#94 Yvonne Furneaux *

* - author has her autograph

I’m a little surprised at how little I was able to find about Yvonne Furneaux. I always figured she must have been a major babe back in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

I do know that her career featured an interesting combination of B’s (sword and sandal seemed to be a particular specialty) as well as some real classics (how about La Dolce Vita and Polanski’s Repulsion?).

Embarrassing Real Name:  Elisabeth Scatcherd

Embarrassing Movies

• Dark Avenger
• The Mummy *
• Slave Queen of Babylon
• The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse *
• Frankenstein’s Great Aunt Tillie

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• The nightmare world of a virgin's dreams becomes the screen's shocking reality!
• Psycho Puppet or Cold-Blooded Killer?
• Flaming With the Barbaric Cruelties And Infamous Conquests of the Dark Age of Terror!
• Its evil look brings MADNESS! Its evil spell ENSLAVES! Its evil touch KILLS KILLS KILLS!

Embarrassing Characters

• Maria Maddalena Masanet
• Ananka
• Jassa

Interesting Tidbits

• Went to Oxford
• She was half French / half English, though born in France
• She was trilingual - English, French, and Italian

Where can I learn more?

• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Fan site (a francais)
• wikiFeet (yes, there is a site out there dedicated solely to pictures of actresses' feet) 

<#95          #93>

#95 Stefanie Powers

Did you ever turn the TV on during the past 50 years? Well, you’ve probably seen Stefanie Powers then. She’s actually made more than 200 appearances on the little screen (though you may know her best for Hart to Hart).

She was one of those typical TV stars from another era who managed to portray sexiness and wholesomeness at the same time. I’m thinking actresses like Lori Saunders, Yvonne Craig, Barbara Eden …

Stefanie’s also done her fair share of work on the silver screen as well, though definitely not in any Citizen Kanes or Seven Samurais.

Oh yeah … She still looks incredible today.

Embarrassing Real Name: Stephanie Zofya Federkiewicz

Embarrassing Movies

• The Astral Factor *
• Skyway to Death
• Experiment in Terror
• Die! Die! My Darling!
• Herbie Rides Again

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• The night the loving ended and the killing began!
• The ultimate in SHEER SHOCK!
• CHALLENGING! THE FASTEST TWO HOURS THE SCREEN HAS EVER SEEN! SHOCKING! IT PLUNGES YOU INTO A NEW DIMENSION OF FEAR! IMPORTANT! IT RATES WITH THE GREATEST SUSPENSE FILMS OF OUR TIME!
• Never such a tender love story! Never such a savage showdown! Never such restless natives!

Embarrassing Characters

• Dottie Del Mar
• Montana Gray
• Kelly Green
• April Dancer
• Little Moon

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Eddie Fisher
• William Holden

Interesting Tidbits

• Is half Jewish
• As a child, took a ballet class with Lana Wood and Jill St. John
• Was a Hollywood High cheerleader
• Signed a movie deal at age 15
• Made her first movie under the name of Taffy Paul
• Has cut a CD
• Plays polo
• Speaks six different languages
• Is also a screenwriter

Where can I learn more?   

• Official website
• Twitter
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Retrocrush
• People 
• Fan site

 

<#96          #94>

#96 Lynn Bari

A curvaceous brunette with decent acting skills, Lynn Bari never really got her break. It’s not that she didn’t try – she was a contract player with Fox for 10 years, and tallied 168 total credits over a 35-year career. She usually played bad girls – villainesses, “man-killers,” and “the other woman.” Frustrated with her roles on the silver screen, she devoted the later years of her career primarily to the stage.

Embarrassing Real Name:  Margaret Fisher (the screen name comes from actress Lynn Fontaine and author J.M. Barrie)

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Roanoke, VA

Embarrassing Movies

• Bottoms Up!
• Charlie Chan in Paris
• Ali Baba Goes to Town
• The Amazing Mr. X
• Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops

Embarrassing Taglines

• Slapstick chases!... Pies in faces!... Shapely beauts in bathing suits!
• It's a fast life and a thrilling one for the motorcycle squad! Coffee pot cuties! Speed demon debs!...and big time thrills around every corner!
• Love flamed in the shadow of death!

Embarrassing Characters

• Young Townswoman
• Second Hotel Switchboard Operator
• Adelaide Frost Rickenbacker
• Leota Van Cleef
• Captain Fifi

Number of Marriages:  3

Whiffs of Scandal

• Domineering alcoholic mother
• Exploitative marriages
• Lots of lawsuits over child custody, child support, alimony, etc.

Interesting Tidbits

• Started out as a platinum blonde
• Was a very popular WWII pinup
• Was known as the "Woo-Woo Girl"

Where can I learn more?

• Foxy Lady: the Authorized Biography of Lynn Bari
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia

What, no swimmies?


<#97          #95>

#97 Claudine Auger

Claudine Auger is our first Bond girl, our first mademoiselle, and our first beauty queen. You’ll find those themes returning in this blog again and again.

Claudine was able to parlay her Bond stint into a photo shoot in Playboy and a spot on a TV special with Bob Hope and Danny Thomas (I know, hard to get any more glamorous than that).

After that, Claudine did little more on this side of the pond. Instead, she became something of a staple in French, Italian, and Spanish B’s, retiring with 80 credits total.

Embarrassing Real Name:  Claudine Oger (I guess that was too much like “ogre”)

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss France World
• Miss World, first runner up

Embarrassing Movies

• The Devil in Love
• Kali Yug, the Goddess of Vengeance
• Bay of Blood (AKA Twitch of the Death Nerve)
• Sons of Satan
• Black Belly of the Tarantula

Embarrassing Taglines

• Madman or Mastermind? Who was using a comic strip as a BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER?
• Dynamite is the drug in this brutal fight for survival!
• With needles dipped in deadly venom the victims are paralyzed - so they must lie awake and watch themselves die!
• The first motion picture to require a face to face warning. May be the last shock film you will ever want to see! Every ticket holder must pass through The Final Warning Station. We must warn you face-to-face!

Embarrassing Characters

• Amrita
• Isolina
• Concettina

Whiffs of Scandal:  Married a man twice her age (he was 41, she was 18)

Interesting Tidbits

• Was discovered by the Bond crew on the beach while vacationing in the Bahamas
• Was 20 when she starred in Thunderball
• Had her first child at age 49

Where can I learn more?

• IMDb
• LA Times
• Wikipedia

<#98          #96>

#98 Marguerite Chapman

Like a number of actresses, Marguerite Chapman started out on the silver screen but then later moved almost exclusively to the smaller one. Her cinematic credits include some real winners (The Seven Year Itch, working with Edward G Robinson and Charlie Chaplin), but also some real B’s (just see below). Her TV credits include some standards (Marcus Welby  MD, Hawaii Five-O, Perry Mason), as well as several I’d never even heard of before in my life (Frontier Circus, The Whistler, Schlitz Playhouse). This beautiful brunette was also a successful model and a popular WWII pinup girl.

Embarrassing Movies

• Bloodhounds of Broadway
• A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob
• Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum
• Flight to Mars
• The Amazing Transparent Man *

* - author has seen

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Girl with the Most Beautiful Hands, NY Photographers Guild
• America's Number One Brunette, Coiffure Creation Council
• Miss Breathless of 1943
• The Gal it Would Be Nicest to Go ‘Chuting With, 541st Parachute Infantry Regiment

Embarrassing Taglines

• KILLER PROWLS BEHIND THE SCENES OF GAY BROADWAY!
• A chamber of horrors becomes a murder hideout!
• Female against Male ... in a savage land the law forgot ... but which the Nazis remembered!

Embarrassing Characters

• Peasant
• Sextette Member
• Comrade Lisa
• Mary Boleslavski
• Nanon de Lartigue
• Luella Purdy

Shortest Marriage:  1 year
 
Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Errol Flynn
• Howard Hughes

Whiffs of Scandal:  Was arrested and charged with DUI after rear-ending another car and then refusing to take a sobriety test
 
Interesting Tidbits

• Her childhood nickname was “Slugger”
• Was discovered while working as a switchboard operator
• During World War II, she entertained troops, sold war bonds and appeared in a string of war-themed movies
• Was a decent painter
• Was asked to audition for the “Old Rose” role in Titanic, but was too ill to do so

Where can I learn more?   

• Obit 
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb
• Wikipedia

 Ommm ...


<#99          #97>

#99 Kay Lenz

Kay Lenz has been acting pretty much since she was born. Her first credit was at six weeks, being held by Betty White in a TV show her dad produced. From there, she did lots more TV, a handful of decent flicks, and some real turkeys. Overall, she has 110 credits to her – well – credit, as well as two Emmys!

Embarrassing Movies

• Sanctuary of Fear *
• Trapped in Space
• Trial by Terror
• Prisoners of the Lost Universe *
• Stripped to Kill
• Hitler’s Daughter
• Shakespeare’s Plan 12 from Outer Space

* -  author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• A family vacation takes a detour into terror.
• It's A Fender Bending, Body Smashing Demolition Chase That Will Rip Off Your Roof!
• A Maniac is Killing Strippers. Detective Sheehan Has One Weapon to Stop Him. Her Body.

Embarrassing Characters

• Jerri Kane Hummer
• Thursday
• Breezy
• Peep
• Moke

Unlikely Spouses & Boyfriends

• Clint Eastwood
• David Cassidy

Whiffs of Scandal:  Depression and near bankruptcy

Interesting Tidbits

• Her mother was a radio engineer
• Was a teen rider on the rodeo circuit
• Was writer Ron Shelton’s first choice for “Annie” on Bull Durham

Where can I learn more?

• People magazine
• IMDb
• Wikipedia 

< #100          #98>

#100 Dolores Faith

Let’s start this thing out with someone a little on the obscure side. Poor Dolores Faith doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry. And that’s not too surprising, given that she only has 13 credits to her name. But what credits they were (just see below) ... And what a babe she was (see below again).

Embarrassing Real Name:  Dolores Hedges

Embarrassing Real Birthplace:  Cleveland

Cheesy Pageant Titles:  Hollywood Deb Star, 1962

Embarrassing Movies:

• The Phantom Planet *
• The Human Duplicators *
• Mutiny in Outer Space *
• House of the Black Death
• V.D. (AKA Damaged Goods)

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines:

• Made to Kill or Love on Command!
• Astounding adventure from the center of the moon!
• Shocking! Startling! Shameful!
• See! A 6 ft. astronaut shrink to 6 inches before your very eyes! See! The Moon Maidens! See! The attack of the Fire People! Starring DOLORES FAITH the Girl from Outer Space!

Embarrassing Characters:

• Lorelei Lancer
• Tanya Rovag
• Zetha
• The Rani

Whiffs of Scandal:  Spent some of her youth in an orphanage

Interesting Tidbits:

• Completely deaf between the ages of 4 and 9
• A natural blonde, she dyed her hair brunette
• Had a feature story done on her in LIFE

Where can I learn more?

• Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood: Seventy-Five Profiles, Tom Lisanti
• Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen
• IMDb

 

< Honorable Mention          #99>