Sheree North

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Sheree North as Babs Kramer in Seinfeld.

Sheree North (January 17, 1932 – November 4, 2005), born Dawn Shirley Crang, was an actress and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway shows, Hollywood movies, and television.

Born to Richard Crang and June Shoard in Los Angeles, California, her stepfather was Edward Bethel. She was known as "Dawn Bethel" until she changed her name to "Sheree North". She married at age 16, and had her first child, Dawn Bessire at the age of 17.

In 1953, North made her Broadway debut in the musical Hazel Flagg.

She was originally hired by 20th Century-Fox a few years before their superstar Marilyn Monroe became "temperamental." When she dyed her hair, North attracted attention as an alternative "bubbly blonde" and along with actresses such as Jayne Mansfield was promoted as a rival to Monroe.

North's best chance for Hollywood stardom occurred in 1955. After Marilyn Monroe rejected the role, Miss North was cast, opposite actress Betty Grable, as Curly Flagg in How to Be Very, Very Popular. Historians, then and now, including Leonard Maltin, continue to cite Miss North's electrically charged dancing to "Shake, Rattle and Roll," as the film's most memorable scene. However, it is still believed that the critical and commercial failure of Popular a big-budget, shot-in-Cinemascope, Nunnally Johnson-directed picture harmed both Grable and North, leading to Grable's retirement and preventing Miss North from being offered a second chance at stardom. (Decades later, Miss North played Marilyn Monroe's mother in the TV movie Marilyn: The Untold Story.)

While North's film career as a lead actress failed, she made a significant return to character roles, garnering steady work, starting with Madigan (1968). She made cameo appearances for Don Siegel, including Charley Varrick, The Shootist, and Telefon.

Her TV credits include The Golden Girls, Hawaii Five-O, Matlock, Magnum, P.I., and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which she played Lou Grant's old flame. She appeared as Kramer's mother, Babs, in two episodes of Seinfeld in 1995 and 1998.

North died from complications during surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. IMDb states it was cancer surgery, however other sources reported that she had been in good health [1].

She was survived by her fourth husband, two daughters, and a grandchild.