Sigh…

Yvette Vickers was a b-movie actress of the 50s, mostly known for her roles in The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and the Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959). Her first movie appearance was more promising -albeit uncredited- in Sunset Boulevard (1950) as “Giggling Girl on Phone”, in the Christmas party scene. It seems Yvette wasn’t as career focused as her peroxide contemporaries Marilyn, Jane or Mamie were. Playboy playmate for July 1959, she drifted to bit parts in the 60s, developing a reputation of a man-stealing, fast party girl, slowly fading out of the industry altogether.

Jump to April of 2011, when a concerned neighbor discovered her dead body in her Benedict Canyon two-story home, a decrepit, tiny wooden pied-à-terre (about 700 ft2 / 65 m2), which had been her home since the 50s. Yvette had been lying dead on the wooden floor for over 6 months. She had no family or friends, preferring to keep to herself, increasingly paranoid that people were stalking her. A half brother came out of the woodwork, claimed her humble estate and immediately put the house on the market. He had movers throw all of Yvette’s belongings in the trash; press clippings, movie scripts, clothes, mementos, photographs, recordings, everything, was hauled away to the public dump, while Yvette was cremated. The house was sold for half the asking price, a mere $275,000 and was promptly demolished. Within a few weeks, nothing was left of Yvette Vickers, but for some old movie clips on youtube. She joins the many ghosts of Old Hollywood.

Somebody broke into her home before the demolition and shot footage of the cobwebbed, empty space. I recognized it as being the set for many of her pin up photos and I spliced some obvious ones together. It was so eerie to see the crisp, black and white images of young Yvette next to the cruel reality that was to come many years later.

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Her wig..


2 Responses to “”

  1. Daniel Fitzgerald Says:

    Superb article, I remember Yvette from her small scene in Hud, thank you so much sharing Thanos.

  2. Thanos Says:

    happy you enjoyed it, Daniel! xx

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