Posted on 01/03/2006 5:55:08 AM PST by Mike Bates
Candy Barr, infamous 1950s stripper and stag film star once romantically linked to mobster Mickey Cohen and associated with Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, has died. She was 70.
Barr died Friday of pneumonia in an Abilene, Texas, hospital. She had lived quietly in her native south Texas for several years.
Born Juanita Dale Slusher in Edna, Texas, on July 6, 1935, Barr forged a life exotic enough in the mid-20th century to inspire a biopic. (One was contemplated but never produced in the late 1980s, with Farrah Fawcett portraying Barr.)
Before the dancer's career was derailed in 1960 by a prison term for marijuana, she was earning $2,000 a week in Los Angeles and Las Vegas clubs.
It was Barr who trained actress Joan Collins for her role as an exotic dancer in the 1960 movie "Seven Thieves," earning her a credit as technical advisor.
"She taught me more about sensuality than I had learned in all my years under contract," Collins wrote in her autobiography, "Past Imperfect." Collins went on to describe Barr as "a down-to-earth girl with an incredibly gorgeous body and an angelic face."
Barr became a landmark in the sexual liberation of Texas men in the 1950s, Gary Cartwright wrote in a 1976 Texas Monthly magazine article, the same year the 41-year-old but still shapely Barr posed nude for Oui men's magazine.
Cartwright wrote that in her early career, Barr had epitomized "the conflict between sex as joy and sex as danger. The body was perfect, but it was the innocence of the face that lured you on."
In 1984, Texas Monthly listed Barr among such luminaries as Lady Bird Johnson as one of history's "perfect Texans."
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Ironically, they've been flying at half-staff for years...
Can't believe you didn't offer pictures of the lovely Candy Barr.
http://images.google.com/images?q=Candy+Barr&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images
Thought it might be a little early in the morning, but thanks.
Posted on Sun, Jan. 01, 2006
Once-famous exotic dancer dies in South TexasAssociated Press
ABILENE, Texas - Candy Barr, a well-known exotic dancer from the 1950s
who settled into a quiet small-town life in Texas, has died of
pneumonia. She was 70.
Barr, who was born Juanita Dale Slusher on July 6, 1935, in Edna,
Texas, died Friday at a Victoria hospital, the Abilene Reporter-News
reported in Sunday editions.
Slavik Funeral Home in Edna confirmed the death of Juanita Phillips and
verified that she was also known as Candy Barr.
Barr rose to prominence as an exotic dancer in Dallas in the late
1950s. She performed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and at one point
earned $2,000 per week.
She was associated with Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who was
accused of gunning down Lee Harvey Oswald, the man suspected of
assassinating President Kennedy.
At 16, Barr starred in one of the most famous stag movies, "Smart
Alec," in 1951. She was known for her choreography and trained actress
Joan Collins for the 1960 movie "Seven Thieves."
Her career was derailed in 1959 when she was sentenced to 15 years in
prison by a Dallas judge for possessing less than an ounce of
marijuana. She served about three years and later moved to Brownwood.
Barr was indicted for marijuana possession in Brownwood in 1970, but
the charges were dismissed. She later disappeared from public view,
eventually moving from Brownwood to Edna in 1992.
Barr was married four times and had at least one child, a daughter, the
newspaper reported. No funeral service is planned.
Jack Ruby was not just "accused" of shooting Lee Harvey Oswald but was CONFICTED of the crime.
Thangu.
Candy's bar.
Quite a gal!
And I really like the color of your sofas.
I remember Candy Samples.
Being from Texas, she was lucky she wasn't named Juanita Bob Slusher.
Any relation to Bob Barr?
That is a Festivus pole.
He could only wish.
Now you're talking...... That was a very natural built woman. I would love to put that "step over, toe hold, on her".
No, we are not related!
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