Dolores Michaels

Dolores Rae Michaels (January 30, 1933 – September 25, 2001) was an American actress.

Dolores Michaels
Dolores Michaels in trailer for The Fiend Who Walked The West (1958)
Born
Dolores Rae Michaels

(1933-01-30)January 30, 1933
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
DiedSeptember 25, 2001(2001-09-25) (aged 68)
West Hollywood, California, U.S.
Other namesSparky
OccupationActor
Years active1953–1963
Spouse(s)Maurice Martiné
(1953-1959; divorced)
Bernard Wolfe
(1961-1969; divorced)
2 children
ChildrenJordan & Miranda Wolfe (b. 1970)

Biography

Early life

Michaels was born in Kansas City, Missouri,[1] to Raymond Roscoe Michaels and his wife Esther Marie Holcomb.[2]). Her father had been a baseball catcher.[3] He then became a food broker.[4]

Michaels had the same birthday as Franklin D. Roosevelt and was born five weeks before he was inaugurated as president of the United States on March 4. Before her third birthday her father sent the president a birthday card informing him of the connection. Roosevelt replied sending Dolores his best wishes on her birthday.[5]

She began studying ballet at age five, and went to New York City to study dance and drama before she graduated from Bishop Hogan High School.[1][6] Her older sister, Gloria Michaels, had gone to New York City and joined the traveling cast of Brigadoon. When the musical came to Kansas City, 16-year-old Dolores was invited to join them.[7]

Michaels moved to Laguna Beach, California after she married interior decorator Maurice Martiné in 1953.[8] They separated in 1958.[9] In January 1959, she filed for divorce.[10] At the hearing, she testified that Martiné had moved them into an expensive unfinished house, without heat or water, and that he expected her to bathe in the ocean, something she didn't want to do because she was constantly catching a cold. The divorce became final on September 29, 1959.[11] During her separation and after the divorce, she dated actor John Duke.[12]

Acting career

Michaels was discovered when she was doing a scene in an acting class at 20th Century-Fox's talent school. A group of producers and directors were in the audience, and after the scenes were finished, the audience voted on who gave the best performance. She won and got a contract with 20th Century-Fox.[13]

Joanne Woodward was supposed to have the part of Mildred Pritchard in The Wayward Bus (1957), but Woodward dropped out to star in The Three Faces of Eve, and the part went to Michaels at the last minute, her first acting role.[13] United Press International wrote in a review of the film that Michaels' "torrid" scene, a seduction scene in a hayloft where she makes a pass at the bus driver (Rick Jason), "manages to steal the sexiest scene in the picture," over better known sirens as Jayne Mansfield and Joan Collins, and wrote that Hollywood had not had a scene like this since Jane Russell in The Outlaw. Director Victor Vicas shot the scene twice, an "A" scene and a "B" scene, because of the censors.[14]

Her publicist released a biography that stated she had attended the University of Kansas for one year and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. But, people, trying to remember if they knew her, at both the university and the sorority could find no record of her at either entity. The fact was that she had enrolled at the university in the fall of 1951 and was "rushed" by the sorority, but she only stayed at the school a few weeks and then dropped out, and she did not join the sorority. Her publicist had fabricated her biography to enhance it.[15]

Early in her Hollywood career, she struggled with her weight as she was a compulsive eater. After trying all kinds of diets, she realized that the problem was "mental." While a ballet dancer in New York City, her weight reached 152 pounds, this on a five-foot-five-inch frame. By the time she signed her contract with 20th Century-Fox, though, she weighed 135 pounds. She developed work-related anxiety; she lost weight when she was not working, but once she got a role, she started eating again, at times eating a two-pound box of chocolates in a single sitting. Michaels would eat fruit and cottage cheese all day and then raid the refrigerator at midnight, sometimes not even remembering that she had until she opened the refrigerator the next morning. The turning point came after the death of her father (he died April 15, 1959);[16] he was the one who had pushed her in her career, and without him, she felt lost. She went into psychological analysis and learned that she needed to "respect" her job. Michaels went down to 115 pounds and her career took off. She told Associated Press Hollywood reporter Bob Thomas: "I'm convinced that most weight problems stem from mental causes. But most people who lose weight on diets gain it back because they don't know the reasons why they crave food. Generally it is because of some frustration in their lives."[17][18] Her psychologist told her to act and not dance ballet.[3]

Michaels wanted to be taken seriously as an actress and not be treated as a sex symbol. When one reporter asked her for her measurements, she responded "You can go to the wardrobe department and find out." She also said that she had never been asked to go to the studio photo gallery, stating, "That's part of the old Hollywood glamour nonsense. Also, it's in bad taste. I'm not a sexpot, I'm an actress".[19] Later she told Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson: "I favor the truly sensual photograph over the coyly teasing garter shots. I'd even rather be posed artistically nude than photographed giggling from behind a Venetian blind. I have never objected to posing. It's just that I wanted to build a career as an actress first".[20]

Michaels' acting career lasted 10 years, from 1953 to 1963. Among her final appearances was the role of murderer Jo Sands in the 1962 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Playboy Pugilist." She made her final appearance the following year on an episode of The Lloyd Bridges Show.

After John Duke, she started dating Argentine actor Alejandro Rey, whom she met on the set of Battle at Bloody Beach.[21] She then started dating novelist-screenwriter Bernard Wolfe (1915–1985), who proposed to her in 1962, but she sent the engagement ring back to him with a note that read "I don't wanna."[22] Michaels and Wolfe married in Los Angeles on June 1, 1964.[23] The marriage was her second and his first. He was 48 and she was 31. The couple divorced in October 1969.[24]

Personal life

She and Wolfe had twin daughters, Jordan and Miranda, born in Los Angeles on July 23, 1970.

Dolores Michaels Wolfe died at the age of 68 in West Hollywood, California of natural causes on September 25, 2001.[1]

Filmography

Notes
  1. Lentz, Harris M. (2002), Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2001, McFarland, p. 207, ISBN 978-0-7864-1278-5
  2. Michaels, Raymond Roscoe. - California Death Records. - SSN: 495-09-4409. - California Department of Health Services Office of Health Information and Research. - Vital Statistics Section.
  3. "Meet Miss Michaels", Toledo Blade, p. 20, May 19, 1959
  4. Hopper, Hedda (June 12, 1960), "She Dieted Her Own Way To Hollywood Stardom", Hartford Courant, p. 12H
  5. "Girl's Birthday, Too", The Circleville Herald, United Press International, p. 1, January 30, 1936
  6. Motion Picture, 47, Macfadden-Bartell, 1957, p. 98
  7. Hopper, Hedda (July 14, 1957), "She Sold Hollywood", Chicago Tribune, p. F16
  8. "On The Rocks", The Florence Times, p. Section 3-Page 5, June 28, 1959
  9. Parsons, Louella (February 9, 1958), "Sal to Play Krupa", Milwaukee Sentinel, International News Service, p. 6
  10. "Actress Seeks Divorce", The Paris News, Associated Press, p. 5, January 18, 1959
  11. "Dolores Objects To Ocean Bathing", Meriden Record, September 30, 1959
  12. Carroll, Harrison (October 25, 1958), "Behind The Scenes In Hollywood", Warsaw Times-Union, p. 6
  13. Elliott, Harry (April 15, 1959), "Sparky Of Hollywood Breaks Ice At Visit", Lawrence Journal-World, pp. 1, 2
  14. "Young Actress Scores In Torrid Film Scene", Sarasota Herald-Tribune, United Press International, p. 24, March 22, 1957
  15. "Great Film Mystery Finally Solved Here", Lawrence Journal-World, p. 1, April 14, 1959
  16. "Miss Michaels' Father Dies", Lawrence Journal-World, p. 1, April 16, 1959
  17. Thomas, Bob (April 7, 1960), "Blonde Newcomer Had Weight Problems", Toledo Blade, Associated Press, p. 1
  18. Lane, Lydia (December 3, 1957), "Compulsive Eating Discussed by Star", The Paris News, p. 2
  19. Hyams, Joe (October 6, 1957), "Hollywood Stars a New Style of Beauty: Style in Stars Is New and Natural", The Salt Lake Tribune; This Week, p. 31
  20. Johnson, Erskine (March 31, 1960), "Actress Ready For Cheesecake", The Gastonia Gazette, Newspaper Enterprise Association, p. 15
  21. Winchell, Walter (July 14, 1961), "Broadway Beat", Sarasota Journal, p. 16
  22. "Lawford Seeking Role in Bob Kennedy Film", The Capital Times, p. 4, January 2, 1962
  23. California Marriage Index, 1960–1985. - California Department of Health Services Office of Health Information and Research. - Vital Statistics Section.
  24. California Divorce Index, 1966–1984. - California Department of Health Services Office of Health Information and Research. - Vital Statistics Section.
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