Yvette Vickers

Yvette Vickers
Playboy centerfold appearance
July 1959
Preceded by Marilyn Hanold
Succeeded by Clayre Peters
Personal details
Born Yvette Vedder
August 26, 1928
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.[1]
Died circa 2010 (aged ~82)
Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Measurements Bust: 36"[1]
Waist: 24"
Hips: 36"
Height 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)[1]
Weight 105 lb (48 kg; 7.5 st)

Yvette Vickers (born Yvette Iola Vedder; August 26, 1928 – c. 2010[1][2]) was an American actress, pin-up model and singer.[3]

Early life and career

Vickers was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and she was the daughter of jazz musician Charles Vedder. During her youth, she traveled with her parents to their various performances. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles and studied journalism.[2] While at the university, she took a class in acting and discovered that she enjoyed it, so she changed her major to drama. While at UCLA, she began making television commercials. She later moved to New York City to model for White Rain shampoo advertisements, but she eventually returned to California to pursue an acting career.[4]

Her first movie appearance is listed under the name "Yvette Vedder" in Sunset Boulevard (1950), although she was not listed in the production credits. She made her first movie appearance under the Vickers name in Short Cut to Hell (1957), which was directed by James Cagney. In the same year, she starred in American International Pictures' Reform School Girl. Her image was used for the movie's theatrical poster, and it depicted her and Gloria Castillo fighting each other. The poster has subsequently become a collector's item.[5]

In 1958, she appeared in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman as Honey Parker, in which she plays the role of the town floozy who has an affair with Harry Archer (William Hudson), who is married to Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes). The following year she played the role of Liz Walker in Attack of the Giant Leeches. During the same period, she also made a number of appearances on TV shows.[4]

She appeared as the Playboy Playmate of the Month in the July 1959 issue.[6] Her centerfold was photographed by Russ Meyer. She also appeared in several other men's magazines. Her film roles began to decrease around this time. She did play some small parts in films from 1962 onward, including a small role in Hud (1963). Her last role was in Evil Spirits, a 1991 horror film.

Vickers was also a singer, and, in the 1990s, she released a jazz tribute to her parents on CD called A Tribute to Charlie and Maria. In 2005, she visited Canada for the first time to appear at the Toronto Classic Movie Festival. She appears with interviewer Tom Weaver on the audio commentary track of the 2007 DVD release of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. She had been writing her autobiography before her death.

Personal life

In 1953, Vickers married Don Prell, but they were divorced by 1957. Her second marriage was in 1959 to Leonard Burns, but they were divorced in 1961. Her third marriage was to Tom Howland from 1967 to 1969. Vickers never had any children. Although she never remarried after Howland, Vickers had a long-term relationship with actor Jim Hutton.[7] She was also rumored to have had affairs with Lee Marvin and Cary Grant. Many of her modeling photos were taken in a 1920s-vintage house in Benedict Canyon, California, where she lived for decades. In her later years, she was described by neighbors as a private person, but always friendly. She also received many letters from fans.

Death

Vickers was last seen alive in 2010. She had withdrawn from her extended family, and her mummified body was discovered on April 27, 2011, in her Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, home at 10021 Westwanda Drive by actress and neighbor Susan Savage. The date of her death is unknown, but forensic scientists concluded that she may have been dead for as long as a year before the discovery of her body.[3] There were no signs of foul play, and after an autopsy the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be heart failure resulting from coronary artery disease. Her remains were cremated.[8] Hugh Hefner deplored Vickers' death, saying it was sad that she was able to die without any friends being aware of it immediately.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Playmate data". Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Officials try to ID body in home of 1959 Playmate". Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Blankstein, Andrew (May 2, 2011). "Mummified body of former Playboy playmate Yvette Vickers found in her Benedict Canyon home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tom Weaver (2006). Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers of the 1940s through the 1960s. McFarland and Company. pp. 370–84. ISBN 978-0-7864-2857-1.
  5. ↑ Halperin, James L. (ed.) (2005) Heritage Vintage Movie Poster Signature Auction 2005 Catalog #624. Dallas: Heritage Capital Corporation, page 63.
  6. ↑ "Yvette Vickers". The Daily Telegraph (London). May 12, 2011. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
  7. ↑ Lamparski, Richard (1989). Whatever became of-- ? all new eleventh series: 100 profiles of the most-asked-about movie, TV, and media personalities, hundreds of never-before-published facts, dates, etc. on celebrities, 227 then-and-now photographs. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-57150-7.
  8. ↑ Gaynor, Tim (May 15, 2011). "Mummified Playboy Playmate died of heart failure". Yahoo!7 News (Sydney: Yahoo!7). Retrieved May 15, 2011.

External links