Every morning, Mamie Van Doren walks to the beach near her home in Southern California and sits on the same rock with her feet in the Pacific Ocean. “It kind of heals me,” she says.
At 95 years old, she has outlived almost everyone. her diary, I Thought I Was Dead: My Life of Celebrity, Sex, and Champagneout now from Simon & Schuster, and I’ve already started the next book—on Marilyn Monroe, who would have turned 100 this month.
Mammy — rhymes with “pay me” — I knew her before she became Marilyn. To her, she is still Norma Jean Baker, the teenager who defended a stranger in the Ambassador Hotel pool during the war years in Los Angeles.
By the 1950s, Hollywood had repackaged them as blonde bombshells and pitted them against each other — Van Doren being Universal’s answer to Fox’s Monroe, with measurements printed side by side in fan magazines. Monroe died in 1962. Van Doren continued his career. It has stories that have remained silent for decades – about Howard Hughes, Tony Curtis, Jack Webb and others. Some, you say it in full for the first time. I recently spoke with THR.
You are 95. You look extraordinary. What is the secret?
Well, one thing: I’ve never smoked. I’ve never done drugs. When I was a teenager, I smoked weed, but I didn’t like it. I’ve never drank this much before. I stayed away from bad people. I love dogs. I’ve always had dogs, and they are my best friends. And I never stayed with anyone who wasn’t nice to me. I was kind of my own woman. I pretty much do what I want to do and what makes me feel good.
Who did you look up to when you came?
I’ve always admired older actresses. When I was younger, I loved Mae West and Marlene Dietrich. I just followed them and imitated them in everything. And of course my favorite was Jean Harlow, I was only five when she died. After I saw pictures of her with platinum blonde hair, I thought: one day I will have this hair. So I bleached it and made it blonde.
Your name was Joan Lucille Olander. How did you become Mamie Van Doren?
[A photographer] He came to see me for some sexy pictures. He was going to write a story about the new contract player. This is me. So he went to the gallery where I was taking pictures and he met me and said I didn’t have a name. And he says, “What about Mami?” because Mami [[Eisenhower]She was the first lady at the time. Then they got Van Doren from someone’s nickname over there, and they took that name and gave it to me, and they made me Mamie Van Doren.
What do you think?
I thought it looked very old. She looked like a grown woman. I said, “I’m going to have to create another image for that name. I’m going to have to make it happen.” And I think I did.
I’ve known Marilyn Monroe since she was Marilyn Monroe. How did it start?
I met her when I was 12 years old. I was swimming in the pool at the Safir Hotel. She was a model, and they were having a beauty contest, and they were walking around the pool, and I was in the pool continuing to try to get some attention. “Get the baby out of the pool,” one of them said. I will never forget him. I felt terrible. Then the girl, Norma Jean, said, “Don’t talk to her that way.” “This is coming from someone, a true beauty,” I thought. I ran up to her and said, “My name is Joanie Olander. I know your name is Norma Jeane. I just want to thank you.” “You’re so kind,” she said. And then I just returned home, and my apartment with my family was located right behind the Al Safir Hotel.
By the time you were both in the studios, you were set up as competitors.
Universal will market me as an answer to Fox’s Monroe. Hollywood magazines had us side by side. But I met her at parties during those years, and she only had one black dress that she wore all the time. I thought: “Doesn’t she have money to buy another dress?” She was under contract with Fox. I just got one of those cheap contracts – $60 a week or something like that.
Tony Curtis told you something about it once.
He said it was a bad situation. I thought: “What will he say about me?”
When was the last time you saw her?
I saw her at the Russian Tea Room in New York a week before she died. I used to do Gentlemen prefer blondes on stage. And I was asleep – I always sleep during the day – and I got a call from [columnist] Earl Wilson. He said: “Did you see what’s happening on TV? Turn it on.” So I turned it on, and Marilyn was being carried on a stretcher with an old looking dirty blanket over her. I was devastated. Then I had to do that play that night, and I could hardly get through it. I started crying.
Do you feel like Hollywood ate her alive?
Well, it seemed that way, didn’t it? She was weak, and I think she actually believed that Bobby Kennedy was going to leave his wife for her. And she probably thought JFK would do the same. He had no intention of doing so, and neither did Bobby. Therefore, they disappointed her, and there was more rejection. She received rejection from Yves Montand, with whom she was participating in a film, as she believed that he would return, marry her, and divorce Simone Signoret. I can’t tell you more because I’m going to write my book. I have some real good stuff there. You won’t believe it.
Tell me about Howard Hughes. You were 14 when he discovered you.
I went to the Mocambo Club – I had never been there before, I was out asking for autographs. A family friend took me inside, and suddenly a waiter came and gave me a message. It was said that Howard Hughes would like to meet me. The people who were with me said, “Oh my God, he’s great. He has a studio.” I gave his colleague my phone number. [The next day at] Around 8am, he called me. I didn’t even get a chance to tell my mother.
Did your mother agree to send you in a car to meet Howard Hughes, knowing his reputation?
My mother was 16 when she got pregnant and gave birth to me when I was 17. She didn’t think much about it. I told her everything, and I didn’t keep any secrets from her. She told me: “If I do anything, you have to tell me so you don’t get into any trouble.” She really protected me.
So you had breakfast together. What happened?
He sent a car and we went to Players Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. The first thing he asked me was if I was a virgin. So, I knew he was looking for a virgin. I did not tell him whether I was like that or not. I didn’t think it was any of his damned business.
Then he takes you to God’s paradise. What was that place like?
Oh, it was like a small town there. Lots of trees – beautiful, stocky trees. After that, the shape of the pond became like the Mediterranean Sea. The water was very dark blue and very cold. And they had huts – little houses – and they were very beautiful inside. Very large and open. And then it smelled – you could smell the wood. I remember the room smelling strong because it was kind of old.
It was the essence of Hollywood in one place. Writers, movie stars, parties every night.
Oh yes. A lot of writers went there because they loved writing there and there was a lot of history there. We had a wonderful dinner, and it was an experience where I didn’t know if I should have or not.
That’s when you had your Jean Harlow moment.
I came out of the shower with the towel around me, and I was thinking: Did Jean Harlow do it? Do you think I should? And I thought: “Damn it, Gene did it. I’m going to do it.” So I jumped.
How did you find it?
He treated me really nice. I told him, “I can’t be with you without a condom.” And I looked, and there was already one. When I looked, there wasn’t much there. Compared to one [man] I’ve had it before, and this was smaller.
Tony Curtis was another story entirely.
I had a bungalow at Universal between Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, and that was for the superstars. He was doing it Spartacus. I knocked on the door at lunchtime, and I invited him in. And that’s when we did it.
How did you find it?
Oh, my God. He just came and came and came. I’ve never seen anyone like this. “Well, maybe he didn’t do that with Janet,” I thought [Leigh]. What was he saving for?
She writes in a book about Elizabeth Short – The Black Dahlia. You knew her.
I kept that to myself for a long time. I promised my mother that I would not say anything to anyone because everyone was suspicious and I was scared to death. But she wasn’t a whore. Everyone called her a whore. It wasn’t whore. She did her best to get tips – to go to Hawaii.
Why Hawaii?
She wanted to go there with her fiancé. He was a flying hero – he was killed, crashing on his last flight. They were planning to go to Hawaii together, and then his body was sent there. She wanted to go out there and accomplish what they were going to do together. She was staying over New Year’s to earn more money. I gave her the $100 I got so she could get there faster.
And then she was killed.
When I saw that picture in the newspaper that morning, I fainted. My mother had to call the doctor. I thought I was going to die.
The police never questioned you?
never. I didn’t hear a word from the police.
There is another, more disturbing chapter in the book about Jack Webb, the horror movie star Dragnet.
I told it a long time ago – about 30 years ago – and no one really saw it. Aaron Spelling introduced us. Jack said he’d like to meet me and asked me to go to dinner. Very boring. I didn’t enjoy it at all. About two weeks later, he asked me if I wanted to come to his producer’s house to watch a movie.
On his way home, he said he had to stop at his house. I said I would wait in the car. He insisted on me entering. So I went in and sat near the door. He comes out of the kitchen with a glass of wine and says, “This is the greatest wine I’ve ever tasted. Just take a sip of it.” I took a small sip. Suddenly, I started feeling dizzy. The next thing I knew I was tied to a chair. Then I was in bed. I was drugged and raped.
Why couldn’t you go to the police?
He was connected to the police department. Nobody believes me. So I had to put up with it. This was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I never trusted a man after that.
I kept it secret for decades.
Nobody believes me. It was Jack Webb.
It’s in the book now
that it. And I’ll tell you what – I’m so grateful to have lived this long. I appreciate things today more than ever.
This story appeared in the June 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.
