sixties

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MAGGIE THRETT?

One of the 60s starlets I get most asked about is brunette beauty Maggie Thrett whom I profiled in my book Film Fatales (co-written with Louis Paul). Some guys preparing a Whatever Happened to…? about guest stars from the original Star Trek are looking for her as Maggie appeared with Karen Steele (at left) and Glamour Girl Susan Denberg (at right) as “Mudd’s Women” along with Roger C. Carmel as the devious Mudd.

Maggie Thrett was born Diane Pine on Nov. 18 in New York City. She began working as a model, gracing the pages of many magazines including the cover of Harper Bazaar to help finance her singing career. Thrett made her Off-Broadway debut in Out Brief Candle in 1962 and had a modest hit record with “Soupy” produced by Bob Crewe. The song rose to #36 on MCA’s Fabulous 57 in June of 1965 and Thrett headlined at a few clubs including the Basin Street East.

Soon after Maggie Thrett headed West and made her film debut in a very small role as “the second sister” in Dimension 5 (1966) starring Jeffrey Hunter and France Nuyen. She landed a contract at Universal when she accompanied a male friend to his audition. She got in but he didn’t. Her first film for the studio was the beach/spy spoof Out of Sight (1966) in which she played the karate-chopping F.L.U.S.H. assassin Wipeout who arrives in Malibu on a surfboard from Hawaii.

Due to her stunning dark ethnic look, Maggie was able to play Mexicans or American Indians and was a frequent guest star on TV westerns including Dundee and the Culhane, Cimarron Strip, and two episodes of The Wild Wild West including “The Night of the Running Death” (12/15/67) where she excelled playing a dancer named Dierdre (a.k.a. Topaz) who has a passion for molasses-covered Cherries Jubilee and is the girlfriend of assassin Enzo (played by female impersonator T.C. Jones). She fakes her death in order to aid Enzo, masquerading as a female British schoolteacher, in killing a princess. As a disguised Dierdre goes to shoot her, agent Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) comes up from behind her and grabs her arm, deflecting the shot. He then says to his partner James West (Robert Conrad), “Let me present our dear friend Topaz to you James. We know her better as Dierdre.” Artemus then rips off her veil and quips, “And we gave you such a nice funeral.”

Reportedly, Maggie Thrett withdrew her life savings to buy out her contract with Universal. Her most memorable role thereafter was in the box office hit Three in the Attic (1968) playing a Jewish hippie who is making it with college Lothario Christopher Jones, along with coeds Yvette Mimieux and Judy Pace. When they all discover that Jones is having sex with them simultaneously, they tie him up in their dorm’s attic and try to drain him of his virility. After playing a prostitute in the feature film Cover Me Baby (1970) starring Robert Forster and a guest stint on TV’s Most Deadly Game in 1970, she disappeared from the Hollywood scene.

If anyone has information on how to contact her, please let me know.

THE KING OF COOL

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be hosting a tribute to one of my favorite actors, Steve McQueen beginning May 20. Some of his biggest hits will be screened including The Magnificent Seven, The Cincinnati Kid, The Sand Pebbles, Bullitt, Papillon (a personal favorite and one I already bought tickets to see), and The Towering Inferno. McQueen really is one cool dude as evidenced by the characters he plays.

Unfortunately, one film that won’t be shown is Soldier in the Rain Steve’s rare attempt at comedy where he plays a G.I. with all these get rich quick schemes in tries to entice his superior Jackie Gleason to go in on them with him. Steve’s love interest is played by Fantasy Femme, Chris Noel. Below is what she told me about working with McQueen and co-stars Tuesday Weld and Jackie Gleason:

“Steve was incredible. He was a fascinating and sexy actor. I had a major crush on Steve but I wouldn’t go to bed with him because he was married. One time he invited me into his bungalow and began kissing me. I told him, ‘No!’ He responded, “But I’ve been to bed with every one of my leading ladies!” I very politely left and we became friends.”

Though Chris adored working with McQueen, she got the cold shoulder from her other co-stars. “Tuesday Weld was bitchy and didn’t like me. I even had to darken my hair because of her! And Jackie Gleason liked only who he chose to like. He wasn’t friendly. I’d say hello to him and he’d grunt something back. He didn’t like rehearsing either. But I got used to it. I liked working with Steve McQueen so much that it didn’t bother me how everybody else was.”

CHECK IT OUT

Though I have no article in it, check out the just released new issue of Cinema Retro magazine. As always editors Lee Pfeiffer and David Worrall have produced a jam-packed issue full of great articles and interviews chocked full of glossy color photos. My favorite is the series they have been running about The Man from U.N.C.L.E. movies. This issue the focus is on Karate Killers. Well worth subscribing to if you are fans of 60s/70s cinema.