A classic beauty with dark hair and olive skin, the late sultry Italian born Nicoletta Machiavelli made a name for herself in the popular spaghetti westerns of the sixties usually playing Native Americans or Mexicans. With her wind blown long mane of hair, dust on her clothes, and stunning vistas of Spain’s Almeria desert behind her, Nicoletta was visually perfect for the genre. She also spoke English fluently, which was a great asset since she was cast opposite many American actors. The Hills Run Red was her first, but the movie most remembered in the U.S. was Navajo Joe starring Burt Reynolds as the title character out for revenge with Nicoletta as a helpful Indian. It never received much of a release in America, but became infamous from all the bad-mouthing Reynolds has given it over the years. More spaghetti westerns followed including Hate Thy Neighbor; A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die; and Garter Colt. Nicoletta proved talented and versatile enough to work in other genres including very popular mid-sixties spy spoofs such as Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die and Matchless.

Read my interview with Nicoletta in my upcoming BearManor Media book Talking Sixties Drive-in Movies.

A platinum-blonde beauty in the vein of Marilyn Monroe, Carol Wayne became extremely popular acting the bubble-headed ditz.  But what made Wayne special was that she instilled a charming wide-eyed innocence into her characters making them lovable and endearing rather than just the typical daffy buxom bimbo with an eye popping figure.

Carol Wayne made her television debut on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. followed by her made her film debut playing a very minor part of a sexy blind date in Blake Edwards’ Gunn (1967) the big screen version of his popular TV series, Peter Gunn, starring Craig Stevens as the super cool gumshoe.  Edwards cast Wayne again in his comedy The Party (1967) starring Peter Sellers as a bungling Indian actor who is mistakenly invited to a big time movie producer’s A-list soiree.  Wayne portrayed one of the guests—a Hollywood sexpot clad in a pink mini-dress with a plunging neckline that accentuated her 39-24-25 figure quite nicely.  Though she doesn’t utter a line of dialog for the first 20 minutes she is on screen, audiences could not help but notice the platinum blonde in the background with the kewpie doll looks, bountiful bosom, and curvy body. For unknown reasons, movies didn’t beckon much for Wayne but she remained very active on television.  She popped up on I Spy and I Dream of Jeannie among others.

Carol is best remembered for her 101 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson beginning in 1971 playing the dippy but dazzling Matinee Lady to Carson’s lecherous host Art Fern in the “Tea Time Movie” skits.  Wayne wasn’t the first actress to essay the role but once she did the part was hers to keep.  Its success was partly due to Wayne’s caught-in-the headlights stare as she appeared not to understand Carson’s bawdy jokes and double-entendres.  She usually joined the guests on the couch after the skits and one of her most hilarious lines came when comedian Don Rickles mentioned to Johnny that his mother just moved to Miami. Wayne cooed in her little girl voice, “Oooh, Miami Beach.  That’s God’s little waiting room.”  Daytime fans were treated to Wayne’s brand of humor as she appeared regularly on the women’s talk show Mantrap in 1971, and the game shows Celebrity Sweepstakes and The Hollywood Squares.  But acting roles were few and far between for Carol as she was becoming known for being more of a personality than actress.  She had a supporting role in the forgettable battle-of-the-sexes TV-movie Every Man Needs One (1972) starring Ken Berry and Connie Stevens and landed dramatic guest star roles on The Bold Ones: The Lawyers, Mannix, and Emergency!  In between she played various roles including distracting secretaries and love-starved women in six episodes of Love, American Style.  When The Tonight Show was shortened to an hour in 1980 most of Carson’s skits were jettisoned including the one with Carol Wayne.

he returned to the big screen playing cameo roles in the comedy Savenger Hunt (1979) and the obscure drama Gypsy Angels (1980) starring a pre-Wheel of Fortune Vanna White as a stripper for falls for an amnesiac stunt pilot.  Marriage to husband number three, Burt Sugerman, producer of the rock music TV show The Midnight Special, kept Wayne employed making a few appearances on the late night staple.  During this time she let her natural hair color grow out and posed semi-nude in Playboy at age forty-two.  Wayne won the best reviews of her career and proved she had acting talent when she was cast as an artist’s kinky model complete with garter belts and leather accessories in Heartbreakers (1984) starring Peter Coyote and Nick Mancuso as two men in their thirties who have to finally face growing up.  Wayne gave the film’s most poignant performance when after agreeing to a manage a trios with artist Coyote and his pal Mancuso she touchingly reveals her feelings about herself—from what she thinks of her body to her dreams that have passed her by. Unfortunately, Carol Wayne was never able to capitalize on the raves she received from Heartbreakers.  The newly divorced actress drowned while on vacation with a companion in Mexico on January 13, 1985 shortly after the movie was released.  To this day, her death remains a mystery and foul play has long been suspected.  She was survived by her sister Nina and son Alex from her second marriage to photographer Barry Feinstein.

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Happy Birthday also to the late Jody McCrea! Tall, strapping, square-jawed Jody McCrea became a favorite of the teenage audience for his amusing performances as Deadhead in Beach Party (1963) and its sequels Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach, Pajama Party (as Big Lunk), Beach Blanket Bingo, and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.  As the dumb surfer in the bunch, Deadhead could be counted on to say something idiotic in his slow drawl.  Though McCrea was always assured a laugh based on how the role was written, it is to his credit that Deadhead came off as sweetly naïve rather than a complete moron.

Read more about Carol Wayne in my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood and my interview with Jody McCrea in Hollywood Beach and Surf Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969.

Pert, perky, and pleasant were some of the adjectives used to describe talented Cynthia Pepper. The daughter of a vaudevillian and his dancer wife, this green-eyed blonde was destined for show business. She co-starred on the sitcom My Three Sons for a year before landing her own series Margie in 1961. After the show was cancelled after only one season, Pepper played a coed in Take Her, She’s Mine (1963) starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. But drive-in fans remember her for her turn as a WAVE who is romanced by a blond Elvis Presley in the hit film Kissin’ Cousins (1964).

In 1963, Pepper along with most of Fox’s contract players were let go due to the ornate movie Cleopatra, which almost bankrupted the studio.  “I was kind of depressed after Fox dropped me,” admits Cynthia.  “I was literally praying for a job.  Things just weren’t happening for me and all actors think that their last job is their last job.” In the sixties, lots of sitcom stars saw themselves typecast and couldn’t get decent roles after their series ended.  Though Margie was not a huge hit, Pepper become very popular and may have been typed as a TV performer.  But her luck was about to change.  “I was out one day and when I returned my housekeeper told me to call my agent.  I asked what for and she said, ‘If you can get over to MGM in forty-five minutes you have a part with Elvis Presley playing dual roles of a G.I. and his distant blonde hillbilly relative in Kissin’ Cousins.’  I ran over there—this was on a Friday—and had to report to wardrobe. Sam Katzman [the producer] must have seen a picture of me because he told my agent if I fit into the uniform the role was mine.  Thankfully, I did.  Monday we were off to Big Bear to shoot for a week.”  Reportedly, Shelley Fabares dropped out of the movie at the last second and the producers were scrambling to recast. The role Pepper won without auditioning for was that of Midge an Air Force secretary who accompanies her boss to Smoky Mountain and falls for hillbilly Jody while dark-haired G.I. Josh  is romanced by Daisy Mae types Yvonne Craig and Pamela Austin.

It was back to TV for Cynthia after this, but two pilots (including a sitcom version of Three Coins in the Fountain with Yvonne Craig and Joanna Moore) failed to sell. More teenage films should have come Cynthia Pepper’s way, but like most of her contemporaries her family became her number one priority.

You can read more of my interview with Cynthia in my book Drive-in Dream Girls.

An Asian beauty noted for her long jet black hair, this Playboy Centerfold never rose out of minor roles and was almost always bikini-clad in her movies to the delight of her many male admirers. China Lee became Playboy’s first Asian American Playmate of the Month when she disrobed as Miss August 1964. She was one of 1964’s most popular centerfolds and came close to being named Playmate of the Year but lost out to Jo Collins.  With an alluring smile and a figure measuring 35-22-35, it is no wonder movies beckoned for this captivating beauty though throughout her career she was considered a sort of poor man’s Irene Tsu.

Lee made her film debut playing a hooker in the obscure comedy The Troublemaker (1964).  She then joined a gaggle of starlets as anonymous gold lame bikini-clad robots in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) a takeoff on James Bond’s Goldfinger.  The following year Lee kept busy in a string of minor roles beginning with Harper starring Paul Newman; The Swinger starring Ann-Margret; and Paradise, Hawaiian Style starring Elvis Presley.

But the film that brought China the most notoriety was Woody Allen’s spy spoof, What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966).  Allen took a serious Japanese spy adventure, threw out the original dialog and plot, and re-dubbed it turning the movie into a comedy about an agent trying to foil an evil organization from getting their hands on the world’s best egg salad recipe.  China Lee doesn’t appear until the very end in a new scene added with Allen.  As he lounges on a sofa munching on an apple, the curvy lass dressed in a tight black dress begins stripping for him as the end credits start to roll.  Just as she is about to remove her black panties, Allen stops her and says directly to the audience, “I promised I’d put her in the film…somewhere” as the screen freezes and then fades to black.  Lee’s curvaceous bikini-clad figure was prominently displayed on the movie’s poster art.  Though the movie brought Lee to the masses as the still of her in her swimsuit was used to promote the movie worldwide it didn’t bring her any significant film roles.

China was back playing bits in the Sonny and Cher musical Good Times (1967) and in the satire on Southern California lifestyles Don’t Make Waves (1967) starring Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate.  Lee’s last film role was a minor bit as a rowdy roller derby patron sitting next to Robert Forster and Marianna Hill in Haskell Wexler’s groundbreaking film Medium Cool (1969). She retired from show business shortly after.

You can read more about China Lee and past birthday girl Bettina Brenna in my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood.