Who is Mamie Van Doren?

Who is Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren, born Joan Lucille Olander (born February 6, 1931), is an American actress, model, singer, and sex symbol who is known for being one of the first actresses to recreate the look of Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren is perhaps best remembered for bringing the rock 'n' roll-style of music alive in the B-musical Untamed Youth (1957), and for many other films of this exotic nature.
Van Doren was born in Rowena, South Dakota. She is of three-quarters Swedish ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa and then during May 1942 to Los Angeles.
In early 1946, Van Doren began working as an usher at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The following year, she had a bit part on an early television show. She was married for a brief time at seventeen when Van Doren and her first husband, Jack Newman, eloped to Santa Barbara. The marriage was dissolved quickly, upon her discovery of his abusive nature. In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles "Miss Eight Ball" and "Miss Palm Springs." She was engaged to boxer Jack Dempsey, but broke off the engagement upon signing a contract with Universal.
Van Doren was discovered by producer Howard Hughes when she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. The pair dated for several years. Hughes launched her career by placing her in several RKO films.
Hughes provided Van Doren with a bit part in Jet Pilot at RKO Radio Pictures, which was her film debut. Her line of dialogue consisted of one word, "Look!" and she appears uncredited in the film. Though production of the movie was from 1949 to 1953, it was not released until 1957. The following year, 1951, she posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous "Vargas Girls."
Van Doren then began working on the stage. She was a showgirl in New York in Monte Proser's nightclub version of Billion Dollar Baby. Songwriter Jimmy McHugh discovered her for his musicals, then decided she was too good for the chorus line and should have dramatic training. She studied with Ben Bard and Bliss-Hayden. While appearing in the role of Marie in a showcase production of Come Back, Little Sheba, Van Doren was seen by Phil Benjamin, a casting director at Universal International.
On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. They had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had with Marilyn Monroe. Van Doren, whose signing day coincided with the inauguration of President Eisenhower, was given the first name Mamie for Ike's wife, Mamie Eisenhower.
Many of Van Doren's film roles showcased her ample curves, and her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring (for the era) swimsuits, but she and such other blonde bombshell contemporaries as Jayne Mansfield, Cleo Moore, Sheree North, Anita Ekberg, Barbara Lang, Joi Lansing, Greta Thyssen, and Barbara Nichols did not attain the same level of superstar status as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn, Mamie, and Mansfield were known as "The Three M's."
After Universal Studios chose not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren was now a free agent and had to struggle to find work. Some of her later movies were foreign and independent productions, which would do little to keep her image in the public's eye. Many of the productions were low-budget B-movies with some having gained a cult following for their high camp value.
The first of these later films was Sex Kittens Go to College in 1960, which co-starred Tuesday Weld.
In 1964, Tommy Noonan convinced Van Doren to appear in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt. Van Doren had turned down Noonan's previous offer to star in Promises! Promises!, in which she would have to do nude scenes. She was replaced by Jayne Mansfield. In 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Mamie did a beer-bath scene, but is not seen nude. She posed for Playboy to promote the film.
To this date Van Doren's last film appearance was a cameo role in Slackers in 2002
In her autobiography, Van Doren acknowledged numerous affairs with celebrities. These include Clark Gable, Howard Hughes, Johnny Carson, Elvis Presley, Burt Reynolds, Jack Dempsey, Steve McQueen, Johnny Rivers, Robert Evans, Eddie Fisher, Warren Beatty, Tony Curtis, Steve Cochran and Joe Namath. Claiming fidelity to each lover, she said about Hollywood life, "I don't wear panties anymore – this startles the Hollywood wolves so much they don't know what to pull at, so they leave me alone."
She posed twice for Playboy in 1963 to promote her movie 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964), though she was never a Playmate. By this point in her career, her figure measured 38DD-26-36 (self-described in 1997). She said about her chest measurement, "I don't even want to say double-D, because they're even bigger than that."
Mamie is in her 80s and still looks amazing.