Yvette Iola (Vedder) Vickers (1928 - abt. 2010)

Born 26 Aug 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Died about 2010 at about age 81 in Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Yvette (Vedder) Vickers is Notable.

In his book, On Writing, no less than Stephen King cites the influence Yvette Vickers had at that point in shaping his literary persona:

"When I lay in bed at night under my eave, listening to the wind in the trees or the rats in the attic, it was not Debbie Reynolds as Tammy or Sandra Dee as gidget that I dreamed of, but Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leaches … never mind sweet, never mind uplifting … at 13 I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash."

Attack of the Giant Leeches video[[1]]

Attack of the 50-Foot Woman video[[2]]

Measurements

Bust: 36"

Waist: 24"

Hips: 36"

Height

5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)

Weight

105 lb (48 kg; 7.5 st)

She caused guys at the drive-in movies of the ’50s and the readers of Playboy to swoon, counted Cary Grant and the actor Jim Hutton (father of Timothy Hutton) among her lovers, and even appeared – briefly – opposite Paul Newman in the Oscar-winning Hud.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to jazz-musician parents Charles and Iola Vedder. Entering UCLA at the precocious age of 16, she studied journalism but left school to seek an acting career. Her Playboy appearance, shot by “King of the Nudies” filmmaker Russ Meyer, was in July 1959, the same year she starred in Attack of the Giant Leeches, in which she was, well, attacked by giant leeches.

“I did want to play other kinds of parts and to go on into bigger pictures,” Vickers is quoted as saying in author Tom Weaver’s 2006 Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes, “but these things just eluded me.”

She appeared as the Playboy Playmate of the Month in the July 1959 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Russ Meyer. She also appeared in several other men's magazines. Her film roles began to decrease around this time. She did play some small parts in films from 1962 onward, including a small role in Hud (1963). Her last role was in Evil Spirits, a 1991 horror film.

Vickers was also a singer, and, in the 1990s, she released a jazz tribute to her parents on CD called A Tribute to Charlie and Maria. In 2005 she visited Canada for the first time to appear at the Toronto Classic Movie Festival. She appears with interviewer Tom Weaver on the audio commentary track of the 2007 DVD release of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. She had been writing her autobiography before her death.

Vickers found her cult spurs in the fifties as the star of several popular low budget science fiction films. Although more talented than most of the blonde bombshells of that era, she could not escape B-movie typecasting, and despite coming extremely close, failed to attain the major film stardom she was quite capable of achieving. Branching out into other areas of entertainment did not prevent her minor film status from falling into obscurity, and as such, her sad and lonely death illustrates only too well the creepy downside of Hollywood.

Following an education at a catholic high school, Vickers initially studied journalism. She then spent three years at UCLA where she majored in picture and theatre arts. Despite having a good singing voice, she opted for an acting career.

Making her film debut (unbilled) in Sunset Boulevard (1950), Vickers acted in variety revues and occasional Broadway shows before moving to New York, where she got her first TV break as The White Rain Girl for a series of commercials. She later returned to California to act in several TV shows.

In 1953, Vickers married jazz bassist Don Krell (she was previously married to actor Tom Holland). Making a permanent move to Hollywood, she finally made her official film debut after being picked for a leading role by James Cagney, for his directorial debut, in Short Cut to Hell (1957). Unfortunately the film flopped at the box office.

Vickers slowly worked her way from bit-parts to leading roles in low-budget movies. A beautiful blonde with a lovely round face and expressive blue eyes, she was ideal for girl next-door-parts that may have been a tad out of place in the fifties, when most young men were drooling at Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.

Divorcing Don Krell in 1957, Vickers secured her cult status in the science fiction classic Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman (1958), an inspired piece of hokum starring the equally statuesque Alison Hayes in the title role. As playing Honey Parker, the voluptuous mistress of the lead character’s husband, Vickers holds her own despite being (literally) overshadowed by her towering co-star.

Vickers worked mostly on television in the early sixties. Her subsequent films roles were usually uncredited but her career received a very high profile boost when starred opposite Paul Newman and Patricia Neal in Hud (1963). As Lily Peters, Vickers was supposed to have a much bigger part in the film but Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward was unhappy with the couple’s on screen chemistry and arranged to have most of her scenes cut before the film’s release. Despite the career setback, Hud (1963) should have led to better things; but as it transpired, major film stardom eluded her. From the mid-sixties onwards, Vickers concentrated mainly on the theatre.

From the seventies, Vickers continued to make occasional film and TV appearances, which included the horror films What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971) and The Dead Don’t Die (1975). She also worked in real estate to supplement her income.

By the time she was interviewed for Jewel Shepard’s book Invasion of the B Movie Girls in 1992, Vickers had some success as a cabaret singer/dancer, and worked as a recording artist on the jazz and blues circuit. In the nineties she paid tribute to her parents by releasing the Jazz CD A Tribute to Charlie and Maria. A dedicated animal rights campaigner, she was active in the groups PETA and Greenpeace.

Vickers was described by a neighbour as ‘fiercely independent’ woman who kept to herself. However in her later years she had become paranoid about being stalked and as a result she became increasingly reclusive in her later years – and this would contribute to the tragedy that followed.

On 2 May 2011, a neighbour visited Vickers' run-down Beverly Hills home and after pushing through a mountain of unopened fan mail, bills and letters found the mummified corpse of the actress, who was lying next to a heater that was still running.

Yvette Vickers’ film career on the whole was disappointing, with only Hud and the science fiction movies that she will be remembered for. Her sad and lonely death will certainly add to her unique cult status.

Sources

[[3]]

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCJ6-WWP : accessed 30 May 2018), I Yvette Vedder in household of Charles C Vedder, Ventura, Ventura, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 30, sheet 35B, line 68, family 891, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 227; FHL microfilm 2,339,962.

Filmography

1990 Evil Spirits Neighbor

1976 Switch (TV Series) Selena - Ain't Nobody Here Named Barney (1976) ... Selena

1975 The Dead Don't Die (TV Movie) Miss Adrian

1974 Emergency! (TV Series) Harold's Stepmother - Parade (1974) ... Harold's Stepmother (uncredited)

1971 What's the Matter with Helen? Mrs. Barker

1970 My Three Sons (TV Series) First Model - My Four Women (1970) ... First Model

1963 Beach Party Blonde Yoga Girl (uncredited)

1963 Hud Lily Peters

1962 Pressure Point Drunken Woman (uncredited)

1961-1962 Tales of Wells Fargo (TV Series) Agnes Jenkins / Carol Armstrong

- Return to Yesterday (1962) ... Agnes Jenkins

- Town Against a Man (1961) ... Carol Armstrong

1961-1962 The Bob Cummings Show (TV Series)

- The Unretouchables (1962)

- Always on Tuesday (1961)

1961 King of Diamonds (TV Series) Concha - Diamonds Come in Cans (1961) ... Concha

1961 The Asphalt Jungle (TV Series) Vera - The Kidnapping (1961) ... Vera

1961 The Rebel (TV Series) Catherine Jewel / Nancy - Decision at Sweetwater (1961) ... Catherine Jewel - Shriek of Silence (1961) ... Nancy

1961 Shotgun Slade (TV Series) Francesca Roberts - The Lost Herds (1961) ... Francesca Roberts

1960 The Barbara Stanwyck Show (TV Series) Peggy - Out of the Shadows (1960) ... Peggy

1960 Ben Blue's Brothers (TV Movie)

1960 The Comedy Spot (TV Series)

- Ben Blue's Brother (1960)

1959 Attack of the Giant Leeches Liz Walker

1959 One Step Beyond (TV Series) Carlotta Patruzzio

- The Aerialist (1959) ... Carlotta Patruzzio

1957-1959 Dragnet (TV Series) Joyce Faller / Janet Scully - The Big Picture (1959) ... Joyce Faller - The Big Tomato Cans (1957) ... Janet Scully

1959 Northwest Passage (TV Series) Molly Pruitt - Death Rides the Wind (1959) ... Molly Pruitt (uncredited)

1959 Man with a Camera (TV Series) Dottie - Face of Murder (1959) ... Dottie

1959 Bat Masterson (TV Series) Jessie Simmons - Double Trouble in Trinidad (1959) ... Jessie Simmons

1959 I Mobster The Blonde

1958-1959 The Rough Riders (TV Series) Ellie Winters - The Electioners (1959) - The Imposters (1958) ... Ellie Winters

1958 The Texan (TV Series) Judy Clayton - The Lord Will Provide (1958) ... Judy Clayton

1958 M Squad (TV Series) Sally - The Phantom Raiders (1958) ... Sally

1958 Mike Hammer (TV Series) Gail Chapman / Ellen Robbins - Scar and Garter (1958) ... Gail Chapman - A Mugging Evening ... Ellen Robbins

1958 The Saga of Hemp Brown Amelia Smedley (uncredited)

1958 Attack of the 50 Foot Woman Honey Parker

1958 Juvenile Jungle Kitten (uncredited)

1957 Matinee Theatre (TV Series) Dark Witch - Dark of the Moon (1957) ... Dark Witch

1957 The Sad Sack Hazel (WAC) (uncredited)

1957 Short Cut to Hell Daisy

1957 Reform School Girl Roxy

1956 The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (TV Series) Sally - Waitress - A Quiet Day in Dodge City (1956) ... Sally - Waitress 1955 Damon Runyon Theater (TV Series) - Barbeque (1955) ... (unconfirmed)

1953 The Red Skelton Hour (TV Series) Supporting Sketch Player - McPugg's Last Fight (1953) ... Supporting Sketch Player

1953 I Led 3 Lives (TV Series) Sue Davis - Campus Story (1953) ... Sue Davis

1950 The Sound of Fury Dance Floor Extra (uncredited)

1950 Sunset Boulevard Giggling Girl on Phone at Party (uncredited)