Jeanne Carmen

	This article is part of
	"The Pin-up Girl History Project"; Click here for Pin-up girl page
	"The Movie Star History Project"; Click here for Movie Star category page
	Click here for Special History Projects information

Jeanne Carmen

Biography Information

Physical Description

Professional Data

Birthdate:	Aug 4, 1930

Born as:	Jeanne Laverne Carmen
Birth place:	Paragould AR USA
Date of death:	Dec 20, 2007 - age 76
Location:	Turtle Ridge CA

Measurements:	36D-28-36 in (91D-71-91 cm)
Height:	5' 6" (1.68m)
Hair color	Blonde or Brown
Eye color:	Green


Occupation	Bondage model, Model
Years active	1951-2005




Footnotes:	Nickname: Queen of the B Movies

Early life and career

Jeanne Laverne Carmen was born in Paragould, Arkansas. As a child, she picked cotton before running away from home at age 13. As a teen, she moved to New York City and landed a job as a dancer in Burlesque, with Bert Lahr. Later she became a model, appearing in several men's magazines. She also became a trick golfer, appearing with Jack Redmond.

While in her 20s, she came to Hollywood and appeared in B movies such as Guns Don't Argue and The Monster of Piedras Blancas. She played both brassy platinum-blondes and (with her natural dark hair) sultry Spanish women. Carmen's smoldering good looks, hourglass figure, and striking green eyes quickly landed her on the big screen in 1956 playing a feisty Spanish senorita named "Serelda" in The Three Outlaws, a Western based on the same events as the later Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and co-starring Neville Brand and Alan Hale, Jr as Butch and Sundance. She was then cast by producer/director Howard W. Koch as an Indian girl in War Drums alongside Lex Barker of Tarzan fame. Koch took a liking to Carmen and cast her in his next film for Warner Bros, the teenage rock 'n' roll juvenile delinquent themed Untamed Youth (1957), co-starring Rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran, which inspired Cochran to cover the song "Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie" for her.

Carmen also appeared as a femme fatale in Portland Exposé alongside Frank Gorshin who later gained fame as the "Riddler" on the Batman series. She also appeared in the Three Stooges short subject A Merry Mix Up playing Joe Besser's girlfriend "Mary." The short is notable for the Stooges playing three sets of identical triplets.

Later years

In 1998, Carmen was the subject of a TV biography titled "Jeanne Carmen: Queen of the B-Movies", on the series "E! True Hollywood Story". The show stated that Carmen maintained a "dangerously close friendship with Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys" and that after the death of Monroe, Carmen was told to leave town by Chicago mobster Johnny Rosselli who was working for Chicago Mob Boss Sam Giancana. Carmen, believing her life was in danger, fled to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lived incognito for more than a decade. Carmen abandoned her platinum blonde locks, had three children, and lived a quiet life, never mentioning her prior life in Hollywood.

Carmen's last published interview was on November 21, 2007, by SX News, an Australian weekly gay and lesbian newspaper.

Death

On December 20, 2007, aged 77, Jeanne Carmen died from lymphoma at her home in Irvine, California, where she had resided since 1978. Her burial crypt headstone contains the epitaph: "She Came, She Saw, She Conquered". She was survived by three children, Melinda, Kellee Jade, and Brandon, and three grandchildren.

At the time of Carmen's death, a biographical film of her life was in early stages of development, with Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, and Kate Bosworth under consideration to play Carmen.

Mini Biography

Carmen spent her early childhood in Arkansas with her family picking cotton. At age 13 she ran away from home, eventually landing in New York City and taking a role as a dancer in an off-Broadway touring company. The early fifties found Jeanne in Las Vegas, in the company of the likes of mobster Johnny Roselli. Jeanne discovered she had a natural talent for the game of golf and made great hay and much money hustling on the links. In the early 50s Jeanne turned her back on the game of golf and went to Hollywood, where she was often in the company of some of that towns most notable swingers, Elvis, Frank Sinatra and many others. she also maintained a close relationship with Marilyn Monroe. Jeanne never made it into the "big" movies but appeared in many of the "B" pictures, and was quite an item at the celebrity parties. After the death of her close friend Monroe, Carmen dropped out of sight and resided in Arizona.

Trivia

Understandably proud of her naturally busty figure. "They're about a 38D or Double D these days," she says. (As quoted in Celebrity Sleuth magazine.)
Measurements: 36-26-36 - as the glamorous "Trick-Shot Golfer" and pin-up (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Got her start on Broadway in 1948 via the chorus line of Bert Lahr's "Burlesque". Soon was in demand as a model and wound up as Dagmar's replacement on TV's "Broadway Open House". Also appeared on Bob Hope's early show originating from New York and The George Gobel Show.