sixties

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STARLET OF THE WEEK: THORDIS BRANDT

Glamorous Nordic blonde Thordis Brandt was one of many 60s anonymous beauties who played bit roles on film and TV throughout the decade. Thordis danced with Elvis in Spinout (1966), was one of the Amazons trying to take over the world in the spy spoof In Like Flint (1967), and played a Ziegfeld Girl in Funny Girl (1968). Bigger roles were offered to her on such TV series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, The Green Hornet, and Mannix. Thordis had talent but never got to display it much as she was always hired for her beauty and curvaceous body only.

Thordis Brandt

Please look for my upcoming interview with Thordis Brandt for CinemaRetro and in my new book about glamour girls of the sixties.

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While it is obvious that Carol Lynley is one of my favorite sixties starlets of all time (see previous post), readers may remember that Diane Baker is one of my least favorites. Not particular beautiful and giving one bland performance after another it is mind boggling to me that she still gets work! Check out this link, need to scroll down to question 6 about the TV series House, where the TV Guide columnist knocks Diane’s big ego (if you ever happen to stumble on her web site you’d think you are reading about a 3-time Academy Award winner rather than the star of The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit) down a peg or too. Poor Diane. Not!

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STARLET OF THE WEEK (YEAR AND CENTURY): CAROL LYNLEY

Most film buffs remember pretty blonde actress Carol Lynley from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) where she played terrified pop singer Nonnie Parry. This role typecast Carol, with her long golden locks, as the waif-like hippie flower child for most filmgoers.

But for me Carol looked her best with her hair coiffured into the signature Vidal Sassoon hair bob (think Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby) playing against type in two forgetable but-oh-so-fun movies in 1970.

Once You Kiss a Stranger was a camp remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train that pulled a sport and sex switch on the Master. Carol, looking terrific, rolls her eyes as a deranged mini-skirted miss who seduces a dullard married golf pro Paul Burke, and they make a pact to off their adversaries. Burke thinks it is a joke but when Lynley runs his rival over with a golf cart and clubs him to death framing him, the sap sobers up and wants out of the deal. Lynley may be nuts but she is no dummy and has videotaped their lovemaking and conversation and demands he off her shrink or she’ll release the edited tape to the cops. (This was quite ahead of its time for 1970!) The film climaxes on the beach with cuckoo Lynley in full Psycho mode as she attempts to run over frumpy Martha Hyer as Burke’s wife with a dune buggy!

Norwood reunited True Grit stars Glen Campbell and Kim Darby and surrounded them with a eclectic supporting cast including Joe Namath, Lynley, Dom DeLuise, Fantasy Femme Tisha Sterling, and Meredith MacRae.

Carol plays Yvonne Philips a Southern vixen who accompanies Campbell as naive G.I. Norwood on a road trip to deliver two new cars to a dealership in the Big Apple. Lynley is only on screen for 10 minutes but steals the movie and is a hoot as she bickers with poor Norwood across three state lines. (“My name’s not Laverne, it’s Yvonne! But I want you callin’ me nothing!”) When Norwood discovers from Yvonne that the cars are hot (“they are about to burst into flames”) he abandons them and her in Illinois–sigh, the last we see of Lynley’s amusing character. Clad in a low-cut mini-dress and using a very believable Southern accent, Lynley is the film’s standout as she puts down the “country son-of-a-bitch” the entire time. Alas, producers in the 70s never tapped into Lynley’s comedic talent and she was rarely cast again in anything humorous.

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Another recent DVD release that I have looked forward to for awhile is the second half of the third season of the 60s TV series Lost in Space. To compete against the campiness of Batman, which it was on up against, Lost in Space went mod in season 3 with colorful costumes, Marta Kristen as Judy and Angela Cartwright as Penny clad in mini-dresses and coiffured 60s hairstyles, and less episodes focusing only on Billy Mumy as Will and Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith.

Most of my favorite episodes are contained here. “Target: Earth” when alien duplicates replace the Robinson family and head to Earth to destroy it; “Space Beauty” where Dr. Smith tricks Judy into entering an intergalatic beauty pageant; and the infamous “The Great Vegatable Rebellion” where Will and Judy have to save the rest of the them from a giant talking carrot.

But my all-time fav is “The Promised Planet” featuring a bunch of go-go dancing teenagers who can’t grow up who imprison the Robinson family and try to brainwash teens Will and Penny into joining their group so they can use their blood to mature. Of course, Dr. Smith tries to pass himself off as a hippie in typical Dr. Smith bungling fashion. Watching Jonathan Harris and Angela Cartwright do the “Penny Dance” every time a horn blows is worth the price of the DVD alone! This also features a hot young actor named Gil Rogers who plays Bartholomew the teen’s leader clad in tighty tights who stands out, literally and figuratively. “Danger Will Robinson! Bartholomew’s packing a lethal weapon!”