Pinup girl: Mamie Van Doren

Mamie Van Doren

She began her artistic career as a singer in "The Ted Fio Rito's Band" without any success but during the 50's decade she became an actress in films in which her voluptous body was the perfect excuse for showing it.

In 1957 she posed as a model for the illustrator Alberto Vargas and his Mamie's picture was published in the july cover of the Esquire magazine.

She acted as an extra in the RKO's films "Jet Pilot" (1949-1950) directed by Josef Von Sternberg and "His Kind of Woman" (1951) by John Farrow with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russel and Vincent Price as the main actors. Lately she signed a contract with the Universal that believed she had discovered a new sex-symbol of profound effects.

"Forbidden" (1953) by Rudolph Maté, "All American" (1953) by Jesse Hibbs, and "Yankee Pasha" (1954) by Joseph Pevney were her first works with this film producer. She also appeared in an episode of the series "Francis, the Mule" entitled "Francis joins the WACS" (1954).

Despite Mamie never would be a superstar as Marilyn Monroe, she was known together with her and the also blonde actress Jayne Mansfield as "The Three M's".

After the premature death of Marilyn and Jayne she became the single survivor of the three beauties.

She acted in the musical films "Ain't Misbehavin" (1955) directed by Edward Buzzell, "The Second Greatest Sex" (1955) by George Marshall, or in the thriller "Running Wild" (1955) by Abner Biberman, among another B movies of poor interest.

She also acted in pictures of another important film producers such as "Teacher's Pet" (1958) by George Seaton and played by Doris Day and Clark Gable with the Paramount, "Born Reckless" (1958) by Howard W. Koch with the Warner Bros, and "High School Confidential" (1958) by Jack Arnold and "The Beat Generation" (1959) directed by Charles F. Haas, produced by Albert Zugsmith and also played by Irish McCalla with the Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Moreover she acted in "The Big Operator" (1959) and "Girls Town" (1959) both directed by Charles F. Haas, "College Confidential" (1960), "The Privates Lives of Adam and Eve" (1960), and "Sex Kittens go to College" (1960) directed by Albert Zugsmith all three.

Many of Mamie's films had an adolescent subject that claimed the sound of Rock&Roll in which she usually played the role of a bad rebellious girl.

Her last appearances were in some independent cheap productions as "The Blonde from Buenos Aires" (1961) by George Cahan, "Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt" (1964) by Tommy Noonan, "The Candidate" (1964) by Robert Angus, "The Navy Vs the Night Monsters" (1966) by Michael A. Hoey, "Las Vegas Hillbillys" (1966) by Arthur C. Pierce also played by Jayne Mansfield, and "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich.

Mamie was married five different times and had a lot of love affairs with important people such as Elvis Presley, Clark Gable, Johny Carson, Burt Reynolds, Howard Hughes, Steve McQueen, Jack Dempsey, Robert Evans, Johny Rivers, Warren Beatty, Eddie Fisher, Steve Cochran, Joe Namath and Tony Curtis.

Nowadays she is more than 60 and a loyal supporter of the latest novelties in plastic surgery.