In 1950s America there were two famous women named Mamie. One, of course,was the First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower.
The other was blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren, whose career put her in the same stratosphere as Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.
And Mamie was not shy about her sexiness. She had many male acquaintances, shall we call them.
Joan Lucille Olander was born in 1931 in South Dakota. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 11. And, one thing leading to another, she married for the first time at age 17, in a union that ended quickly.
By age 19 she had a movie contract, launching the career that catapulted her to star status. In the ‘50s and ‘60s she was rarely out of work.
In 1987 Mamie wrote her autobiography, Playing the Field. That’s when I met her and interviewed her – and then we talked again a year later when the book came out in softcover.
So here now, from 1988,. Mamie Van Doren.
Mamie Van Doren.is 93 now, having outlived Marilyn, Jayne, Suzanne, and Farrah.