Mamie Van Doren at Brian's Drive-In Theater

biography

Born Joan Olander in a small farming community in South Dakota on February 6, 1931, Mamie Van Doren's family relocated to California from the midwest in 1942. While in her teens, she won a few beauty contests and did a bit of modeling. She signed a contract in the late 1940s with RKO but was relegated to uncredited roles. Leaving for New York, she found work as a showgirl while studying acting. Spotted by a talent scout, she returned to California and signed a contract with Universal-International in 1953. The studio quickly cast her in the drama All American (1953; with Tony Curtis, Lori Nelson, and Richard Long) and followed up with such films as the musical The Second Greatest Sex (1955; with Jeanne Crain, George Nader, and Keith Andes), and the noir thriller Running Wild (1955; with William Campbell and John Saxon). As did other studios, in 1956 Universal-International ended its contracts with most of the actors in its stable, so following the release of the western Star in the Dust (1956; with John Agar and Coleen Gray), Van Doren was free to work for other studios and in television.

Universal had never given Van Doren the breakthrough role she deserved, so she freelanced in films produced by a variety of studios, including Warner Bros. and MGM. Although she snagged roles in a few memorable big-budget films such as Teacher's Pet (1958; with Doris Day and Clark Gable), 'B' films allowed Van Doren to headline and shine in highly dimensional roles that showcased her acting and singing talents. Of the three blonde bombshells of the 1950s (Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren), Van Doren had perhaps the widest acting range, excelling at playing bad girls. Perhaps her best-known film is the Warner Bros. release Untamed Youth (1957; with Lori Nelson and John Russell). In the late 1950s, Van Doren starred in a string of movies for producer Albert Zugsmith, who starred her in seven films, including The Beat Generation (1959; with Steve Cochran, Fay Spain, and Ray Danton), The Big Operator (1959; with Mickey Rooney and Steve Cochran), and in Sex Kittens Go to College (1960; with Tuesday Weld and Martin Milner).

the films of mamie van doren

All American (1953)

From All American. LEFT: Beautiful still of Mamie Van Doren. CENTER: With Tony Curtis. RIGHT: With Richard Long

Yankee Pasha (1954)

Campy promotional photo from Universal's Yankee Pasha

Ain't Misbehavin' (1955)

From Ain't Misbehavin'

Star in the Dust (1956)

From the Universal-International westsern Star in the Dust with Leif Erickson

The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)

Mamie Van Doren, Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, and Marie Windsor

With Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, and Marie Windsor in the film noir serial killer thriller The Girl in Black Stockings

Untamed Youth (1957)

Publicity photo from Untamed Youth

Born Reckless (1958)

Van Doren sings a number in the Warner Bros. western Born Reckless

High School Confidental! (1958)

LEFT: From the B-movie-star-studded MGM release High School Confidential! RIGHT: With Russ Tamblyn

Teacher's Pet (1958)

From Paramount's romantic comedy Teacher's Pet with Clark Gable

The Big Operator (1959)

Steve Cochran, Mamie Van Doren, and Mel Torme

From The Big Operator with Steve Cochran and Mel Torme

Girls Town (1959)

Norman Grabowski, Mamie Van Doren, Dick Contino, and Mel Torme

From Albert Zugsmith's teen torment flick Girls Town, released by MGM. LEFT: With Norman Grabowski, Dick Contino, and Mel Torme. RIGHT: As Silver Morgan, Mamie leaves Girls Town at the end of the picture

Guns, Girls, and Gangsters (1959)

As the troubled Vi Victor in Guns, Girls, and Gangsters. The photo on the right also features Gerald Mohr

College Confidential (1960)

Jayne Meadows, Steve Allen, and Mamie Van Doren

LEFT: Promotional shot from College Confidential. RIGHT: Professor Steve Allen gets an eyeful of coed Mamie Van Doren while Jayne Meadows looks on

The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)

Mickey Rooney as the Devil oogles Mamie Van Doren in Albert Zugsmith's comedy The Private Lives of Adam and Eve, released by Universal-International

Sex Kittens Go to College (1960)

Mamie Van Doren, Norman Grabowski, and Martin Milner

From Albert Zugsmith's comedy Sex Kittens Go to College, released by Allied Artists. LEFT: Van Doren as Dr. Mathilda West. CENTER: With Tuesday Weld. RIGHT: With Norman Grabowski and Martin Milner

3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964)

Tommy Noonan, Ziva Rodann, and Mamie Van Doren

With Tommy Noonan and Ziva Rodann in the low-budget comedy 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, a film which was directed by Tommy Noonan

The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966)

Anthony Eisley, Walter Sande, Mamie Van Doren, and Edward Faulkner

Anthony Eisley, Phillip Terry, Mamie Van Doren, and Edward Faulkner

The low-budget science fiction flick The Navy vs. the Night Monsters sports an impressive cast. LEFT: With Anthony Eisley, Walter Sande, and Edward Faulkner. RIGHT: With Anthony Eisley, Phillip Terry, and Edward Faulkner

mamie van doren today

Mamie Van Doren, Ray Anthony, and their son, Perry in 1957

While Van Doren's film career was in high gear in the 1950s, the 1960s proved to be more challenging. In August 1955, Van Doren married handsome bandleader Ray Anthony, and the couple had a son, Perry, in March 1956, but her marriage to Anthony dissolved in 1961. The type of sex comedy films she made with producer Albert Zugsmith fell out of favor with 1960s audiences. The death of Mamie Van Doren's friend and rival, Marilyn Monroe, on August 5, 1962, signaled the end of the blonde bombshell era. Van Doren's acting career began to suffer, much like that of Jayne Mansfield. Nonetheless, of the three bombshells only Van Doren lived past her 30s, because she didn't travel down the same road to destruction.

LEFT: With Barbara Nichols in the early 1970s.

By the late 1960s, Van Doren was no longer playing bad girls, as those roles had vanished with the onset of the sexual revolution in the US. Film roles offered to her were not worthy of her talents; her output during this period include You've Got to Be Smart (1967; with Roger Perry and Gloria Castillo), Peter Bogdanovich's first effort Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968; with Margot Hartman), and The Arizona Kid (1970; with Gordon Mitchell). Yet Van Doren remained very active in show business, with a Las Vegas nightclub act, USO tours of Vietnam, and dozens of pictorials in men's magazines.

In the 1980s, Van Doren renewed her career, taking on acting roles and hosting a videotape series for Rhino Home Video called Teenage Theater. In 1987 she published her autobiography, Playing the Field, an entertaining and highly recommended read. In the text she pulls no punches and even rates her lovers, including Warren Beatty, Steve Cochran, Eddie Fisher, Rock Hudson, Steve McQueen, Joe Namath, Burt Reynolds, and Johnny Rivers, to name a few. She has been married for more than 40 years to her current husband, Thomas. Today, she's making waves with her fun Facebook page, full of photos, her memories, and more. And she still looks terrific today at age 92.

filmography

FILM
This listing does not include Mamie Van Doren's appearances in Rhino's Teenage Theater series:
Slackers (2002) with Jason Schwartzman, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, and Gedde Watanabe
The Vegas Connection (1999) with Robert Carradine
Free Ride (1986) with Warren Berlinger and Peter DeLuise
That Girl from Boston (1975) with George 'Buck' Flower; directed by Matt Cimber
The Arizona Kid (1971) with Gordon Mitchell
You've Got to Be Smart (1967) with Roger Perry
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966) with Pamela Mason, Bobby Van, Anthony Eisley, Phillip Terry, and Billy Gray
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1966) with Margot Hartman
Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966) with Jayne Mansfield, Ferlin Husky, and Richard Kiel
Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964) with Tommy Noonan, Alvy Moore, Ziva Rodann, and Marjorie Bennett
The Sheriff Was a Lady (1964) with Rik Battaglia
The Candidate (1964) with June Wilkinson and Ted Knight
The Blonde from Buenos Aires (1961) with Jean-Pierre Aumont
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960) with Fay Spain, Martin Milner, Mickey Rooney, Ziva Rodann, and Tuesday Weld
College Confidential (1960) with Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Ziva Rodann, and Conway Twitty
Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) with Tuesday Weld, Mijanou Bardot, Martin Milner, Vampira, Conway Twitty, Mickey Shaughnessy, Louis Nye, Pamela Mason, Jackie Coogan, John Carradine, and Norman Grabowski
Vice Raid (1960) with Brad Dexter, Richard Coogan, and Nestor Paiva
Girls Town (1959) with Gloria Talbott, Elinor Donahue, Ray Anthony, Dick Contino, Mel Torme, Paul Anka, and Norman Grabowski
The Beat Generation (1959) with Steve Cochran, Fay Spain, Ray Danton, and Ray Anthony
The Big Operator (1959) with Mickey Rooney, Steve Cochran, Ray Anthony, Ray Danton, and Ziva Rodann
Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959) with Gerald Mohr and Lee Van Cleef
Born Reckless (1959) with Carol Ohmart, Jeff Richards, Arthur Hunnicutt, and Don 'Red' Barry
High School Confidential! (1958) with Jan Sterling, Russ Tamblyn, and Ray Anthony
The Beautiful Legs of Sabrina (1958)
Teacher's Pet (1958) with Clark Gable, Doris Day, Gig Young, Nick Adams, and Marion Ross
Untamed Youth (1957) with Lori Nelson, John Russell, Lurene Tuttle, Yvonne Lime, and Eddie Cochran
The Girl in Black Stockings (1957) with Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, Marie Windsor, and Stuart Whitman
Jet Pilot (produced in 1950; released in 1957) with John Wayne, Janet Leigh, Jay C. Flippen, and Hans Conried
Star in the Dust (1956) with John Agar, Coleen Gray, Richard Boone, James Gleason, Randy Stuart, Harry Morgan, and Stafford Repp
Running Wild (1955) with William Campbell, John Saxon, and Keenan Wynn
Ain't Misbehavin' (1955) with Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, Jack Carson, and Barbara Britton
The Second Greatest Sex (1955) with George Nader, Jeanne Crain, and Keith Andes
Francis Joins the WACs (1954) with Donald O'Connor, Allison Hayes, Julie Adams, and Mara Corday
Yankee Pasha (1954) with Jeff Chandler, Rhonda Fleming, and Rex Reason
The All-American (1953) with Tony Curtis, Lori Nelson, Richard Long, and Stuart Whitman
Forbidden (1953) with Joanne Dru and Tony Curtis
Footlight Varieties (1951)
His Kind of Woman (1951) with Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)

TELEVISION GUEST APPEARANCES
Fantasy Island, episode The Stripper/The Boxer, originally aired February 10, 1979
Vega$, episode Serve, Volley and Kill, originally aired December 20, 1978
Mister Roberts, episode In Love and War, originally aired April 1, 1966
Burke's Law, episode Who Killed 711?, originally aired December 9, 1964
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, episode Exotic Housemother, originally aired December 9, 1964
Pantomime Quiz, episode Clint Walker vs. Mamie Van Doren, originally aired July 1, 1963
The Dick Powell Show, episode No Strings Attached, originally aired April 24, 1962
The Red Skelton Show, episode Clem and the Beanstalk, originally aired May 24, 1960
Alcoa Theatre, episode Girls About Town, originally aired November 2, 1959
The Bob Cummings Show, episode Bob Meets Mamie Van Doren, originally aired February 3, 1959

mamie van doren trailers now showing

Watch the trailer for Mamie Van Doren's 1964 comedy 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt

mamie van doren television appearances now showing

Watch Mamie Van Doren in a February 1961 episode of The Jack Benny Program titled Death Row Sketch

mamie van doren film now showing

Watch Mamie Van Doren's 1959 drama Girls Town

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This page premiered March 13, 1998.
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Mamie Van Doren

(b. February 6, 1931)