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Showing posts from February, 2011

Featured Icon: Mamie Van Doren

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Joan Lucille Olander (born February 6, 1931), known professionally as Mamie Van Doren, is an American actress, model, singer and sex symbol, known for being one of the first "clones" 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 Joan Lucille Olander in Rowena, South Dakota, the daughter of Warner Carl Olander (March 30, 1908 – June 4, 1992) and Lucille Harriet Bennett (January 21, 1912 – August 27, 1995). She is of three-quarters Swedish ancestry; the remainder is mixed English and German. Her mother named her after Joan Crawford. In 1939, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa. In May 1942, they moved to Los Angeles. On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal Studios. The studio had big plans for her, hoping she would bring the same kind of success that 20th Century Fox had wit