Carol Wayne

Carol Wayne
Born September 6, 1942
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died January 13, 1985 (aged 42)
Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico
Occupation Actress
Years active 1966–1985
Spouse(s) Loreto (Larry) Cera (?-?)
Barry Feinstein (m. 1969–74)
Burt Sugarman (m. 1975–80)

Carol Wayne (September 6, 1942 – January 13, 1985) was an American television and film actress. She was best known for her many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as the Matinée Lady.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Wayne began her show business career as a teenage figure skater in the Ice Capades along with her younger sister Nina Wayne. The Wayne Sisters later became showgirls of the Folies Bergère at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Carol followed Nina to Hollywood in the mid-1960s and the sisters began appearing in TV shows of the era.

Career

While Wayne did television guest shots on I Spy (as the title character in the episode "Trouble With Temple"), Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie (as dim-witted starlet "Bootsie Nightingale"), Love American Style, Emergency! and The Fall Guy, she also appeared in many sketches on The Red Skelton Show. She gained her greatest fame for 100-plus appearances (1971–1982) as the buxom Matinée Lady on The Tonight Show in Johnny Carson's popular Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches. 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 including Mantrap and Hollywood Squares. She was a regular panelist on Celebrity Sweepstakes.[1] 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.

In 1984, Wayne appeared in a nude pictorial for Playboy magazine. That same year, she filed for bankruptcy.[1]

Personal life

Wayne was married three times. Her first husband was Loreto (Larry) Cera, her second husband was rock and roll photographer Barry Feinstein (the father of her only son, Alex), and her third husband was television and film producer Burt Sugarman, who served as producer on Celebrity Sweepstakes.[1] Wayne told Johnny Carson in a 1974 interview that she enjoyed gardening and growing bonsai trees.

Death

In January 1985, Wayne and her companion Edward "Ed" Durston were vacationing at the Las Hadas Resort in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. After an argument with Durston, Wayne reportedly left to take a walk on the beach. Three days later a local fisherman found Wayne's body in the shallow bay.[2]

Authorities later discovered Durston had checked out of the resort the day the couple argued. He had left Wayne's luggage at the airport. An autopsy performed in Mexico revealed no signs of drugs or alcohol in Wayne's body.[2] Her death was eventually ruled as "accidental".[3]

Durston was linked earlier to another high-profile and controversial death: On October 4, 1969, Diane Linkletter, the youngest child of American TV media personality Art Linkletter, jumped out of a window of her sixth floor apartment at the Shoreham Towers in West Hollywood, California. Durston was present in Linkletter's apartment the morning of her death.[4][5] Durston was never an official suspect in either case.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1967 Gunn Ernestine
1968 Party, TheThe 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 E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind Regine
1984 Heartbreakers Candy
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1966 Man from U.N.C.L.E, TheThe Man from U.N.C.L.E Ginger LaVeer Episode: "The Super-Colossal Affair"
1966 Girl from U.N.C.L.E., TheThe 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 Red Skelton Show, TheThe 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 Bold Ones: The Lawyers, TheThe Bold Ones: The Lawyers Christie Mullins Episode: "The Letter of the Law"
1971–1982 Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, TheThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Art Fern's Tea-Time Movie Lady Unknown episodes
1972 Mannix Bobbi Episode: "A Puzzle for One"
1972 Every Man Needs One Nancy Television movie
1973 Girl with Something Extra, TheThe 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"
1979 Heaven on Earth Television movie
1981 Big Black Pill, TheThe Big Black Pill Allegra Farrenpour Television movie
1981 Fall Guy, TheThe Fall Guy Rose Episodes: "The Meek Shall Inherit Rhonda"
"The Japanese Connection"

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Celebrity Sweepstakes info
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Mysterious Death of Carol Wayne
  3. ↑ Austin, John (1991). More of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries. SP Books. p. 98. ISBN 0-944007-73-2.
  4. ↑ "Linkletter Blames LSD For Death Of Daughter". The Morning Record (1969-10-06). p. 1. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  5. ↑ Mikkelson, Barbara (2005-08-15). "The Scarlet Linkletter". snopes.com.

External links