NEED TO KNOW
Mamie Van Doren is one of classic Hollywood’s original “blonde bombshells,” often grouped with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield
Van Doren shared a video on TikTok introducing herself to the younger generation and promoting her new book, You Thought I Was Dead
Van Doren, 95, has opened up about many of her experiences living through Hollywood’s golden age and what life looked like for her in the years that followed
Mamie Van Doren is alive and well, with stories to tell.
The Untamed Youth actress, 95, took to TikTok recently to promote her new book, You Thought I Was Dead: My Life of Celebrities, Sex, and Champagne. Born Joan Lucille Olander, Van Doren took the opportunity to introduce herself to a new generation and share what they might find from her story.
“You may not know me if you’re of a certain age, but I was present for the sunset of Hollywood’s Golden Age. I was a starlet under contract at Universal Studios,” she shared.
“I rubbed elbows with some of the legends of the silver screen, and, if the vibe was right, sometimes we rubbed other things,” Van Doren teased.
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Van Doren also noted that “There’s more than sex in these pages,” continuing, “There’s a story of a little girl who grew up on a farm, one of the South Dakota prairie,” noting that despite nearly ending up in an orphanage and the struggles of World War II, she made it to Hollywood.
Van Doren worked widely in the ‘50s and ‘60s, including in many movies alongside male singers who were trying to break into acting. To bolster Van Doren’s profile during the competitive heyday of Hollywood, Universal Studios set up dates for her with other movie stars, including Rock Hudson. Van Doren spoke to PEOPLE back in the summer of 1985 in a groundbreaking cover story about Hudson and his diagnosis, sharing that at Universal, “We all knew Rock was gay, but it never made any difference to us.”
Mamie Van Doren for “The Second Greatest Sex,” 1955
Credit: Universal-International/Getty
She continued, “Universal invested a lot of money in Rock, and it was important for his image to remain that of a lady-killer. Rock did what was expected of him.”
Universal dropped her after she got pregnant out of wedlock and gave birth to her son in 1956. She previously told IndieWire that the situation was difficult because there were no women in positions of power at the studio to help plead her case.
“The men ran the studio and ran everything. So I kept pushing and pushing, and sometimes I did things I shouldn’t have done, and then… I found myself pregnant, and I got married afterward, and then that was unheard of. At least it got me out of my contract at Universal,” she said.
The retired screen siren —who, along with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, was known as “The Three M’s,” the industry’s most prominent bombshell blondes — previously published a memoir, Playing the Field: My Story, in 1987.
Read the original article on People