Saturday, May 07, 2011

SOME THAT YOU RECOGNIZE, SOME THAT YOU'VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF

There's no point in arguing that Yvette Vickers was an underrated actress, that she deserved better than Attack Of The 5o Foot Woman and the similar Z pictures associated with her name.  Sadly, there's not even any use in commenting on her achingly carnal beauty.

Because now, when she's remembered, it will be as that ancient pin-up queen whose mummified remains were found by a neighbor.  So she's officially a freak now, a has-been who never quite was, and the ghoulish circumstances of her death are all anyone will ever talk or care about.  The fascinating life she led--she was discovered by Billy Wilder, Russ Meyer shot her Playboy spread, she was a fringe player on the Hollywood scene for years--will be forgotten.

Still.  At her peak, studio execs treated her as just another blonde in a town full of them, and audiences failed to make her the star she should have been.  But now, at last, people will remember her.  As befits a mummy, she has become immortal.