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Jeanne Carmen

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Not to be confused with Jean Carmen.
Jeanne Carmen
Carmen in Portland Exposé (1957)
Born
Jeanne Laverne Carmen

(1930-08-04)August 4, 1930
Paragould, Arkansas, U.S.
DiedDecember 20, 2007(2007-12-20) (aged 77)
Irvine, California, U.S.
Resting placePacific View Memorial Park
Other namesJeannie Carman
Saba Dareaux
Occupation(s)Actress, model, pin-up girl, trick-shot golfer
Years active1951–2005
Spouse(s)Sandy Scott (m. 1948–1949)
Ben Campo (1963–?)[1]
ChildrenMelinda, Brandon James, and Jade Austin
WebsiteThe Official Jeanne Carmen web site

Jeanne Laverne Carmen (August 4, 1930 – December 20, 2007) was an American model, actress and trick-shot golfer.

Early life and career

Carmen was born in Paragould, Arkansas. As a child, she picked cotton before running away from home at age 13. As a teen, she moved to New York City and landed a job as a dancer in Burlesque, with Bert Lahr. Later, she became a model, appearing as a pin-up girl in several men's magazines, including Wink, Titter, and Beauty Parade. She was a trick-shot golfer, appearing with and managed by Jack Redmond. She toured country clubs and county fairs with Redmond and her then husband Sandy Scott. In her 20s, while on tour and traveling to Florida, she met Johnny Rosselli, the Chicago Outfit's liaison in Los Angeles, who drove her, without her husband, to Las Vegas. The pair, now intimate, stayed at the Desert Inn, where they scammed rich victims who bet unsuccessfully against her winning games on the casino's golf course. Rosselli introduced her to Frank Sinatra, who took her from Las Vegas to Hollywood.[1][2][3][4]

In Hollywood, she appeared in B-movies such as Guns Don't Argue and The Monster of Piedras Blancas. She played both brassy platinum-blondes and (with her natural dark hair) sultry Spanish women.[5] Carmen's good looks, hourglass figure, and green eyes quickly landed her on the big screen in 1956 playing a feisty Spanish senorita named Serelda in the film The Three Outlaws, a Western based on the same events as the later Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and co-starring Neville Brand and Alan Hale, Jr as Butch and Sundance. She was cast by producer/director Howard W. Koch as an Indian girl in War Drums with Lex Barker of Tarzan fame. Koch took a liking to Carmen and cast her in Untamed Youth (1957), his next film for Warner Bros, co-starring Rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran, which inspired Cochran to cover the song "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie" for her.[6][7]

Carmen also appeared as a femme fatale in Portland Exposé with Frank Gorshin.[6] She also appeared in the Three Stooges short A Merry Mix Up, playing Joe Besser's girlfriend Mary. The short is notable for the Stooges playing three sets of identical triplets.[8]

Later years

In 1998, Carmen was the subject of a TV episode titled "Jeanne Carmen: Queen of the B-Movies" on the series E! True Hollywood Story. The show stated that Carmen maintained a "dangerously close friendship with Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys" and that after the death of Monroe, Carmen was told to leave town by Johnny Rosselli who was working for Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana. Believing her life was in danger, she fled to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lived incognito for more than a decade. Carmen abandoned her platinum-blonde locks, had three children, and lived a quiet life, never mentioning her prior life in Hollywood.[9]

Carmen's last published interview was on November 21, 2007 by SX News], an Australian weekly gay and lesbian newspaper.[10]

Death

On December 20, 2007, aged 77, Jeanne Carmen died from lymphoma at her home in Irvine, California, where she had resided since 1978. She was survived by three children, Melinda, Kellee Jade, and Brandon, and three grandchildren.[11]

At the time of Carmen's death, a biographical film of her life was in early stages of development, with Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, and Kate Bosworth under consideration to play Carmen.[12]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1951 Mike and Buff Princess Jeanne Episode: "Princess Jeanne"
1953 Striporama Venus Beauty uncredited
1956 The Three Outlaws Serelda
1957 War Drums Yellow Moon
1957 A Merry Mix Up Mary
1957 Untamed Youth Lillibet
1957 Portland Exposé Iris
1958 I Married a Woman Camera Girl uncredited
1958 Too Much, Too Soon Tassles uncredited
1958 The Millionaire Mary Evans episode: "The Wally Bannister Story"
1958 26 Men Lili Mae Turner episode: "The Last Rebellion"
1958 Born Reckless Rodeo Girl
1959 The Monster of Piedras Blancas Lucy
1959 Riverboat Janine - Blonde Girl in Stagecoach episode: "A Night at Trapper's Landing"
uncredited
1959 Have Gun – Will Travel Blonde Glamour Girl episode: "Tiger"
uncredited
1960 Tightrope Francie episode: "The Chinese Pendant"
1961 The Dick Powell Show Nikki episode: "Three Soldiers"
1962 The Devil's Hand The Blonde Cultist credited as Jeannie Carman
1998 "Outside" videoclip by George Michael Woman with a boy on a leash[13]
2005 The Naked Monster Mrs. Lipschitz

References

  1. ^ a b "Jeanne Carmen Profile", Glamour Girls. Retrieved December 9, 2020
  2. ^ Server, Lee (2018); Handsome Johnny: The Criminal Life of Johnny Rosselli, The Mob’s Man in Hollywood, Virgin Books. ISBN 0753522306
  3. ^ Clavin, Tom (September 4, 2007). "The Original Golf Pin-Up". Hamptons Online.
  4. ^ LeCompte, Tom (August–September 2005). "The 18-Hole Hustle". American Heritage. Archived from the original on 2006-05-07.
  5. ^ Jeff Overly (December 24, 2007). "Pinup legend and trick-shot golfer Jeanne Carmen dies at 77; Irvine resident, known as "Queen of the B Movies," had affairs with Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra". the Orange County Register. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Perrone, Pierre (January 3, 2008). "Jeanne Carmen: Movie pin-up and friend to stars". The Independent.
  7. ^ Freeman, Chad Clinton (August 2007). "Jeanne Carmen - Pinup of the Past - Miss August 2007". CCF Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  8. ^ Maurer, Joan Howard (2000). The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Citadel Press. p. 264. ISBN 0-8065-0946-5.
  9. ^ ”E! True Hollywood Story” Jeanne Carmen: Queen of the B-Movies (1998) at IMDb
  10. ^ Devine, Stephen (November 22, 2007). "She dreams of Jeanne". SX News. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011.
  11. ^ "B-Movie Icon Jeanne Carmen Dead at 77". Hollywood.com. December 27, 2007. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013.
  12. ^ "Carmen wants Johansson or Bosworth to play her". China Daily. December 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
  13. ^ "Pin up Icon Jeanne Carmen in George Michael video for "Outside"". jeannecarmen.com. January 1, 2017.
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