Mamie Van Doren

Mamie Van Doren
Van Doren, ca. 1954
Born	Joan Lucille Olander (1931-02-06) February 6, 1931 Rowena, South Dakota, U.S.
Occupations	Actress model singer nightclub performer
Years active	1951–present
Spouses	Jack Newman ​ ​ (m. 1949; div. 1949)​ Ray Anthony ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1961)​ Leroy Meyers ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1967)​ Ross McClintock ​ ​ (m. 1972; ann. 1973)​ Thomas Dixon ​ (m. 1979)​
Children	1

Mamie Van Doren (born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best known for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation film Untamed Youth (1957).

Early life

Van Doren was born on February 6, 1931, in Rowena, South Dakota, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett. She is of three-quarters Swedish ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and then to Los Angeles during May 1942.

In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television series. She sang with Ted Fio Rito's band and entered several beauty contests. At age 17, she eloped to Santa Barbara, California, with Jack Newman, but because of his abusive nature the marriage was quickly dissolved. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs. She was engaged to heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, but broke the engagement upon signing a contract with Universal Studios.

Producer Howard Hughes discovered Van Doren when she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for several years. Hughes launched her career by placing her in several RKO films.

Career

In 1950, Hughes provided Van Doren with a bit part in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures, which was her film debut. Her line of dialogue consisted of one word, "Look!" and she appears uncredited in the film. Though production of the movie was from 1949 to 1953 (delays by Hughes), it was not released until 1957. The following year, 1951, she posed for pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas.

Van Doren did a few more bit parts in movies at RKO, including His Kind of Woman (1951) starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell and Vincent Price. About her appearance in this movie, Van Doren said "If you blinked you would miss me. I look barely old enough to drive."

Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York City in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International.

On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie after Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower. Other Van Dorens, who were unrelated to Mamie, were a prominent and noted family of American intellectuals; these Van Dorens included two Pulitzer Prize-winning brothers, Carl (biographer) and Mark (poet), and Mark's wife Dorothy, an academic and historian.

Van Doren in 1954

Universal first cast Van Doren in a minor role as a singer in Forbidden, starring Tony Curtis. Interested in Van Doren's allure, Universal then cast her in The All American (1953), (also starring Tony Curtis), playing her first major role as Susie Ward, a wayward girl who is the man-trap at a campus beer joint. In Yankee Pasha (1954), starring Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming, she played a slave girl in a supporting role. In 1955, she had a supporting role in the musical Ain't Misbehavin' and starred in the crime-drama Running Wild. Van Doren turned down a Broadway role in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and was replaced by newcomer Jayne Mansfield.

In 1956, Van Doren appeared opposite an uncredited and unknown Clint Eastwood in Star in the Dust. Though Van Doren garnered prominent billing alongside John Agar and Richard Boone, she appears rather briefly, as the daughter of a ranch owner. By this time, Van Doren had grown tired of Universal, which was casting her in non-breakthrough roles. Van Doren began accepting bigger and better roles in better movies from other studios.

Van Doren went on to star in several bad girl movies that later became cult films. She also appeared in some of the first movies to feature rock 'n' roll music and became identified with this rebellious style, and she made some rock records. One of her rock 'n' roll films, Untamed Youth, was later featured in the 1990 Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode "Untamed Youth".

Some of Van Doren's more noteworthy movies include Teacher's Pet (1958) at Paramount Pictures, Born Reckless (1958) at Warner Brothers, High School Confidential (1958), and The Beat Generation (1959), the latter two at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But Van Doren was just as well known for her provocative roles. She was in prison for Girls Town (1959), which provoked censors with a shower scene where audiences could see Van Doren's naked back. As Eve in The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960) she wore only fig leaves, and in other films, like The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (1959), Sex Kittens Go to College (1960), and Vice Raid (1960) audiences understood the nature of the films from the titles.

Many of Van Doren's film roles showcased her ample curves, and her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring (for the era) swimsuits, but she and such other blonde bombshell contemporaries as Jayne Mansfield, Cleo Moore, Sheree North, Anita Ekberg, Barbara Lang, Joi Lansing, Greta Thyssen, and Barbara Nichols did not attain the same level of superstar status as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn, Mamie, and Mansfield were known as "The Three M's", but by comparison, where Monroe succeeded in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Mansfield had big success replacing Van Doren in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Universal stuck Van Doren with Francis the Talking Mule in Francis Joins the WACS (1954).

Van Doren in The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966)

After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren became a free agent and struggled to find work. Some of her later movies were foreign and independent productions, which did little to keep her image in the public's eye. Many of the productions were low-budget B movies with some having gained a cult following for their high camp value.

The first of these later films was Sex Kittens Go to College (1960), which co-starred Tuesday Weld. Following the completion of the Argentine film The Blonde from Buenos Aires (1961), Van Doren took time off from her career. She came back in The Candidate (1964), soon followed by Freddy in the Wild West, both of which were low-budget films that left little impact. In 1964, Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt. Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star opposite Jayne Mansfield in Promises! Promises!, and was replaced with Marie McDonald. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film.

Van Doren next appeared in The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966) released by Woolner Brothers. This film co-starred Mansfield; this was the only time two of "The Three M's" appeared together in a film. A sequel was titled Hillbillys in a Haunted House, but Van Doren turned this role down, and was replaced by Joi Lansing. She then appeared in The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966), a science fiction movie. In 1967, she appeared in You've Got to Be Smart, and starred in the science fiction film Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), the following year, directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

Van Doren also developed a nightclub act and did live theater. She performed in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dames at Sea at the Drury Lane Theater in Chicago as well as appeared in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and The Tender Trap at the Arlington Park Theater. In the 1970s, Van Doren performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas.

In 1970, Van Doren had a supporting role in the western comedy The Arizona Kid. In 1975, she starred in the film That Girl From Boston, adapted from a Robert Rimmer novel, but the film was never released. Since then, Van Doren has appeared only in cameos in low-budget films. Van Doren's last film appearance was a role in the direct-to-video drama The American Tetralogy (2013).

Van Doren's guest appearances on television include Jukebox Jury, What's My Line, The Bob Cummings Show, The Jack Benny Show, Fantasy Island, Burke's Law, Vega$ and L.A. Law.

Van Doren in 2007

Van Doren released Playing the Field (1987), her autobiography, which brought much attention and proved to be her biggest media splash in over 25 years. She has consistently denied in interviews ever having breast implants. In 2006, Mamie posed for photographs for Vanity Fair with Pamela Anderson as part of its annual Hollywood issue.

In an interview with Fox News in February 2020, Van Doren announced that she was working on a follow-up to her autobiography. She remarked that "...a lot has happened between 1987 and 2020. So now I'm writing about what it's like getting older and appreciating life a little more as you go along, as well as getting smarter as you get older. There's so much to write about."

The title of her follow-up book was announced in December 2021 as "China & Me: Wind Flapping, Feather Pulling, and Love on the Wing", a memoir about her pet parrot China. Van Doren describes the story as "a look behind the curtain into my everyday life. It's often funny, but, like so many things in life, it has its moments of sadness. Over the decades I've integrated a wild animal into a human household, played matchmaker to find him a mate, and cared for his offspring. I'm blessed to have had China as companion, confessor, and straight man all these years; and he's still with me today." The book was published in September 2022.

In an interview with Closer in January 2021, she also reflected on the #MeToo movement, 'I've thought a lot about that. There are some things I would question, but I've also always been behind any woman with a problem because I have had plenty of them myself. [In my time] if I wanted to go to bed with someone, I'd go to bed with them, but I never did it for a movie. [A predator] would know that he was in for a fight if he ever came around me. [It would be] nails out, kicking and screaming.'

Personal life

Van Doren with her son in 1960

Van Doren has been married five times. In 1949, she married sportswear manufacturer Jack Newman; she divorced him later that same year. Her second marriage was to bandleader, composer and actor Ray Anthony whom she married in 1955. They had one son, Perry Ray Anthony, born March 18, 1956. The couple divorced in 1961. When Van Doren's early 1960s, highly publicized, on-again off-again engagement to baseball player Bo Belinsky ended in 1964, she married baseball player Lee Meyers in 1966. They divorced in 1968. Her fourth marriage was to businessman Ross McClintock in 1972. They met while working on President Nixon's re-election campaign; the marriage was annulled in 1973. Since 1979, she has been married to Thomas Dixon, an actor and dentist.

Van Doren at a Gay Pride event in Los Angeles, 1987

In her autobiography, Van Doren acknowledged that she had numerous affairs with celebrities, including Clark Gable, Howard Hughes, Burt Reynolds, Jack Dempsey, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Rivers, Robert Evans, Eddie Fisher, Warren Beatty, Tony Curtis, Steve Cochran, and Joe Namath. Claiming fidelity to each lover, she said "I don't wear panties anymore – this startles the Hollywood wolves so much they don't know what to pull at, so they leave me alone."

Van Doren was never a Playboy Playmate, but she posed twice for the magazine in 1964 to promote her movie 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964). By this point in her career, her figure measured 38DD-26-36 (self-described in 1997). She said "I don't even want to say double-D because they're even bigger than that."

In 1964, Van Doren was a guest at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California when The Beatles were at the club visiting with Jayne Mansfield, and an inebriated George Harrison accidentally threw his drink on her when trying to throw it on some bothersome journalists. During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. In addition to USO shows, she visited hospitals, including the wards of amputees and burn victims.

In 1980, Van Doren was referenced in the controversial Canadian Top 20 hit "High School Confidential" by the popular 1980s Canadian new wave band Rough Trade.

Van Doren had a website from the late 90s to the early 2010s. In recent years, Van Doren has made use of Twitter. Van Doren had a theater section, where she would post various movies. She also showed many nude and semi-nude images taken by Julie Strain. Van Doren started her own blog on which she regularly writes about a very diverse array of topics. As of July 2023 she is still posting to her blog. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2005, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Film appearances

Year	Film title	Role	Studio	Notes
1951	Footlight Varieties	Blonde in theater	RKO Radio Pictures	Uncredited
	His Kind of Woman	Lodge guest at bar
	Two Tickets to Broadway	Showgirl
1953	Forbidden	Singer	Universal Pictures	Uncredited
	The All American	Susie Ward		First major film role
1954	Hawaiian Nights	Glamour girl		Uncredited Short film
	Yankee Pasha	Lilith, Harem slave
	Francis Joins the WACS	Cpl. Bunky Hilstrom
1955	Ain't Misbehavin'	Jackie
	The Second Greatest Sex	Birdie Snyder
	Running Wild	Irma Bean
1956	Star in the Dust	Ellen Ballard		Last film under contract with Universal. Van Doren stopped accepting roles from the studio, because they were not giving her the breakthrough roles she so desperately craved.
1957	Untamed Youth	Penny Lowe	Warner Brothers	In this film, Van Doren became the first actress to sing rock 'n roll in an American musical film.
	The Girl in Black Stockings	Harriet Ames	United Artists	Van Doren's final film to be lined-up for her by Universal in 1956. a.k.a.: Wanton Murder and Wanton Murder Mystery
	Jet Pilot	WAF	RKO Radio Pictures	Uncredited. Filmed between 1949 and 1953, delays by director, but not released until 1957.
1958	Teacher's Pet	Peggy DeFore	Paramount Pictures	Van Doren's role was originally bigger, but was edited to be smaller because of the outfits she was required to wear in the film.
	High School Confidential	Gwen Dulaine	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
	Born Reckless	Jackie Adams	Warner Brothers
1959	Guns, Girls, and Gangsters	Vi Victor	United Artists
	The Beat Generation	Georgia Altera	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
	The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina	Sabrina		Her first non-Hollywood motion picture release
	The Big Operator	Mary Gibson	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
	Girls Town	Silver Morgan		The first film to feature Van Doren nude. She appears nude through a fuzzy shower door.
1960	Vice Raid	Carol Hudson	United Artists
	College Confidential	Sally Blake	Universal Pictures
	Sex Kittens Go to College	Dr. Mathilda West	Allied Artists
	The Private Lives of Adam and Eve	Evie Simms/Eve	Universal Pictures	In this film, Van Doren wore only leaves for dream sequences.
1961	The Blonde from Buenos Aires
1964	The Candidate	Samantha Ashley
	Freddy in the Wild West	Olivia	-	a.k.a.: The Sheriff Was a Lady (alternative title)
	3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt	Saxie Symbol	Harlequin International Pictures	Filmed as a sequel/spinoff of Promises! Promises!, a film that Van Doren had turned down.
1966	The Las Vegas Hillbillys	Boots Malone	Woolner Brothers	Co-starred Jayne Mansfield. This is the only time that any of the "Three M's" appeared together in a motion picture.
	The Navy vs. the Night Monsters	Nora Hall	Realart Pictures Inc.	The first of two science fiction films that Van Doren made.
1967	You've Got to Be Smart	Miss Hathaway
1968	Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women	Moana	American-International Television	The last science fiction film of Van Doren's career.
1970	The Arizona Kid	Sharon Miller
1975	That Girl from Boston	Pricess Tassel
1986	Free Ride	Debbie Stockwell	Galaxy International Releasing
1999	The Vegas Connection	Rita
2002	Slackers	Miss Van Graaf	Screen Gems
2012	The American Tetralogy	Mazu or the Goddess of the Sea

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Format	Label
1957	Untamed Youth	EP	Prep Records
1976	Mamie – As in Mamie Van Doren	LP	Churchill Records
1986	The Girl Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll	LP	Rhino Records
1997	The Girl Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll	CD	Marginal Records
2011	Still a Troublemaker	CD/iTunes	Ferguson Records
2017	Ooh Ba La Baby: Her Exciting Rock N' Roll Recordings (1956–1959)	CD	Hoodoo Records

Singles

Year	Single	Format	Label
1957	Salamander/Go, Go, Calypso!	45 rpm	Prep Records
	Something to Dream About/I Fell in Love	45 rpm	Capitol Records
1958	Nobody but You/A Lifetime of Love	45 rpm	Dot Records
	Don't Fool Around, Sabrina (Be Mine, Be Mine, Be Mine)/Fashion for Ladies	45 rpm	RCA Records (Italy)
1959	The Beat Generation/I'm Grateful	45 rpm	Dot Records
1964	Bikini with No Top on the Top (with June Wilkinson)/So What Else Is New	45 rpm	Jubilee Records
1967	Cabaret/The Boy Catcher's Theme	45 rpm	Audio Fidelity
1984	State of Turmoil	12" Single	Corner Stone Records
1986	Young Dudes/Queen of Pleasure	12" Single	Rhino Records

External links

• Official website (archived)
• Mamie Van Doren at IMDb
• Mamie Van Doren at the TCM Movie Database
• Mamie Van Doren at AllMovie
• Bombshells away, at Salon, Karen Abbott, July 19, 2000.
• Mamie Van Doren interview by Sandra Bernhard