Jeanne Laverne Carmen (August 4, 1930 – December 20, 2007) was an American model, actress and trick-shot golfer.
Jeanne Carmen | |
|---|---|
 Carmen in Portland Exposé (1957) | |
| Born | Jeanne Laverne Carmen August 4, 1930 Paragould, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | December 20, 2007 (aged 77) Irvine, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Pacific View Memorial Park |
| Other names | Jeannie Carman Saba Dareaux |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, model, pin-up girl, trick-shot golfer |
| Years active | 1951–2005 |
| Spouse(s) | Sandy Scott (m. 1948–1949) Ben Campo (1963–?)[1] |
| Children | Melinda, Brandon James, and Jade Austin |
| Website | The Official Jeanne Carmen web site |
Early life and career
editCarmen was born in Paragould, Arkansas. As a child, she picked cotton before running away from home at age 13. As a teen, she moved to New York City and landed a job as a dancer in Burlesque, with Bert Lahr. Later, she became a model, appearing as a pin-up girl in several men's magazines, including Wink, Titter, and Beauty Parade. She was a trick-shot golfer, appearing with and managed by Jack Redmond. She toured country clubs and county fairs with Redmond and her then husband Sandy Scott. In her 20s, while on tour and traveling to Florida, she met Johnny Rosselli, the Chicago Outfit's liaison in Los Angeles, who drove her, without her husband, to Las Vegas. The pair, now intimate, stayed at the Desert Inn, where they scammed rich victims who bet unsuccessfully against her winning games on the casino's golf course. Rosselli introduced her to Frank Sinatra, who took her from Las Vegas to Hollywood.[1][2][3][4]
In Hollywood, she appeared in B-movies such as Guns Don't Argue and The Monster of Piedras Blancas. She played both brassy platinum-blondes and (with her natural dark hair) sultry Spanish women.[5] Carmen's good looks, hourglass figure, and green eyes quickly landed her on the big screen in 1956 playing a feisty Spanish senorita named Serelda in the film The Three Outlaws, a Western based on the same events as the later Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and co-starring Neville Brand and Alan Hale, Jr as Butch and Sundance. She was cast by producer/director Howard W. Koch as an Indian girl in War Drums with Lex Barker of Tarzan fame. Koch took a liking to Carmen and cast her in Untamed Youth (1957), his next film for Warner Bros, co-starring Rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran, which inspired Cochran to cover the song "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie" for her.[6][7]
Carmen also appeared as a femme fatale in Portland Exposé with Frank Gorshin.[6] She also appeared in the Three Stooges short A Merry Mix Up, playing Joe Besser's girlfriend Mary. The short is notable for the Stooges playing three sets of identical triplets.[8]
Later years
editIn 1998, Carmen was the subject of a TV episode titled "Jeanne Carmen: Queen of the B-Movies" on the series E! True Hollywood Story. The show stated that Carmen maintained a "dangerously close friendship with Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys" and that after the death of Monroe, Carmen was told to leave town by Johnny Rosselli who was working for Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana. Believing her life was in danger, she fled to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lived incognito for more than a decade. Carmen abandoned her platinum-blonde locks, had three children, and lived a quiet life, never mentioning her prior life in Hollywood.[9]
Carmen's last published interview was on November 21, 2007 by SX News, an Australian weekly gay and lesbian newspaper.[10]
Death
editOn December 20, 2007, aged 77, Jeanne Carmen died from lymphoma at her home in Irvine, California, where she had resided since 1978. She was survived by three children, Melinda, Kellee Jade, and Brandon, and three grandchildren.[11]
At the time of Carmen's death, a biographical film of her life was in early stages of development, with Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, and Kate Bosworth under consideration to play Carmen.[12]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Mike and Buff | Princess Jeanne | Episode: "Princess Jeanne" |
| 1953 | Striporama | Venus Beauty | uncredited |
| 1956 | The Three Outlaws | Serelda | |
| 1957 | War Drums | Yellow Moon | |
| 1957 | A Merry Mix Up | Mary | |
| 1957 | Untamed Youth | Lillibet | |
| 1957 | Portland Exposé | Iris | |
| 1958 | I Married a Woman | Camera Girl | uncredited |
| 1958 | Too Much, Too Soon | Tassles | uncredited |
| 1958 | The Millionaire | Mary Evans | episode: "The Wally Bannister Story" |
| 1958 | 26 Men | Lili Mae Turner | episode: "The Last Rebellion" |
| 1958 | Born Reckless | Rodeo Girl | |
| 1959 | The Monster of Piedras Blancas | Lucy | |
| 1959 | Riverboat | Janine - Blonde Girl in Stagecoach | episode: "A Night at Trapper's Landing" uncredited |
| 1959 | Have Gun – Will Travel | Blonde Glamour Girl | episode: "Tiger" uncredited |
| 1960 | Tightrope | Francie | episode: "The Chinese Pendant" |
| 1961 | The Dick Powell Show | Nikki | episode: "Three Soldiers" |
| 1962 | The Devil's Hand | The Blonde Cultist | credited as Jeannie Carman |
| 1998 | "Outside" videoclip by George Michael | Woman with a boy on a leash[13] | |
| 2005 | The Naked Monster | Mrs. Lipschitz |
References
edit- ^ a b "Jeanne Carmen Profile", Glamour Girls. Retrieved December 9, 2020
- ^ Server, Lee (2018); Handsome Johnny: The Criminal Life of Johnny Rosselli, The Mob’s Man in Hollywood, Virgin Books. ISBN 0753522306
- ^ Clavin, Tom (September 4, 2007). "The Original Golf Pin-Up". Hamptons Online.
- ^ LeCompte, Tom (August–September 2005). "The 18-Hole Hustle". American Heritage. Archived from the original on 2006-05-07.
- ^ Jeff Overly (December 24, 2007). "Pinup legend and trick-shot golfer Jeanne Carmen dies at 77; Irvine resident, known as "Queen of the B Movies," had affairs with Clark Gable and Frank Sinatra". the Orange County Register. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved December 26, 2007.
- ^ a b Perrone, Pierre (January 3, 2008). "Jeanne Carmen: Movie pin-up and friend to stars". The Independent.
- ^ Freeman, Chad Clinton (August 2007). "Jeanne Carmen - Pinup of the Past - Miss August 2007". CCF Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
- ^ Maurer, Joan Howard (2000). The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Citadel Press. p. 264. ISBN 0-8065-0946-5.
- ^ ”E! True Hollywood Story” Jeanne Carmen: Queen of the B-Movies (1998) at IMDb
- ^ Devine, Stephen (November 22, 2007). "She dreams of Jeanne". SX News. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011.
- ^ "B-Movie Icon Jeanne Carmen Dead at 77". Hollywood.com. December 27, 2007. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013.
- ^ "Carmen wants Johansson or Bosworth to play her". China Daily. December 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ "Pin up Icon Jeanne Carmen in George Michael video for "Outside"". jeannecarmen.com. January 1, 2017.