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Actress Sandra Dee dies at age 63
MSNBC ^ | 02/20/2005 | MSNBC

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dee; obituary; sandradee
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To: Howlin
Only when you have a moment, and this is a sad one.
41 posted on 02/20/2005 1:24:22 PM PST by bd476
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To: BigSkyFreeper
From Yahoo! Movies:

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:

  1. Lost (1983) .... Penny

  2. Fantasy Island (1977) (TV) .... Francesca Hamilton
  3. Houston, We've Got a Problem (1974) (TV) .... Angie Cordell
  4. The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972) (TV) .... Ada
  5. The Manhunter (1972) (TV) .... Mara Bocock
  6. Ad est di Marsa Matruh (1971)
  7. The Dunwich Horror (1970) .... Nancy Wagner

  8. Rosie! (1967) .... Daphne
  9. Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding (1967) .... Heather Halloran
  10. A Man Could Get Killed (1966) .... Amy Franklin
    ... aka Welcome, Mr. Beddoes (UK)
  11. That Funny Feeling (1965) .... Joan Howell
  12. I'd Rather Be Rich (1964) .... Cynthia Dulaine
  13. Take Her, She's Mine (1963) .... Mollie Michaelson
  14. Tammy and the Doctor (1963) .... Tammy Tyree
  15. If a Man Answers (1962) .... Chantal Stacy
  16. Come September (1961) .... Sandy Stevens
  17. Tammy Tell Me True (1961) .... Tammy Tyree
  18. Romanoff and Juliet (1961) .... Juliet Moulsworth
    ... aka Dig That Juliet
  19. Portrait in Black (1960) .... Cathy Cabot

  20. A Summer Place (1959) .... Molly Jorgenson
  21. The Wild and the Innocent (1959) .... Rosalie Stocker
  22. Imitation of Life (1959) .... Susie, age 16
  23. Gidget (1959) .... Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
  24. A Stranger in My Arms (1959) .... Pat Beasley
    ... aka And Ride a Tiger (USA)
  25. The Restless Years (1958) .... Melinda Grant
    ... aka The Wonderful Years (UK)
  26. The Reluctant Debutante (1958) .... Jane Broadbent
  27. Snezhnaya koroleva (1957) (voice) .... Gerda in English ... aka Снежная королева (Soviet Union: Russian title) ... aka The Snow Queen (USA)
  28. Until They Sail (1957) .... Evelyn Leslie


42 posted on 02/20/2005 1:25:38 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Smoke free since January 16, 2005)
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To: Howlin

Is that a recent photo? She looks good considering what she's been through.


43 posted on 02/20/2005 1:26:02 PM PST by silent_jonny (I'm fringier than you)
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To: altura
Dodd looks a lot like Bobby.

Spitting image.

44 posted on 02/20/2005 1:26:34 PM PST by eddie willers
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To: PeaceBeWithYou

FOX News said she was 62, IMDB lists her birth date as April 23, 1944, in Bayonne, NJ.


45 posted on 02/20/2005 1:28:46 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Smoke free since January 16, 2005)
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To: ValerieUSA

Gina Lollobrigida--wow! Now I know what my dad was talking about.


46 posted on 02/20/2005 1:28:51 PM PST by silent_jonny (I'm fringier than you)
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To: ken5050

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.


47 posted on 02/20/2005 1:29:06 PM PST by bd476
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To: Calvin Locke

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."
Sandra Dee: Anorexia And Alcohol Drove Me To The Brink Of Death

"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 '


"I do have a blood test to be sure my electrolytes are all in balance and that I'm not anemic. I don't want to get sick. I'd rather go in once a month and get checked out than have to sit around and worry about my health.

"Until two years ago, I just didn't want to go on living.  Right now my biggest joy in life is knowing that I want to get up each morning."

Still blonde and perky, the one-time big screen sweetheart, who soared to fame as "Gidget" and "Tammy," credits her amazing
SANDY kept
a drink handy while
out with Bobby Darin
& young son Dodd.
recovery to the birth of her precious granddaughter, Alexa, in 1996.

"My wonderful granddaughter was the turning point in my life," she said. "I suddenly realized I wanted to live!"

Her battles with the bottle and anorexia have been well-publicized in the past. She has also publicly acknowledged that she was sexually abused at the age of 8 by her stepfather.

"I didn't understand what was going on. I was a child," she said. It took her decades to come to grips with the nightmare and confront the truth.

But the star of "A Summer Place" was the envy of every young girl when she married singing idol Bobby Darin while still in her teens and had a son, Dodd, with him.

The marriage ended in divorce in 1967. Tragically, Bobby -- who she still deeply loves -- died in 1973 at the age of 37 following surgery to replace a heart valve.

"Even though we had divorced, Bobby and I remained very good friends. He lived with the family a year before he died. I don't know what happened to our marriage. Maybe I grew up and he just never expected that.


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."

"I miss him every day. He would be so happy with the Sandra Dee of today."

But Sandy's life back then hit rock bottom with booze and deep depression, and this pattern worsened when her mother, Mary, died 10 years ago.
LUSH LIFE:
Sandra in earlier days
surrounded by booze.

"After my mother died I just sat in the house and said, 'What the hell?' It was like I was trying to commit suicide. But I was too much of a chicken to do anything deliberate -- like take pills. So I just abused my body with alcohol.

"I had been in such a state of depression that I didn't even go to my son's wedding six years ago."

But her dependence on alcohol ended the day Alexa was born.

"I went to the hospital at 5 in the morning to see her. And I stopped abusing alcohol right then."

She confessed to The ENQUIRER: "I still have a glass of wine with a meal now and then. But I can control it and that's the important thing. I don't touch anything stronger than wine now. And there are weeks that go by that I don't have anything to drink.

"Listen, I realize what I'm doing won't work for everybody. But it works for me."

She remains sensitive to any speculation that her drinking problems continue today.


FAST FACTS: Sandra Dee's real name is Alexandra Zuck.  Her late ex-husband, singer Bobby Darin, was born Walden Robert Cassotto.

When she got off a plane recently in Los Angeles, those who saw her reported she needed to be assisted deplaning and walking through the airport.

But Sandy says a raging ear infection was worsened by the flight -- and that was it.

"I successfully fought anorexia. I fought drinking. I fought all that. Now I have to defend myself when I get an earache.

"If  people see me and think I've lost a half a pound they say: 'Whoops, her anorexia is back.' This is nuts!"

Although her terrifying battle with anorexia saw her weight once plunge to a dangerous 86 pounds, the 5-foot-5 grandma now tips the scales at a healthier 106, but she admits she would like to add on another four or five pounds. "I should be about 110," she said.

"I was anorexic for many, many years -- even before people knew what it was. They didn't even have a name for it back then. I was a model in New York. And the reason I was anorexic is because I developed a bust when I was 8 years old. I matured very early. And I didn't want any of it. Plus I have a very, very round face. I kept dieting and dieting.

"Throughout my life I never believed I could be too thin."

She's busy writing her autobiography, "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee," and is putting together a movie about her romance with Darin, called "Dream Lover."

"My biggest regret in the world is that Bobby and my mother didn't live to see Alexa born, to see me straighten out and see my son Dodd grow up to be an outstanding man," she said.


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.

"But my goal in life is very simple right now. I'm going to try to stay happy.

"I've gone through a nightmare. And thank God I'm out of it!"


48 posted on 02/20/2005 1:29:23 PM PST by Howlin (Free the Eason Jordan Tape!!!)
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To: Howlin

Sandra Dee sure looked gorgeous.


49 posted on 02/20/2005 1:31:17 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Smoke free since January 16, 2005)
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To: MojoWire
Wasn't she in Absent Minded Professor, the one where Jerry Lewis, as a wimpy college professor, invented a magic formula which made him into a romeo type hunk.

That's Stella Stevens.

As to Sandra Dee, I love soapy and trashy "A Summer Place". Also am a fan of "Gidget".

50 posted on 02/20/2005 1:31:57 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: drt1

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.


51 posted on 02/20/2005 1:32:20 PM PST by eddie willers
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To: Howlin

Oh Howlin, so sad, and yet she had a full life, very short, but full. She was beautiful, wasn't she?


52 posted on 02/20/2005 1:32:33 PM PST by bd476
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To: ValerieUSA

Thank you for posting that.
Loved both her and Bobby Darin.
RIP Sandra!


53 posted on 02/20/2005 1:38:07 PM PST by MoJo2001 (Operation Easter/Passover For Our Troops begins Feb.14th-Mar.4th---www.proudpatriots.org)
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To: COUNTrecount
With her son Dodd.

Man, does he look like his father, or what?

54 posted on 02/20/2005 1:39:18 PM PST by LibertarianLiz
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To: bd476; BigSkyFreeper

She still looked great, IMO.


55 posted on 02/20/2005 1:39:37 PM PST by Howlin (Free the Eason Jordan Tape!!!)
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To: PeaceBeWithYou
PMSNBC wrong again! She was 60. Born: April 23, 1944

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)

56 posted on 02/20/2005 1:40:57 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Smoke free since January 16, 2005)
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To: drt1

Goodnight, Tammy.


57 posted on 02/20/2005 1:45:08 PM PST by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: Howlin

Yep she sure did. I hope that she was not in any pain.


58 posted on 02/20/2005 1:52:47 PM PST by bd476
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To: Howlin; bd476

I hope she wasn't in too much pain in the end.


59 posted on 02/20/2005 1:57:39 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Smoke free since January 16, 2005)
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To: Howlin

She had a difficult relationship with her mother and had alluded to being sexually abused by her step-father, IIRC.


60 posted on 02/20/2005 2:00:34 PM PST by mabelkitty (Blackwell for Governor in 2006!!!)
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