Posted on 02/20/2005 12:37:53 PM PST by drt1
LOS ANGELES - Actress Sandra Dee died Sunday, according to a published report. She was 63.
Her son Dodd Darin, who's father was actor-crooner Bobby Darin, told CNN the actress had been hospitalized to undergo treatment for kidney disease and pneumonia before she passed away on Sunday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
American actress Sandra Dee began her career as a model at age 12, and later moved on to TV commercials. Her film break came when producer Ross Hunter balked at Natalie Wood's lofty salary demands and decided to use a newcomer to play Lana Turner's daughter in Imitation of Life (1959). The result for Dee was a long-term contract at Universal, although one of her biggest moneymakers was the 1959 Warner Bros. film A Summer Place. In 1961, Dee married singer/actor Bobby Darin, with whom she appeared in three lightweight but money-making comedies. After her divorce from Darin in 1967, Dee could no longer convey her patented perky-teen charm, and her career began a downhill slide, although the decline was occasionally slowed a bit by such curious highlights as the pseudo-hip sex comedy Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding (1967) and the nail-biting psychological scare film The Dunwich Horror (1970). Out of movies completely by 1971, Dee retreated to private life, occasionally popping up on TV and granting interviews with nostalgia-happy young film buffs. Much of the actress' latter-day fame rested upon a single song in the Broadway smash Grease: the satiric, 1950s-style, rock ballad titled "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Internet Movie Database:
- Lost (1983) .... Penny
- Fantasy Island (1977) (TV) .... Francesca Hamilton
- Houston, We've Got a Problem (1974) (TV) .... Angie Cordell
- The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972) (TV) .... Ada
- The Manhunter (1972) (TV) .... Mara Bocock
- Ad est di Marsa Matruh (1971)
- The Dunwich Horror (1970) .... Nancy Wagner
- Rosie! (1967) .... Daphne
- Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding (1967) .... Heather Halloran
- A Man Could Get Killed (1966) .... Amy Franklin
... aka Welcome, Mr. Beddoes (UK)- That Funny Feeling (1965) .... Joan Howell
- I'd Rather Be Rich (1964) .... Cynthia Dulaine
- Take Her, She's Mine (1963) .... Mollie Michaelson
- Tammy and the Doctor (1963) .... Tammy Tyree
- If a Man Answers (1962) .... Chantal Stacy
- Come September (1961) .... Sandy Stevens
- Tammy Tell Me True (1961) .... Tammy Tyree
- Romanoff and Juliet (1961) .... Juliet Moulsworth
... aka Dig That Juliet- Portrait in Black (1960) .... Cathy Cabot
- A Summer Place (1959) .... Molly Jorgenson
- The Wild and the Innocent (1959) .... Rosalie Stocker
- Imitation of Life (1959) .... Susie, age 16
- Gidget (1959) .... Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
- A Stranger in My Arms (1959) .... Pat Beasley
... aka And Ride a Tiger (USA)- The Restless Years (1958) .... Melinda Grant
... aka The Wonderful Years (UK)- The Reluctant Debutante (1958) .... Jane Broadbent
- Snezhnaya koroleva (1957) (voice) .... Gerda in English ... aka Снежная королева (Soviet Union: Russian title) ... aka The Snow Queen (USA)
- Until They Sail (1957) .... Evelyn Leslie
Is that a recent photo? She looks good considering what she's been through.
Spitting image.
FOX News said she was 62, IMDB lists her birth date as April 23, 1944, in Bayonne, NJ.
Gina Lollobrigida--wow! Now I know what my dad was talking about.
Wow, lucky you! It felt as if I was born too late after I first heard "Beyond the Sea." No wonder Sandra Dee adored him.
CUDDLY POOCH Theo is one of the joys of Sandy's life. "My goal in life is very simple right now," the still-gorgeous actress explains. "I'm going to try to stay happy." |
"For the first time in my life I don't want to die."
Those dramatic words come from former teen queen Sandra Dee, now 56, who says she's finally won her nightmarish battle against depression, booze and anorexia.
But brave Sandy gets up at 5 a.m. every day to work out at her neighborhood gym -- to combat the years of abuse that have taken their toll.
And she still worries that the slightest illness could land her in the hospital. She undergoes a blood test once a month to check for any imbalances.
"I am always under a doctor's care," she told The ENQUIRER in an exclusive interview. "Once a month I go in for blood tests. I know I've abused my body by not eating and going to extremes.
' I've gone through a nightmare -- thank God I'm out of it '
SANDY kept a drink handy while out with Bobby Darin & young son Dodd. |
FAST FACTS: Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin celebrated the birth of their son, Dodd, in December 1961, the next year Bobby released two "baby" songs -- "Baby Face" and "I Found A New Baby." Dodd, a Malibu businessman, went on to later write a book about his parents' romance called: "Dream Lovers."
LUSH LIFE: Sandra in earlier days surrounded by booze. |
FAST FACTS: Sandra Dee's real name is Alexandra Zuck. Her late ex-husband, singer Bobby Darin, was born Walden Robert Cassotto.
FAST FACTS:Sandy played "Gidget" to James Darren's "Moondoggie" and Cliff Robertson's "Kahoona" in the 1959 hit movie. Darren is now 62 years old. Robertson is 72.
Sandra Dee sure looked gorgeous.
That's Stella Stevens.
As to Sandra Dee, I love soapy and trashy "A Summer Place". Also am a fan of "Gidget".
I live for Angel, she's a roadhouse queen,
Makes Texas Ruby look like Sandra Dee.
I wanna love her but I don't know how,
I'm at the bottom of the jailhouse now.
Ain't living long like this.
Oh Howlin, so sad, and yet she had a full life, very short, but full. She was beautiful, wasn't she?
Thank you for posting that.
Loved both her and Bobby Darin.
RIP Sandra!
Man, does he look like his father, or what?
She still looked great, IMO.
Yep, she was 60, however even the Associated Press says she was 63.
Actress Sandra Dee, portraying a nurse's helper in the motion picture production "Tammy and the Doctor," poses in character in this July 1962 file photo. A nursing supervisor says actress Sandra Dee has died at age 62. (AP Photo) |
Goodnight, Tammy.
Yep she sure did. I hope that she was not in any pain.
I hope she wasn't in too much pain in the end.
She had a difficult relationship with her mother and had alluded to being sexually abused by her step-father, IIRC.
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