#20 Nancy Kovack

Nancy Kovack is a unique combination of beauty and brains. Unfortunately, the first tended to outshine the second, and Nancy never really got the serious roles she longed for. Instead, she racked up the credits as a game show hostess, an Elvis girl, a Star Trek babe, and a Matt Helm Slaygirl (What? You’ve never heard of the Slaygirls?). She also did turns on Batman, Bewitched, Love American Style, and a Vincent Price horror flick. She gave it all up, though, to marry the famous conductor Zubin Mehta. I kid you not.

Real Name:  Nancy Kovach (I guess the “k” helped ensure correct pronunciation)

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Flint, MI

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Flint
• Miss Austin Healey
• Witch of the Year, Charlie Weaver's Hobby Lobby

Embarrassing Movies

• Jason and the Argonauts
• Tarzan and the Valley of Gold
• The Brain-Killer Affair
• The Outlaws Is Coming (with the Three Stooges)

Embarrassing Taglines

• It's Elvis as Johnny and oh, Lordy, how he can love! 
• Follow his secret from bedroom to bedlam, with guns, girls and dynamite! 
• The epic story that was destined to stand as a colossus of adventure!

Embarrassing Characters

• Mallotte DuClasse
• Athelstone Scone
• Clio Vanita
• Chou Chou
• Big Shirley

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Cary Grant
• William Shatner
• Zubin Mehta

Whiffs of Scandal:  

• Sued Nancy MacDougal (of Whitewater fame) for embezzlement
• Husband had illegitimate child while married to Nancy

Interesting Tidbits

• Attended Univ. of Michigan at age 15 (and graduated at age 19)
• Has a reported IQ of 158
• Studied Farsi at UCLA
• Won 8 beauty contests before age 20
• Was a radio DJ at age 16
• Got an Emmy nomination for a guest appearance on Mannix
• Is a Christian Scientist

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Amazing B Monster
• People
• Wikipedia
• Cult Sirens
• Brian's Drive-In Theater

Nice hat!

<#21          #19>

#21 Sherry Jackson

Sherry Jackson started out as an adorable child star, on things like the Ma and Pa Kettle series and the Danny Thomas Show. She quickly, however, “grew totally out of her pert and pretty teen figure into a ravishing stunner” (IMDb). Unfortunately, all that really meant was more TV (but this time as a “bewitching and capricious vixen”) and cheap exploitation flicks. 

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Wendell, ID

Embarrassing Movies

• Wild on the Beach
• The Mini-Skirt Mob *
• Curse of the Moon Child
• Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
• Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• She's tempting to look at – dangerous to know!
• Get wrecked! Get chased! Get smashed! Get it on! The big red hot one is in town! 
• TRAPPIN’ TRIGGER-MAD WAGON TRAIN RAIDERS!
• They're hog-straddling female animals on the prowl

Embarrassing Characters

• Abigail Bratkowski
• Rebecca Snipe
• Comfort Gatewood
• Girl in Iron Lung

 

Absolutely amazing!

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Troy Donahue
• Elvis

Whiffs of Scandal

• Shot some nude scenes for a European version of a movie (which later made their way into Playboy)
• Sued the estate of her deceased boyfriend (and lost)

Interesting Tidbits

• First work was dancing on tabletops at her parents’ Idaho saloon at age 2
• Was discovered at a bus stop with her mother (maybe)
• Another story has her discovered while eating ice cream
• First film work at age 6
• TV work included Lost in Space, Batman, The Twilight Zone, Charlie’s Angles, and Gomer Pyle

Where can I learn more?

• Personal site
• Bio
• IMDb 
• Wikipedia
• Interview 
• Interview 2
• Interview 3 (hey, she likes to give interviews)

Nice hair!

<#22          #20>

#22 Vikki Dougan

It can be argued that Vikki Dougan invented the butt crack. Known as “The Back,” Vikki’s main claim to fame was appearing in dresses with a low plunging back. “Buttage,” if you will. This seemed to keep her constantly in the press, though all the publicity never really panned out to many acting credits (IMDb has her down for only ten). 

Embarrassing Real Name:  Edith Tooker

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Brooklyn

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss General Electric
• New York Skate Queen
• California Chiropractic Assoc. Perfect Posture Week Queen

Embarrassing Movies

• Tunnel of Love
• The Rebel Set *
• Here Come the Jets
• Hootenanny Hoot

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• The Free-Living World of the Over-Teens!
• Hilarious Sophisticated Entertainment for ADULTS ONLY!
• 30 MINUTES TO LIVE - Head-hunter Drums grew louder in the jungle and a condemned criminal held 9 lives in his hands
• FROM THE BOLD BLUSHING STAGE HIT OF SEX IN THE SUBURBS!
• B-GUYS! (The Beatnicks) Living and Loving for strange kicks! JET DOLLS! Ready and willing to go into orbit! KING OF BEATSVILLE! Master mind behind a million dollars worth of murder! THE "WEIRDIES"! Nobody knows what makes them tick!

Embarrassing Characters

• Blonde
• Karen, the Waitress
• Putzi
• B Girl

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• John Barrymore, Jr.
• George Hormel (the meat heir)
• Melvin Belli (the lawyer)
• Lance Fuller (Ed Wood favorite)
• George Raft
• Frank Sinatra

Whiffs of Scandal

• Disqualified from Miss Rheingold contest for being underage
• First marriage at age 16
• Appeared in Modern Man, Playboy, Cavalier, and Nugget
• Lawsuits with the middle two
• Was on the dole

Interesting Tidbits

• Started modeling at age 11
• Was “immortalized” in a song by the Limeliters
• She was seen smoking a pipe, wearing a monocle, and sporting toe rings, long before the ‘60s really took off
• Possible model for Jessica Rabbit

Where can I learn more?

• Bio
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• Wikipedia
• IMDb
• Pix

I rest my case

<#23          #21>

#23 Martha Vickers

For a 40s babe, Martha Vickers sure was hot. I could never quite figure out why she wasn’t a bigger star – something along the lines of a Rita Hayworth or Lauren Bacall. At the same time, I’m sure having your first film credits being Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman and Captive Wild Woman probably didn’t help any.

Real Name:  Martha MacVicar (I guess they didn’t like the alliteration)

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Ann Arbor, MI

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Miss Timber, Northeastern Retail Lumbermen's Association

Embarrassing Movies

• Bad Boy
• Hi’ya, Sailor
• The Mummy’s Ghost
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 
• Captive Wild Woman 

Embarrassing Taglines

• A trail of perfume ... and violence!
• Those Hilarious "GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE"
• Boldly it sweeps ... Across the screen!
• Nameless! Fleshless! Deathless!
• FROZEN EVIL meets FIERY HATE

Embarrassing Characters

• Girl
• High school girl
• Miss McLean, a student
• Carmen Sternwood

Number of Marriages:  3 

Shortest Marriage:  4 months

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Jimmy Stewart
• Mickey Rooney (she was 6 inches taller than he)

Untimely Demise:  At age 46, of cancer

Interesting Tidbits

• Former model
• Popular pinup during WWII
• Had a big role in the the noir classic The Big Sleep
• Was a big bowler

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia 

Eye of newt ...

<#24          #22>

#24 Rhonda Fleming *

* - author has her autograph

A ravishing redhead (with green eyes!), Rhonda Fleming was known as the Queen of Technicolor. In addition to her 68 movie and TV credits, she was also a singer. Upon retiring, she appears to have devoted herself to philanthropy (which, I’m afraid, doesn’t sound very B movie babe to me at all).

Real Name:  Marilyn Louis

Embarrassing Movies

• Those Redheads from Seattle
• Queen of Babylon
• The Killer Is Loose
• The Nude Bomb
• Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

Embarrassing Taglines

• JUNGLE THRILLS! JUNGLE LOVE!
• When the West was a Shameless Young Hussy!
• No story...No drama...No performance THIS powerful has ever been seen!
• Like a blast from the sky...a DRAMATIC THUNDERBOLT that builds to a crashing climax!

Embarrassing Characters

• Princess Kashmir
• Vera Royale
• Alisande Le Carteloise
• Edith Von Secondburg
• Izora
• Nyta
• Purity

Number of Marriages:  6 (!!!)

Shortest Marriage:  2 years

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Tyrone Power
• Bing Crosby
• Prince Aly Khan
• JFK
• Ronald Reagan

Interesting Tidbit

• Discovered at Beverly Hills High School
• Actually quite a talented actress, she worked with Alfred Hitchock, Fritz Lang, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Rock Hudson
• Was in four films with Ronald Reagan
• Did her own stunts
• Was in a gospel singing group, the Four Girls, with Jane Russell
• Cut an LP, Rhonda
• Is a huge philanthropist and has a clinic named after her at the UCLA Medical Center

Where can I learn more?

• Official website
• Interview
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Brian's Drive-In Theatre
• Pix
• Pix 2 (the camera absolutely loved her)

<#25          #23>

#25 Martha Hyer *

* - author has her autograph

Martha Hyer was once called “Universal’s Answer to Grace Kelly.” Indeed, she had the same elegance, the same flawless blond beauty (though she was not a natural blonde), and the same jet-setting lifestyle. Not a bad actress, she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Vincent Minelli’s Some Came Running.  For some reason, she moved from fairly classy stuff to tons of genuine dreck. Overall, she had over 100 screen and TV credits before retiring.

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Fort Worth

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Azalea Queen

Embarrassing Movies

• Francis in the Navy (Francis is a mule)
• Bikini Beach
• The Delicate Delinquent
• Oriental Evil
• Desire in the Dust (no, not the John Waters film)
• Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
• Pyro … The Thing Without a Face

Embarrassing Taglines

• The strange desire that feeds on her cannot be quenched by love alone!
• He was half Oriental...but he used the women of two continents WITHOUT SHAME OR GUILT!
• Primitive emotions, savage passions, nature in the raw!
• It's where the girls are BARE-ing... the guys are DAR-ing and the surf's RARE-ing to GO-GO-GO

Embarrassing Characters

• Catherine Bailey Struthers III
• Melinda Marquand
• Miss Amity Babb
• Dr. Serena Standish

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Prince Aly Khan
• Clark Gable
• Gene Kelly
• Danny Kaye
• Phil Silver

Whiffs of Scandal

• Trouble with the IRS over back taxes
• Was sued for failing to keep up with the payments on a fancy Corona del Mar home 
• Got involved with loan sharks (totally unbeknownst to her very rich husband) to support her expensive lifestyle

Interesting Tidbits

• Her father was a state senator, international president of the Lions Club, and a judge advocate in the Nuremberg trials
• Once turned down a lunch date with JFK
• Northwestern grad (fellow students included Cloris Leachman, Paul Lynde, Charlton Heston, and Patricia Neal)
• Known for snooty socialite roles
• Lost out to Janet Leigh for the role in Psycho
• Owned paintings by Pissarro, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec
• Convert to Judaism
• Ended up as a born-again Christian and something of a recluse

Where can I learn more?

• Finding My Way (her autobio)
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Obit
• Brian’s Drive-In Theater

Whoa, pardner!

<#26          #24>

#26 Faith Domergue

If there was an Oscar for “bedroom eyes,” Faith Domergue would win in a heartbeat. A protégé of Howard Hughes, the “blockbusters” he put her in were mostly cinematic versions of the Spruce Goose. Domergue would eventually move on to classic sci-fi flicks like This Island Earth and It Came from Beneath the Sea, lots of TV, and a number of Italian cheapies.

Embarrassing Movies

• The Atomic Man
• Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet *
• The House of Seven Corpses *
• Cult of the Cobra
• Legacy of Blood *

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• She drives men crazy – torments them to KILL!
• The Man With The Radio-Active Brain! 
• The fangs of the Snake Goddess will PIERCE YOUR FLESH!
• Two mortals trapped in outer space... challenging the unearthly furies of an outlaw planet gone mad!
• Havoc! Chaos! Destruction!

Number of Marriages:  3

Shortest Marriage:  6 months

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends:  Howard Hughes 

Whiffs of Scandal:  Met and started dating Hughes at age 15

Interesting Tidbits

• Was adopted
• Was in a life-threatening car accident 
• Had a slight lisp to go with her otherwise sultry voice
• Spoke French, Spanish, and Italian
• Her last name is pronounced “dah-mure”

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Obit
• On her romance with Hughes
• Brian's Drive-In Theater

And a merry Christmas to you!

<#27           #25>