#36 Luciana Paluzzi

Curvaceous redhead Lucianna Paluzzi will probably always be associated with the character of Fiona Volpe, the bad girl in the Bond flick Thunderball. That said, she has 80-some other credits – as well as an active career that spanned over 25 years. 

I also don’t think Luciana ever saw a genre she didn’t like. She’s done spy, war, western, peplum, comedies, soaps, beach flicks, action, sci fi, softcore, horror, crime, babes behind bars, TV … Did I leave anything out?

Embarrassing Movies

• Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
• The Sensuous Nurse
• Carnal Circuit
• Muscle Beach Party
• The Green Slime

Embarrassing Taglines

• Invaders From Beyond The Stars!
• A Hurricane of Adventure Storms the Screen!
• The most deadly plot ever snatched from the minds of evil!
• 99 WOMEN... behind bars -- without men!
• See the heroic Hercules rip down the Age of Orgy's lavish palace of lustful pleasure! See the seductive Amazons lure men to voluptuous revels and violent deaths!

Embarrassing Characters

• Nanu
• Baharani, Seetha's servant
• Her Serene Highness Princess Ilyena
• Little Fawn
• Tuesday Hajadakis

Shortest Marriage:  2 years

Whiffs of Scandal

• Married her husband before his divorce actually went through
• In their divorce proceedings, claimed he physically abused her

Interesting Tidbits

• Redhead
• Her mother was one of Mussolini’s mistresses
• Began her film career at age 16
• Studied to become a naval engineer
• Her divorce just so happened to be the first ever recorded in Italy (which had just made divorce legal)

Where can I learn more?

• Facebook page
• IMDb
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• Wikipedia
• Brian’s Drive-In Theater
• Great pix
• 007 Wikia

<#37          #35>

#37 Quinn O'Hara

Like redheads? Well, you’re in luck. Quinn O’Hara is about as ginger as they get. A decent comedienne, Quinn’s career included lots of TV, but also a little horror, a couple of beach movies, and a surprising number of Jerry Lewis flicks. Whoever said Jerry Lewis had bad taste? BTW, Quinn still looks amazing today!

Embarrassing Real Name:  Alice Jones

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Am-Vet of Post 48 
• Queen, Riverside International Raceway
• Grand Marshal, All-Southland Band Review
• Miss Port of Long Beach
• Most Promising Teenage Personality (Teen Screen Magazine)
• Miss Scotland (Miss International Beauty Congress)

Embarrassing Movies

• A Swingin’ Summer
• Cry of the Banshee *
• The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini *

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• When a pretty ghoul trades in her bed sheet for a bikini!
• They're Lovin', Laughin' and Livin' it up and for kicks playing "Chicken on Water Skis!"
• She Corrupted the Youthful Morality of an Entire School!

Embarrassing Characters

• Zenda
• Lulu Mae Devereaux
• Sinistra

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Fabian
• Lee Majors (The 6 Million Dollar Man)
• Frank Sinatra
• Adam West (Batman)
• Sandy Koufax

Whiffs of Scandal:  Alcoholism

Interesting Tidbits

• Was born on a hospital elevator
• Born in Scotland, she moved to Canada at age 14, then to California 3 years later
• As an adult, she later moved to the UK and Italy
• Was on the Dating Game no less than 3 times
• Has a husband who is 20 years her junior
• Works today as a nurse
• Likes ballroom dancing, animals, gardening, and Tai Chi

Where can I learn more?

• Personal site
• Facebook page
• Tom Lisanti
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Brian’s Drive-In Theatre

Quinn and admirers

<#38          #36>

#38 Mamie Van Doren

Mamie Van Doren is a survivor. She has outlasted all the other ‘50s blonde bombshells – Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Diana Dors, Joi Lansing – by a mile. And she’s still looking great and going strong today. Be sure to check her out on her over-the-top website and her equally out-there blog.

Embarrassing Real Name:  Joan Olander

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Rowena, SD

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Rodeo
• Miss Palm Springs
• Queen of the Calgary Stampede
• Miss Eight Ball

Embarrasing Movies

• Untamed Youth *
• The Las Vegas Hillbillies
• The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
• Guns, Girls and Gangsters *
• Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women *
• Sex Kittens Go to College
• The Navy Vs. the Night Monsters *

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• The Stark Brutal Truth About Today's Lost Generation!
• Behind these "nice" school walls... A TEACHERS' NIGHTMARE!...A TEEN-AGE JUNGLE!
• Starring the girl built like a platinum powerhouse!
• All-Devouring Carnivorous Trees That Move On Their Own Roots!
• Acid-Bleeding Creatures Cremate the Human Race! 

Embarrassing Characters

• Boots Malone
• Sheba Palumbo
• Penny Nickles
• Cpl. Bunky Hilstrom
• Bubbles La Tassle

Number of Marriages:  5

Shortest Marriage:  4 months

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• George Hamilton
• Jack Palance
• Steve McQueen
• Tony Curtis
• Yves Montand
• Burt Reynolds
• Tom Jones (the singer)
• Frank Sinatra
• Clark Gable
• Johnny Carson
• Jack Dempsey
• Joe Namath
• Prince Axel of Denmark
• Buzz Aldrin (the astronaut)
• Henry Kissinger
• Rock Hudson (!?!?)

Still lookin' good today

Whiffs of Scandal

• Married at age 17
• Playboy appearances
• Abortion
• Depression
• Minor drug use (including dropping acid with Rock Hudson)

Interesting Tidbits

• 38DD-26-36
• Grew up on a farm without electricity or running water
• Discovered by Howard Hughes
• Named after First Lady Mamie Eisenhower
• Alberto Vargas model
• Cut eight records, including Young Dudes and State of Turmoil
• Buddhist

Where can I learn more?

• Playing the Field (her autobiography)
• Glamour Girls of the Screen
• Cult Sirens
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• NNDB
• Interview 1
• Interview 2
• Interview 3
• Brian’s Drive-In Theatre

Or not

<#39          #37>

#39 Mary Louise Weller

Poor Mary Louise Weller. She’ll probably always be remembered for just one role – snooty, uptight sorority girl Mandy Pepperridge in Animal House. Further, she may forever be remembered for just one scene … You know, the one at the beginning … In the car … With her boyfriend … Doing … Uh …Um … Never mind.

And that’s all too bad. MLW was actually pretty hot, and starred in some classic B’s and some very cheesy TV (Fantasy Island, CHiPs, Starsky and Hutch, BJ and the Bear …). 

Oh, and there’s also that other scene in Animal House … You know, with Belushi on the ladder … Outside her window …

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Spokesperson of the Year, U.S. Television Fan Association

Embarrassing Movies

• Forced Vengeance (with Chuck Norris!)
• Bloodtide *
• Q, The Winged Serpent
• The Evil *
• Valentine Magic on Love Island

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• A mad genius must be stopped if the Earth is to survive! 
• You'll just have time to scream... before it tears you apart!
• Escape is just a nerve-shredding scream for salvation!

Interesting Tidbits

• Is of Lithuanian Jewish descent 
• Is a talented equestrienne and has trained with the U.S. Equestrian Team
• Retired to raise horses on her 3-acre Malibu ranch
• Spends most of her time these days going to horse shows (I'm detecting a theme here)
• Wrote a play, Four Alone

Where can I learn more?

• IMDb
• Cult Film Freaks
• Wikipedia
• Her Facebook page (devoted mostly to horses)

<#40          #38>

#40 Judith Brown

Judith Brown is a painter, track and field athlete, historian, dancer, and the wife of Jerry Lee Lewis. Wait... Wrong Judith Brown. (Hey, it’s a common name.) 

Our Judith Brown was the queen of babes-behind-bars movies, starring in the classics The Big Doll House and Women in Cages. You’ll find her frequently as Judy Brown (guess she couldn’t make up her mind). 

Embarrassing Real Name:  Judith Brownstein

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Miss Golden Globe, Most Promising Newcomer

Embarrassing Movies

• Slaughter’s Big Ripoff
• Willie Dynamite
• Psychic Killer *
• Bloodeaters (AKA Toxic Zombies)
• Women in Cages *

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• They caged their bodies … but not their desires
• NOTHING prepared the world for the HORROR ...
• Soft young girls behind hard prison bars
• Naked lust that builds to a climax of death

Embarrassing Characters

• Gorgia
• Norja
• Collier
• Badmouth in bar

That's Roberta Collins on the right, by the way

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Elvis *
• Henry Kissinger

Whiffs of Scandal

• Some nudity
• First movie, the X-rated Danish Threesome, was impounded by the US government 

Interesting Tidbits

• Cut a 45 when she was fourteen *
• Was once on Mister Rogers Neighborhood
• Currently lives in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, where she runs a bed and breakfast

Where can I learn more?

• IMDb
• I Wake Up Screaming

* This is such a common name, that this might just be another Judith/Judy Brown.

Possibly not the right Judith Brown

<#41          #39>

#41 Victoria Vetri

Victoria Vetri was your typical Playmate turned B movie babe until something went wrong … very wrong. Under the heading “Legal Difficulties,” Victoria’s Wikipedia entry explains:

Vetri was charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting [husband Bruce] Rathgeb from close range inside the Hollywood apartment they were then sharing after an argument on Saturday, October 16, 2010. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Division arrested Vetri the same day, and she was jailed on $1.53 million bail, which the judge refused to reduce, pending trial. In January of 2011, the same judge denied her attorney's request for a reduction of the charge of attempted murder, and she was ordered to stand trial on that charge. However, between January and September of 2011, the charge against Vetri was reduced to attempted voluntary manslaughter, to which she eventually pleaded no contest. The judge sentenced her to nine years in state prison.

The National Inquirer adds that “the couple were both high on methamphetamine and had been drinking at the time of the incident.” Sounds like my kind of gal!

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Hollywood Deb Star

Embarrassing Movies

• Group Marriage
• When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth *
• Invasion of the Bee Girls *

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• Ordinary housewives turn into ravishing creatures
• They'll Love the Very Life Out of Your Body!
• Enter an age of unknown terrors, pagan worship and virgin sacrifice ...

Embarrassing Characters

• Dolly Daly
• Charisma Highcloud
• Florence of Arabia
• Isis (human form)
• Ixzubin

Number of Marriages:  4

Whiffs of Scandal

• Multiple Playboy shoots
• Um, how about murder charges?
• Nine years in prison then?

Interesting Tidbits

• Her parents were immigrants from Italy
• Also went by the name Angela Dorian (after the liner Andrea Doria)
• Turned down the Sue Lyon role in Lolita 
• Suffered two broken ribs when she fell out of a hammock on a Playboy photo shoot
• Worked as a waitress and bartender after her movie career was over
• Former friend of B movie babe Claudia Jennings

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Interview
• National Enquirer

Nice, um, claw thing

<#42          #40>

#42 Celeste Yarnall

Celeste Yarnall’s IMDb profile states that she “is an amazing woman of many talents who has been very successful in a diverse number of fields. There appears to be nothing she cannot do when she puts her mind to it.” It does seem that she’s accomplished quite a bit after retiring as an actress, including:

• Running her own real estate company
• Managing a number of screenwriters
• Earning a Ph.D. in nutrition from Pacific Western University (and acting as adjunct professor there)
• Writing two books on pet nutrition, Natural Cat Care and Natural Dog Care

Before retirement? Well, we've got some classic B's, a handful of well-known flicks, and tons of TV. She was also an Elvis and a Star Trek babe.

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Rheingold
• Most Photogenic Beauty of the Year, Cannes
• Most Promising New Star, National Association of Theatre Owners

Embarrassing Movies

• Elvis Found Alive
• Blood Devils (AKA Beast of Blood)
• The Velvet Vampire *

* -  author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• They desired her body... She craved their blood.
• See Human Heads Transplanted!
• She's waiting to love you...to death! Climax after climax of terror and desire...where the living change places with the dead.
• See natives eaten alive by giant vultures!

Embarrassing Characters

• Girl
• 2nd Girl
• College Girl
• The Mark's Girl
• Volvo Boss

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Shel Silverstein
• William Shatner
• Elvis (really more like a crush though)

Whiffs of Scandal:  Just a touch of nudity

Interesting Tidbits

• Discovered by Rick and Ozzie Nelson while walking past their offices
• Lists playing the pedal harp and dancing Argentine tango as hobbies
• Is married to "noted British artist" Nazim Artist (and, yes, I do believe that's his real name)

Where can I learn more?

• Personal site
• Blog
• Twitter
• IMDb
• Interview (mostly about Elvis, I'm afraid)
• Wikipedia
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen

Oh, Pavel!

<#43          #41>