Sheree North
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Sheree North (January 17, 1932 – November 4, 2005) was an actress and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway shows, Hollywood movies, and television.
Born as Dawn Shirley Crang to Richard Crang and June Shoard in Los Angeles, California, her stepfather was Edward Bethel. Her mother was a seamstress. She was known as "Dawn Bethel" until she changed her name to "Sheree North". She married at age 16 and had her first child, Dawn Bessire at the age of 17 (in 1949).
In 1953, North made her Broadway debut in the musical Hazel Flagg. She was originally hired by 20th Century-Fox a few years before their superstar Marilyn Monroe became "temperamental". When she bleached her hair, North attracted attention as an alternative "bubbly blonde", and along with actresses such as Jayne Mansfield, was promoted as a rival to Monroe. She returned to Broadway in the 1960s in the very successful musical I Can Get It For You Wholesale, which featured Elliott Gould and Barbra Streisand.
North's best chance for Hollywood stardom occurred in 1955. After Marilyn Monroe rejected the role, North was cast, opposite actress Betty Grable, as Curly Flagg in How to Be Very, Very Popular. Historians, then and now, including Leonard Maltin, continue to cite North's electrically charged dancing to "Shake, Rattle and Roll", as the film's most memorable scene. Decades later, North played Monroe's mother in the TV movie Marilyn: The Untold Story.
As North's film career as a lead actress faded, she made a significant return to character roles, garnering steady work, starting with Madigan (1968). She made cameo appearances for Don Siegel, including Charley Varrick, The Shootist and Telefon.
Her TV credits included The Golden Girls, Hawaii Five-O, Matlock, Magnum, P.I., and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which she played Lou Grant's old flame. She appeared as Kramer's mother, Babs, in two episodes of Seinfeld in 1995 and 1998.
North died from complications during unspecified surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. IMDb states (without citation) that it was cancer surgery, however other sources reported that she had been in good health.
She was survived by her fourth husband, two daughters, and a grandchild.
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