#30 Carroll Baker

A typical ‘50s platinum blonde, Carrol Baker combined a classic B movie persona with some serious acting chops. In fact, she had an Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe (though both for the dreadful Southern Gothic Baby Doll). On the other hand, Baker also starred in some serious B’s, especially after she moved to Italy late in her career. She was known for being something of an exhibitionist and also as notoriously hard to work with and litigious.

Embarrassing Real Name:  Karolina Piekarski

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Johnstown, PA

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Florida Fruits and Vegetables
• Worst Actress of the Year, Harvard Lampoon
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Hoboken International Film Festival

Embarrassing Movies

• Skeletons
• Bloodbath
• Deathwork (AKA Captain Apache)
• Orgasm (AKA PARANOIA)
• Hitler’s SS: Portrait of Evil
• Kindergarten Cop

Embarrassing Taglines

• Thelma and Louise meet Rocky!
• One Woman Alone with Five Lusty Men
• PARANOIA sucks you into a whirlpool of erotic love!

Embarrassing Characters

• Viva
• Treasure
• Mama Freud
• Polly Pott
• Baba Yaga, Devil Witch

Number of Marriages:  3

Shortest Marriage:  1 year

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends:  Prince Carlo Borromeo

Whiffs of Scandal

• Rape victim
• At 21, married a man 33 years her senior
• Controversial roles as nymphos, rape victims, etc.
• Well-known for extremely revealing dress
• Appeared semi-nude in Playboy (and then later sued them)
• Nervous breakdowns
• Skin flicks

Interesting Tidbits

• Debuted as a tap dancer at the local Lions Club
• Assistant to the Great Volta, a magician
• Weather girl for Channel 9 in NYC
• Convert to Judaism
• Was in Andy Warhol’s Bad
• Author of 3 books

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• Wikipedia
• Movie Fanfare
• Newsday article
• People article
• IMDb
• Film Star Postcards
• Interview about her Westerns
• Brian's Drive-In Theater

Nice, uh, whatever it is

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