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
"I'd Rather Be Rich" is one of my favorites.