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Carol Wayne

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Carol Wayne
Born
Carol Marie Wayne

(1942-09-06)September 6, 1942
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJanuary 13, 1985(1985-01-13) (aged 42)
Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico
OccupationActress
Years active1966–1985
Spouses
Loreto Cera
​
​
(m. 1965; div. 1967)​
​
​
(m. 1969; div. 1974)​
​
​
(m. 1975; div. 1980)​
Children1
RelativesNina Wayne (sister)

Carol Marie Wayne (September 6, 1942 – January 13, 1985) was an American television and film actress. She appeared regularly on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as the Matinee Lady in the Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Wayne began her show business career as a teenage figure skater in the Ice Capades along with her younger sister, Nina.[1]

Career

Wayne did television guest shots on I Spy (as the title character in the episode "Trouble with Temple"), Bewitched (as a rabbit turned into a cocktail bunny), I Dream of Jeannie (as dim-witted starlet Bootsie Nightingale), Love American Style, Emergency! and The Fall Guy, and appeared in many sketches on The Red Skelton Show.

Wayne said she was "discovered" at a Hollywood party and auditioned for The Tonight Show after appearances as a Las Vegas chorus line dancer.[2][3]

She gained her greatest fame for appearances (1967–1984) on The Tonight Show,[4] including 100-plus appearances (1971–1984) as the buxom Matinée Lady on The Tonight Show in Johnny Carson's popular Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches, which were filled with sexual double entendres. After her death, Carson kept the Art Fern character off the air for most of the next year. He eventually hired Danuta Wesley and later Teresa Ganzel to be his new Matinée Lady.

Wayne made appearances on several game shows during the 1970s including Mantrap and Hollywood Squares. She was a regular panelist on Celebrity Sweepstakes. She landed roles in several films, including Gunn, The Party (both directed by Blake Edwards), Scavenger Hunt, Savannah Smiles and Surf II. Her final onscreen appearance came in the 1984 drama Heartbreakers, for which she received the best reviews of her career. Critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Her performance is so good, so heartbreaking, if you will, that it pulls the whole movie together."[5]

In February 1984, Wayne appeared nude in a pictorial for Playboy magazine.[2] The same year, she filed for bankruptcy.[6][7][8]

Personal life

Wayne was married three times. She married her first husband, Loreto "Larry" Cera, on May 1, 1965; they divorced in June 1967. In 1969, Wayne married her second husband, rock-music photographer Barry Feinstein, with whom she had a son, Alex Feinstein (b. 1970).[3][9] The couple divorced in 1974. A year later, she married television and film producer Burt Sugarman, who served as producer on Celebrity Sweepstakes.[10] They divorced in 1980.[11]

Wayne told Johnny Carson in an interview on April 30, 1974, one of 38 appearances, that she enjoyed gardening and growing bonsai trees, and in another interview, breeding Andalusian horses.[citation needed]

Death

In January 1985, Wayne vacationed at the Las Hadas Resort in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, with companion Edward Durston, a car salesman.[6][7][12] After an argument, Wayne reportedly took a walk on the beach. Three days later, a local fisherman found Wayne's body in a shallow bay. An autopsy performed in Mexico revealed no signs of alcohol or other drugs in her body, and her death was ruled "accidental."[6][8]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1967 Gunn Ernestine
1968 The Party June Warren
1979 Scavenger Hunt Nurse
1980 Gypsy Angels Waitress
1982 Savannah Smiles Doreen
1984 Surf II Mrs. O'Finlay Alternative title: Surf II: The End of the Trilogy
1984 Heartbreakers Candy
1984 E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind Regine
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1966 The Man from U.N.C.L.E Ginger LaVeer Episode: "The Super-Colossal Affair"
1966 The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. Shelia Episode: "The Faustus Affair"
1967 I Spy Temple Episode: "The Trouble with Temple"
1967 Occasional Wife Miss Orange Grove Episode: "The New Secretary"
1967 I Dream of Jeannie Bootsie Nightingale Episode: "Here Comes Bootsie Nightingale"
1969 Bewitched Bunny Episode: "A Bunny for Tabitha"
1970 The Red Skelton Show NBC Soundstage Tour Guide
Chambermaid 		Episodes: "The Magic Act"
"The Private Detective"
1970–1972 Love, American Style Various 6 episodes
1971 Sarge Receptionist Episode: "Psst! Wanna Buy a Dirty Picture?"
1971 The Bold Ones: The Lawyers Christie Mullins Episode: "The Letter of the Law"
1971–1984 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Art Fern's Tea-Time Movie Lady[13] 3 episodes
1972 Mannix Bobbi Episode: "A Puzzle for One"
1972 Every Man Needs One Nancy Television movie
1973 The Girl with Something Extra Mimi Episode: "John & Sally & Fred & Linda"
1974 Medical Center Blanche Episode: "Adults Only"
1974 Emergency! Renee, Miss October Episode: "The Screenwriter"
1974-1976 Celebrity Sweepstakes Herself (regular panelist)[14][15] Television game show
1979 Whew! Herself (celebrity player) Television game show
1979 Heaven on Earth Television movie
1981 The Big Black Pill Allegra Farrenpour Television movie
1981 The Fall Guy Rose Episodes: "The Meek Shall Inherit Rhonda"
"The Japanese Connection"

References

  1. ^ "Carol Wayne". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "'Playboy' Magazine February 1984 vol.31, no.2". Vintageplayboymags.co.uk. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Carol Wayne, Sexy Blonde on Carson Show, Drowns". Los Angeles Times. January 14, 1985. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  4. ^ Smith, Ronald L. (2008). Comic Support: Second Bananas in the Movies. Carol Publishing Group. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-8065-1399-7.
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger (September 3, 1985). "Heartbreakers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved August 16, 2022 – via RogerEbert.com.
  6. ^ a b c Austin, John (July 16, 1991). More of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries. SP Books. ISBN 978-0-9440-0773-0. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b Austin, John (July 16, 1994). Hollywood's Babylon Women. SP Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-5617-1288-5. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Internet Archive. Buxom blonde actress Carol Wayne was bankrupt and hooked on cocaine andn booze when she jetted off to Mexico in January 1985,...Accompanying Wayne was a Los Angeles used car salesman...named Edward Durston.
  8. ^ a b "Carol Wayne / Mysterious Death of Carol Wayne". Tvparty!. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  9. ^ Kelly, Debra (November 19, 2022). "The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Film Actress Carol Wayne". Grunge. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  10. ^ Beale, Lauren (August 2, 2011). "Mary Hart, Burt Sugarman buy unit at Ritz-Carlton Residences". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  11. ^ "Carol Wayne, TV Comedienne, Dies". Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1985. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  12. ^ Fleming, E. J. (October 2, 2015). Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites: Seventeen Driving Tours with Directions and the Full Story (2d ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1850-0. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Panama Red (December 20, 2013). "Carol Wayne on the Tonight Show wearing a Knotted Shirt". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  14. ^ The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV) (January 31, 2015). "WAVE Channel 3 - Celebrity Sweepstakes (Opening, 1975)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  15. ^ "Celebrity Sweepstakes--Alan Sues demonstrates comical irony". YouTube. January 1, 2010. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
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