which she is billed as Heather Sweet, and also in two hard-core fetish films by Andrew Blake: Pin Ups 2[26] and Decadence.In recent years she has appeared in more mainstream features, such as the 2005 short film, The Death of Salvador Dali, written by Delaney Bishop, which won best screenplay and best cinematography at recent festivals, including SXSW, Raindance Film Festival and Mill Valley Film Festival, and Best Actress for Von Teese at Beverly Hills Film Festival. She appeared in the feature films Saint Francis and The Boom Boom Room, both in 2007.In addition to this, she has appeared in a number of music videos, including the video for the Green Day song “Redundant,”[27] the video for “Zip Gun Bop” by swing band Royal Crown Revue, Agent Provocateur‘s video for their cover of Joy Division‘s “She’s Lost Control,” and performed her Martini Glass burlesque routine in the video for “Mobscene” by Marilyn Manson.[28] She has also been featured in a striptease/burlesque act in George Michael‘s live tour 2008, for the song “Feelin’ Good.”[29]However, Von Teese has said that acting is not at the top of her agenda and she would only take roles that she feels are right for her, stating, “I don’t understand why women feel the need to go into acting as soon as they become famous…But I suppose if the part were aesthetically correct, then maybe I could consider it.”[30]


    At Selfridges, London, 2007.Von Teese has appeared on a number of best-dressed lists[31] and frequents the front row of fashion shows, particularly Christian Dior and Marc Jacobs, labels she is often seen wearing.She has also done various catwalk work. During Los Angeles Fashion Week, Spring 2004, she modeled for former club kid Richie Rich‘s fashion label, Heatherette. In 2005 she appeared in the Autumn/Winter Ready-to-Wear show for Giambattista Valli, a former designer for Ungaro, in Paris. In the 2006 Milan Fashion Week, Von Teese was on the runway, opening for the Moschino diffusion label, Moschino Cheap & Chic, autumn/winter 2006/7 show. In 2007, she appeared twice in the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture show during the Paris Fashion Week. Additionally, she has starred in several ad campaigns. She appeared in Vivienne Westwood‘s spring/summer 2005 collection adverts and became the face of Australian clothing range Wheels and Dollbaby for their 2006/7 Spring/Summer advertising campaign. Currently, she is a spokesmodel for MAC Cosmetics. Von Teese has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle,[32] and international issues of nearly every fashion magazine. She has also campaigned on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and appeared in their ads. Most recently she has designed a new lingerie range with Wonderbra.[33]In spite of this, Von Teese states that she never uses a stylist. “The one time I hired a stylist, they picked up a pair of my 1940s shoes and said, ‘These would look really cute with jeans.’ I immediately said, ‘You’re out of here.'” She does her own make-up, and dyes her naturally blonde hair black at home.[4] Von Teese’s unique style is “inspired by eccentric women like Luisa Casati, Anna Piaggi, and Isabella Blow.”[34]

    Von Teese currently splits her time between her homes in Hollywood[35] and Paris.[36]She is a collector of vintage china, particularly eggcups and tea sets,[37] and drives a 1939 Chrysler New Yorker, a BMW Z4 and a 1965 Jaguar S-type.[38]Von Teese frequently mentions that her best friend is fellow burlesque performer, Catherine D’lish, who designs all of Von Teese’s burlesque costumes.Prior to her marriage, Von Teese had been romantically linked to vocalist/guitarist Mike Ness of Social Distortion[39] and to actor Peter Sarsgaard.[40] She has also spoken of several lesbian experiences including a long-term relationship with a woman when she was 20.[41] She has been dating French aristocrat, Count Louis Marie de Castelbajac since April, 2009.[42]She has been open about the plastic surgery she has undergone, with both breasts and her beauty mark being artificial.[3]She participated at the PETA‘s campaign “Animal Birth Control (ABC).”[43]

    Marilyn Manson had been a long time fan, and was a member of her website. They first met when he asked her to dance in one of his music videos. Though she was unable to, the two kept in contact. On Manson’s 32nd birthday, in 2001,[44] she arrived with a bottle of absinthe, and they became a couple. Manson proposed on March 22, 2004 and gave her a 1930s, 7-carat (1.4 g), European round-cut diamond engagement ring. On November 28, 2005, they were married in a

    private, non-denominational ceremony in their home.A larger ceremony was held on December 3 at Gurteen Castle in Kilsheelan (County Tipperary), Ireland, the home of their friend, Gottfried Helnwein. The wedding was officiated by surrealist film director and comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky. They reportedly exchanged vows in front of approximately 60 guests.[citation needed]On December 29, 2006, Von Teese filed for divorce from Manson citing “irreconcilable differences.”[45] Von Teese left their house empty-handed on Christmas Eve, and was not able to get in touch with Manson to inform him of her intention to divorce him. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Von Teese says “I wasn’t supportive of his partying or his relationship with another girl. As much as I loved him I wasn’t going to be part of that.” Von Teese also stated that she gave Manson an ultimatum, but says “It didn’t work. Instead, it made me the enemy.”[35] Von Teese is not seeking spousal support and seems to have no interest in his assets.[45] The news broke for the public and for Manson on his birthday on January 5, 2007, when he was served the divorce papers.

    Year Film Role Notes
    1995 Romancing Sara Allison Credited as ‘Heather Sweet’
    1997 Matter of Trust Girl with C.T. Credited as ‘Heather Sweet’
    1999 Pin-Ups 2 Credited as ‘Dita’
    2000 Decadence Credited as ‘Dita’
    2001 Slick City: The Adventures of Lela Devin Lela Devin
    Tickle Party: Volume 2 Credited as ‘Dita’
    2002 Bound in Stockings
    Naked and Helpless
    2004 Blooming Dahlia Elizabeth Curt
    Lest We Forget: The Video Collection Girl In Martini Glass
    2005 The Death of Salvador Dali Gala Won Best Actress at Beverly Hills Film Festival
    2006 Saint Francis Soul, Pica Bernard
    2007 Indie Sex: Extremes Herself Documentary
    The Boom Boom Room Adeline Winter Filming

    Additionally, Von Teese was a featured guest on the sixth episode (original air date: October 25, 2006) of Cycle 7 of America’s Next Top Model.[46] and as a coach in the Burlesque special Faking It.[47]

    • Von Teese, Dita (2006). Burlesque and the Art of the Teese. Regan Books. ISBN. 

  • ^ beburlesque.com, French burlesque webzine.
  • ^ Mackenzie, James (2009-01-22). “Striptease queen Dita von Teese back at Paris revue”. Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE50L5IN20090122. Retrieved 2009-01-25. 
  • ^ a b c d Craig McLean (2008-09-20). “Dita von Teese’s naked ambition”. The Times. London. http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article4757809.ece. Retrieved 2008-09-20. 
  • ^ a b c d Naomi West (2006-06-03). “Art of the Teese”. Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2006/03/06/efdita04.xml. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Official Twitter
  • ^ a b Katherine Nguyen (2006-04-06). “Dita von Teese: Call her old-fashioned”. ocregister.com. http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/life/features/lifestyle/article_1086656.php. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Kristen Dizon (2004-02-12). “Burlesque is Back”. seattlepi.com. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/theater/160251_burlesque12.html. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
  • ^ “More Teese if you please”. Yorkshire Evening Post. 2006-10-02. http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=102&ArticleID=1834730. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Dita Von Teese’s official Twitter
  • ^ Dita Von Teese Height – Von Teese’s
  • ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/von-teeses-drug-ravaged-boobs_1120345
  • ^ Kate Hodges (2008-07-06). “Viva La Dita!”. Dennis Publishing. http://www.bizarremag.com/bizarre_girls/cover_girls/7221/dita_von_teese.html. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Dita Von Teese – Credits and Appearances
  • ^ http://pocketvenus.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/the-seductive-art-of-japanese-bondage-by-midori-2002/
  • ^ Ex-Marilyn Manson featured on Atrocity cover
  • ^ Melissa Maynard (2005-06-01). “My Fashion Life: Dita Von Teese”. Vogue.com.. http://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/show_coverage/2007/2007_2008_rafw_spring_summer/the_buzz/dita_von_teese_my_fashion_life. Retrieved 2007-05-25. 
  • ^ Isabelle-Marie Créac’h. “Woman of Global Style: Dita Von Teese”. Vogue.com. http://www.factio-magazine.com/womanofstyle/des_DitaVonTeese.cfm. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  • ^ Daniel Robert Epstein (2006-03-10). “Suicide Girls Interview”. Tribe.net. http://tribes.tribe.net/ditavonteese/thread/43c6a563-9800-4960-aae2-712e76956a9e. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
  • ^ a b “Dita Von Teese – Shows and Performances”. Dita.net. http://www.dita.net/shows.php. Retrieved 2007-05-28. 
  • ^ “Diamonds are a Queen’s Best Friend”. Queerty.com. 2005-10-18. http://www.queerty.com/queer/drag/diamonds-are-a-queens-best-friend-20051018.php. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
  • ^ DITA VON TEESE PERFORMS AT AT THE LEGENDARY CRAZY HORSE DE PARIS
  • ^ “Seattle Weekly: Dita Von Teese at the Triple Door”. http://www.seattleweekly.com/slideshow/view/2536466/5. Retrieved 2009-04-03 
  • ^ LA WEEKLY July 30, 2008
  • ^ Burlesque star in German line-up
  • ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a180160/teese-eurovision-censors-picked-on-me.html
  • ^ Dita Von Teese Lesbian Sex Video Surfaces
  • ^ “Didja Know: Useless Green Day facts”. The Green Day Authority. http://www.greendayauthority.com/TheBand/didjaknow.php?section=all. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Blair R. Fischer. “Sweet (wet) dreams are Made of this: Marilyn Manson snaps nudes of modern-day fetish queen/girlfriend Dita von Teese”. Playboy. http://www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment/celebphoto/marilynmanson/index.html. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Dita von Teese and George Michael live in Madison Square Garden, August 24, 2008
  • ^ Jonathan Isaby. “Spy: Not an Act”. Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/02/18/dp1801.xml. Retrieved 2007-05-27. 
  • ^ Melissa Maynard (2005-06-01). “Woman of Global Style: Dita Von Teese”. Factio-magazine.com.. http://www.factio-magazine.com/womanofstyle/des_DitaVonTeese.cfm. Retrieved 2007-03-20. 
  • ^ Annika Suvi Johanna Vaisanen: Dita Von Teesen Tyylivinkit] – Elle Finland Jan 2009
  • ^ [1] – Telegraph
  • ^ Amy Schroeder & Constanze Lyndsay Han (2007-12-01). “Dita Von Teese the Showgirl”. Venuszine.com. http://www.venuszine.com/articles/fashion/features/2670/Dita_Von_Teese_the_showgirl. Retrieved 2009-07-13. 
  • ^ a b Kimberly Cutter (2007-04-22). “Educating Dita”. The Sunday Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2007/04/22/stdita122.xml&page=3. Retrieved 2007-04-22. 
  • ^ “Dita Von Teese: Stripteese”. SuicideGirls.com. 18 Dec 2009. http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Dita+Von+Teese%3A+Stripteese/. Retrieved 2009-12-23. .
  • ^ “Dita’s Vintage Obsession”. exposay.com. 2006-12-27. http://www.exposay.com/ditas-vinage-obsession/v/7159/. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
  • ^ Dita Von Teese – Biographical Information
  • ^ “Dita: Manson is Wonderful”. contactmusic.com. 2003-10-10. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/dita.%20manson%20is%20wonderful. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ “Dita has explosive sex”. The Sun Online. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,5-2005220696,00.html. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Rosanna Greenstreet (2006-11-02). “Q&A: Dita Von Teese”. Guardian Unlimited. http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1937482,00.html. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ “Dita Von Teese has a new man, Louis Marie de Castelbajac”. In Style. http://www.instyle.co.uk/news/dita-von-teese-has-a-new-man-louis-marie-de-castelbajac-11-06-09. Retrieved January 25, 2010. 
  • ^ Dita for Peta’s ABC campaign
  • ^ “Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese Wed in Ireland”. The Heirophant (originally People Magazine). 2005-12-03. http://www.mansonusa.com/php-bin/news/fullnews.php?id=369. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ a b “Rock star Manson set to divorce”. BBC News. 2007-01-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6236663.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  • ^ Episodes – America’s Next Top Model
  • ^ “Faking It” Burlesque Special (2006)