Photo of Sandra Dee & Troy Donahue 40years later for fans of A Summer Place. Sandy was only four years old when she entered the second grade. Mentioned in the song "Heart Shaped Locket" by the Gin Blossoms. There is loss, but it is always followed by regeneration. [5] Dee recalled, "we belonged to a Russian Orthodox Church, and there was dancing at the social events. Sandra Dee was born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey, on April 23, 1942. Beginning her career with commercials and print modelling as a child, Sandra entered the film industry in her teenage years. (1967) which was a mild success. In 1959, Sandra appeared in five productions with Gidget (1959) and A Summer Place (1959) being the two most popular. Set on an island resort off the coast of Maine, A Summer Place stars Richard Egan as a lifeguard turned research chemist who returns to his old haunts for a summer vacation with his wife (Constance Ford) and teenage daughter (Sandra Dee). How old was Sandra Dee when she made Gidget? Sandra Dee was born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey, on April 23, 1942. Sandra did nail down the part of "Nancy Wagner" in 1970's The Dunwich Horror (1970).In the 1970s, Dee made a few appearances in made-for-television movies, but it was the film Grease (1978) that made her famous to a new generation. While the film didn't exactly top the charts, it would lay the foundation for Sandra's career. For a number of years, exhibitors voted Dee one of the most popular box office stars in the United States:[15], Dee is referenced in the title of "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee", a song from the 1971 musical Grease and its 1978 film adaptation. The film was another massive hit and cemented Dee's good-girl image. That year, she was voted the 8th biggest star in the country; it was her last appearance in the top 10. She was of Carpatho-Rusyn descent. Sandra was In 1960, Sandra appeared in only one film, Portrait in Black (1960), but is remembered by her for something else. Lydia Lane, "Sandra Dee, Teen-age Beauty", Sandra Dee's Last Interview Pt 2/3 discusses Bobby Darin, her alcoholism, etc plus guest James Darren, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress, "Rosemary Is Expecting Again, in Mendocino", "Son's book takes new look at Darin, Dee", "Sandra Dee, 'Gidget' Star and Teenage Idol, Dies at 62", "Learning to Live Again: A Former Teen Queen Shakes Free of Her Humiliating Past to End Years of Self-Hate and Loneliness", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sandra_Dee&oldid=1020049959, Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States, Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), New Star of the Year (Actress) Golden Globe winners, University High School (Los Angeles) alumni, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Episode: "Eternal Flame/A Date with Burt", Episode: "The Botched Language of Cranes", This page was last edited on 26 April 2021, at 21:59. By age 12, she was a successful model, and she was just 14 when she was signed to her first film, Until They Sail (1957). Attended and graduated from Universal High School in Los Angeles, California in June 1958. [14] Warner Bros. borrowed her for another melodrama in the vein of Imitation of Life, A Summer Place (1959), opposite Troy Donahue as her romantic co-star. Complications from kidney disease led to Dee's death on February 20, 2005, at the Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California at the age of 62. According to the actress, she "could have killed [herself]" and "had to learn to eat all over again". She was reunited with Darin in That Funny Feeling (1965), then appeared in her last film at Universal under her contract with the spy comedy A Man Could Get Killed (1966). Dorothy McGuire, Richard Egan, Arthur Kennedy and Constance Ford round out a strong supporting cast. While on the set of his first major film, Come September, in 1960, Darin wooed virginal 16-year-old screen star Sandra Dee (born Alexandria Zuck), whom he married six months later. She became a professional model by the age of 4 and progressed to television commercials. Legal records, including her California divorce record from Bobby Darin, as well as the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) and her own gravestone all give her year of birth as 1942. Scroll below and check more details information about Current Net worth as well as Monthly/Year Salary, … While she was not in the film, one of the popular songs was "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee".Sandra's last silver screen role was in Lost (1983). She does have trouble with some of A Summer Place’s stilted dialogue, particularly its odd approximation of how teenage girls talk. Or breathe. Born Alexandra Cymboliak Zuck, April 23, 1942, in Bayonne, NJ; died of kidney disease, February 20, 2005, in Thousand Oaks, CA. According to sources, Dee's large modeling salary was more than she later earned as an actress. Dee was inactive in the film industry for a few years before appearing in the 1970 American International Pictures occult horror film The Dunwich Horror—a loose adaptation of an H.P. I'm 25 years old, and it so happens that I like to smoke. Her final film performance was in the low-budget drama Lost (1983). [8] In spite of the damaging effects on her health, Dee earned a generous $75,000 in 1956 ($705,000 today) working as a child model in New York, which she used to support herself and her mother after the death of her stepfather. They married shortly afterward, but divorced before Sandra was five years old. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue at a reunion gala 39 years after they co-starred in A Summer Place. See more ideas about sandra dee, troy donahue, summer. Best known for her portrayal of ingénues, Dee earned a Golden Globe Award as one of the year's most promising newcomers for her performance in Robert Wise's Until They Sail (1958). Although under contract to Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures borrowed her in 1959 to make the classic teenage beach comedy Gidget, co-starring 23-year-old James Darren and a long-in-the-tooth Cliff Robertson at 36.Directed by Paul Wendkos, the picture also starred a young … Was diagnosed with throat cancer and kidney failure in 2000. 17 year-old Sandra Dee is pixieish Molly who is struggling to cope with adult emotions. Sandra Dee Net Worth, Biography, Age, Height, Dating, Relationship Records, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.She starred in A Summer Place, which featured music written by Max Steiner.Let's check, How Rich is Sandra Dee in 2020-2021? Dee was born on April 23, 1942, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the USA as Alexandra Cymboliak Zuck. Having slimmed down, her body was unable to digest any food she ate, and it took the help of a doctor to regain her health. [1967, on her ingenue image]: Look at this - [a] cigarette. [27] She battled anorexia nervosa, depression, and alcoholism for many years. Some considered it exploitative and confessional. Dee was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942 in Bayonne, New Jersey,[2] the only child of John Zuck and Mary (née Cymboliak) Zuck, who met as teenagers at a Russian Orthodox church dance. I like to smoke. Jul 29, 2014 - Explore Ruth Marston Caldwell's board "Sandra Dee", followed by 563 people on Pinterest. Her son, Dodd Mitchell, penned a book about his parents, Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, in 1994. If you love teen movies of the 1960s, then you must remember Sandra Dee.She was the queen of teen films. Is immortalized in the popular song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" from the movie, She received renewed attention after the release of the movie. She had an innocence that was possible only in the '50s, when studios still controlled a star's image and the media glare was less intense. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. Plus, the face of movies had changed and sugary stories were not the ones that people wanted to see. Even if this movie turns out be a complete disaster, I guarantee it will change my image. In its day, “A Summer Place” – boasting teen idols Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue – was considered risque – and it was a big, big hit. To the delight of her fans, she resurfaced briefly after two decades of seclusion and was warmly embraced at Beverly Hills Canon Theatre in a stage production of "Love Letters" with her. It's ironic that two such different people died on the same day.They were only four years apart - but that put them on opposite sides of the line dividing the 50s from the 60s. Ross Hunter asked her to come back to Universal in a co-starring role in Rosie! Made her modeling debut in Girl Scouts magazine. The tales of our elders who remember such cycles are very important to us now. A shy and retiring person by nature, Dee had never wanted to be either a model nor an actress, but was "bullied" into both by her domineering parents and, as a result, spent most of her adolescence and adult life in mental anguish and abject misery. She had another big hit in the comedy Take Her, She's Mine (1963),[17] playing a character loosely based on Nora Ephron. As a petite, innocent-looking blond, she became known for her wholesome roles in the 1959 films “Imitation of Life,” “Gidget” and “A Summer Place.” She had moderately successful film appearances in the 1960s but never returned to the heights of … "I had read so many that I had to plow through, just because I promised someone. [27], Dee's later years were marked by poor health, and she became a self-described recluse after retiring from acting. Following her death, she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California. I don't know anything about making a passionate love story, even if it's appealing for an audience to see a husband and wife make love on the screen. [14], 1957–1958: Early films and Universal contract, 1966–1983: Career decline and later roles. At the end of 1960, Sandra Dee was listed at #7 among the top box office stars. [1] She was loaned to Columbia Pictures to play the titular role in the teenage beach comedy Gidget (1959),[13] which was a solid hit, helping spawn the beach party genre and leading to two sequels, two television series and two television movies (although Dee did not appear in any of these). Dee’s innocent screen persona in films like Imitation of Life, Gidget and A Summer Place hid her personal trauma stemming from years of abuse by her stepfather. Dee became a professional model at In the nostalgic musical Grease (1978), about growing up in a fantasised America of the 1950s, there is an appropriately evocative song called Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee. Co-starring Oscar-nominee Arthur Kennedy ("Peyton Place") and ("Rich Man, Poor Man"). So out in Hollywood the studio press agents are still pulling cigarettes out of my hand and covering my drink with a napkin whenever my picture is taken. Tony Fontana and Denny Jackson, View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro. I like to smoke. Me, I'm good at nothing but walking on the set with a pretty dress. She and Darin married after filming, on December 1, 1960. But the blonde beauty - who died in 2005 at the age of 62 - … [15] Peter Ustinov used her as the lead in the Cold War comedy Romanoff and Juliet (1961). It may have sunk a few teen boys' hearts, but most still were enamored of her. The year of her divorce, Dee's contract with Universal Pictures was dropped. Delmer Daves directed the movie, which stars Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire as the middle-aged lovers, and Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as their respective children. Or drink. With Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee, Arthur Kennedy. [17] Dee was also a singer and recorded some singles in the early 1960s including a cover version of 'When I Fall In Love'. Sandra Dee passed away on February 20, 2005, two months away from what would have been her 63rd birthday on April 23. The 1961 releases were Come September (1961), Romanoff and Juliet (1961), and as Tammy Tyree in Tammy Tell Me True (1961).Sandra had replaced the ever-popular Debbie Reynolds in the "Tammy" series, but the film and its 1963 sequel, Tammy and the Doctor (1963), didn't do all that well at the box-office. A Summer Place: Family affairs. [6] According to her son's book, Dee was born in 1944, but, having begun modelling and acting at a very young age, she and her mother falsely inflated her age by two years so she could find more work. [15] I'd Rather Be Rich (1964)[17] was a musical remake of It Started with Eve, once again for producer Ross Hunter. Sandra was 17 years old and becoming the heartthrob of teenage boys all across America. For a complete change of pace, Universal cast her opposite Audie Murphy in a Western romantic comedy, The Wild and the Innocent (1959), playing a tomboy. By 1965, she was the last major star still under an exclusive contract. Also appearing was Shelley Fabares, who was a fan of Dee's. In 1959, Dee hit box-office success with the beach movie Gidget and the young-love movie A Summer Place. Teen idols Troy Donahue -- in his debut -- and Sandra Dee ("Gidget") star in this story of young love and an old romance which threatens to destroy two families during a summer holiday off the coast of Maine. Universal Studios concocted the name 'Sandra Dee' for her by shortening her first name and by using her stepfather's surname initial "D" to sign vouchers. In 1958, Dee was signed with Universal Pictures, and was one of the company's last contract players prior to the dissolution of the old studio system[11] She had a lead role in The Restless Years (1958) for producer Ross Hunter, opposite Saxon and Teresa Wright. [citation needed], There has been some dispute as to Dee's actual birth year, with evidence pointing to both 1942 and 1944. Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 135-136. | In a 1967 interview with the Oxnard Press-Courier, she acknowledged being 18 in 1960 when she first met Bobby Darin, and the couple wed three months later. Later in 1959, Sandra Dee appeared in A Summer Place as Troy Donahue's teen girlfriend. The films were now slowing for Sandra. The film was a massive hit, and that year U.S. box office exhibitors voted her the 16th most popular star in the country. They married shortly afterward, but divorced before Sandra was five years old. [17] It was popular; even more so was Come September (1961), where she worked with Bobby Darin in his film debut (following a cameo in an earlier movie). [23], She made Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! She signed a new one for seven years. Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience. Her son Dodd Darin wrote in his biographical book about his parents, titled Dream Lovers, that Dee's mother, Mary, and her aunt Olga "were first generation daughters of a working-class Russian Orthodox couple". [16] Dee was the nation's seventh biggest star at the end of 1960. A Summer Place (1959): ... (Troy Donahue) and Ken’s daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) fall in love. [7], Producer Ross Hunter claimed to have discovered Dee on Park Avenue in New York City with her mother when she was 12 years old. I'm 25 years old, and it so happens that I like to smoke. Teen idols Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee star in this story of young love and an old romance which threatens to destroy two families during a summer … In 1959, Dee hit box-office success with the beach movie … Lived at 1400-1426 Rising Glen Road in Los Angeles when she was married to. She quit drinking altogether after being diagnosed with kidney failure in 2000, attributed to years of heavy drinking and smoking.[9]. Lovecraft story—as a college student who finds herself in the center of an occult ritual plot. [8], During her modeling career, Dee attempted to lose weight to "be as skinny as the high-fashion models", although an improper diet "ruined [her] skin, hair, nails—everything". [7], Ending her modeling career, Dee moved from New York to Hollywood in 1957. The film was not a success. [7] Her performance made her one of that year's winners of the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. The film contains a memorable instrumental t… Summer Place, A (DVD) Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee star as two young lovers whose relationship catalyzes the end of their parents' marriages during a vacation on a Maine island, A Summer Place. (1967), and Rosie! Actress. (1967). "[25] However, Dee refused to be nude in the film's final sequence, which was written in the screenplay. [9] To promote the film, Dee appeared in a December issue of Modern Screen in a column by Louella Parsons, who praised the young girl and compared her looks and talent to those of Shirley Temple. In the book, he chronicled his mother's anorexia, and her drug and alcohol problems. By the end of the 1960s, Dee's career had slowed significantly, and she was dropped by Universal Pictures. [21] Dee rarely acted following her 1967 divorce from Bobby Darin. Sandra Dee, the perky blonde epitome of teenage wholesomeness in films of the late 1950s and ’60s, died Sunday from complications of kidney disease. Sandra Dee was one of the biggest pinups of the 1950s thanks to Gidget, A Summer Place and Come September. In 1959, Sandra appeared in five productions with Gidget (1959) and A Summer Place (1959) being the two most popular. It was the first of several films they made together. By the late 1960s, her career had started to decline, and a highly publicized marriage to Bobby Darin (m. 1960–1967) ended in divorce. [15], Hunter reunited Dee with Lana Turner and John Saxon in Universal's Portrait in Black (1960), a thriller that was a financial success despite receiving harsh reviews. [29][30] She was interred in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California. Sandra Dee was born Alexandria Zuck on April 23, 1942 in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Mary (Cymboliak) and John Zuck. Publicity Listings While over-bearing Helen is decorating their Christmas tree, she discovers her daughter Molly has been writing and meeting up with Johnny. [10], MGM cast her as the female lead in The Reluctant Debutante (1958), with John Saxon as her romantic co-star. In 1961, Dee still had three years on her Universal contract. She was 62. By age 12, she was a successful model, and she was just 14 when she was signed to her first film, Until They Sail (1957). [28] The same year, Dee had her final acting credit—a voice only appearance—on an episode of Frasier. A Summer Place is a 1959 American romantic drama film based on Sloan Wilson's 1958 novel of the same name, about teenaged lovers from different social classes who get back together 20 years later, and then must deal with the passionate love affair of their own teenaged children by previous marriages. Dee's final years were marred by illness, and she died in 2005 of complications from kidney disease, brought on by a lifelong struggle with anorexia nervosa. Nov 20, 2016 - Something Special. By 1967, her marriage to Darin ended and so did her film career. In 1991, a frail Sandra Dee, then 49, did what would prove to be her last interview with Sally Jesse Raphael. Dee's third film for Hunter had the biggest impact: Imitation of Life (1959), opposite Lana Turner. "[5] Alexandra soon took the name Sandra Dee. [22] In a 1967 interview with Roger Ebert, Dee reflected on her experience in the studio system, and on the ingénue image that had been foisted on her, which she found constricting: Look at this––[a] cigarette. (1967). In fact, she was already very successful at her craft by the time she was 12 years old. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana and Denny Jackson, Other Works A cinematic soap opera populated by familiar '50s players, A Summer Place centers on vacationing millionaire Ken (Richard Egan) and his wife, Helen (Constance Ford), who bring teenage daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) to a small island off the coast of Maine. [26] In her later years, Dee told a newspaper that she "felt like a has-been that never was". Was Universal Studios last actress under contract. So out in Hollywood the studio press agents are still pulling cigarettes out of my hand and covering my drink with a napkin whenever my picture is taken. There are constant cycles in history. At the end of the show there were surprise reunions with James Darren and John Saxon, whom Dee was to appear with in a stage play. [20] The newlyweds Dee and Darin appeared together in the Hunter romantic comedy If a Man Answers (1962). She died of kidney complications on February 20, 2005. Screen Star Sandra Dee Dies at 62. After studying at the Hollywood Professional School, she graduated from University High School in Los Angeles in June 1958. A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples. Sandra Dee was a Golden Globe Award winning American actress. Note– there has been some dispute as to Sandra’s actual birth year, with evidence pointing to both 1942 and 1944. Dee's onscreen debut was in the 1957 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film Until They Sail, directed by Robert Wise. This in turn led to television commercials for local companies, an added benefit for the young model.Through her mother's prodding and the talent scouts, Sandra was signed to do a movie when she was 14 called Until They Sail (1957), released in 1957. Her romantic co-star was Universal's new heartthrob John Gavin, reuniting them from Imitation of Life. [1] The film was a box-office success, grossing over $50 million. In 1994's Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, Dodd Darin chronicled his mother's anorexia, drug and alcohol problems, stating that she had been sexually abused as a child by her stepfather Eugene Douvan. [12] At the time, it was Universal Pictures's highest-grossing film in history, and made Dee a household name. She was of Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry, and raised in the Russian Orthodox faith. The story is set to a lush Max Steiner score that produced one of the most unforgettable movie themes ever. [18] On December 16, 1961, she gave birth to their son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell Darin).[19]. Mentioned along with many other celebrities in Bette Midler's list song, "Samedi et Vendredi", on her 1976 album, "Songs for the New Depression". Sandra was an extremely pretty young lady, which enabled her to get into modeling. [1] In a 1959 interview, Dee recalled that she "grew up fast", surrounded mostly by older people, and was "never held back in anything [she] wanted to do". For example, her mother enrolled her in school early so she could have a head start. Official Sites, Frequent portrayal of wholesome ingénue roles, Gave birth to her only child at age 19, a son Dodd Mitchell Cossotto (aka. Directed by Delmer Daves. She married teen idol Bobby Darin in December of that year. She followed this with another for Hunter, A Stranger in My Arms (1959). Or breathe. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Sandra Dee, the blonde teen queen who starred in Gidget and was once married to singer Bobby Darin, died … [24] "The reason I decided to do Dunwich was because I couldn't put the script down once I started reading it," Dee commented. Little Sandra Dee isn't supposed to smoke, you know. [5] Dee's parents divorced in 1950, and her mother then married a man who had been sexually abusing Sandra and continued to do so after he married her mother. Co-starring Oscar-nominee Arthur Kennedy ("Peyton Place") and ("Rich Man, Poor Man"). The appearance did not lead to a hoped-for comeback. The new young actress was then signed to two more films for 1958, The Reluctant Debutante (1958) and The Restless Years (1958), both with a young actor, John Saxon. She attempted a comeback with the 1970 independent horror film The Dunwich Horror, but rarely acted after this time, appearing only occasionally in television productions throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Teen idols Troy Donahue -- in his debut -- and Sandra Dee ("Gidget") star in this story of young love and an old romance which threatens to destroy two families during a summer holiday off the coast of Maine. [3][4] She was of Carpatho-Rusyn ancestry,[5] and raised in the Russian Orthodox faith. Her mother dreamed of a successful career for her in the entertainment industry and Sandra had all it took to fulfill her mother’s dream. Teen idols Troy Donahue -- in his debut -- and Sandra Dee ("Gidget") star in this story of young love and an old romance which threatens to destroy two families during a summer holiday off the coast of Maine. After her once-hot career fell apart in the 1970s, she fell victim to anorexia, alcoholism and depression. Took the name Sandra Dee passed away on February 20, 2005 herself in the top office! Never was '' 's third film for Hunter had the biggest impact: Imitation of Life ( )! 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