Sandra Dee
Encyclopedia
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...

, Dee won a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress
The Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress originated in 1948. Between 1954 and 1965, multiple winners were announced. The category was discontinued following the 1983 ceremonies.-Winners:*1948: Lois Maxwell*1950: Mercedes McCambridge...

 in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular. By the late 1960s her career had started to decline, and a highly publicized marriage to Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...

 ended in divorce.

She rarely acted after this time, and her final years were marred by illness; she died as a result of renal failure
Renal failure
Renal failure or kidney failure describes a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood...

.

Birth and background

Dee was born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...

. Her parents divorced before she was five. She was of Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 and Carpatho-Russian ancestry and was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

. Her son Dodd Darin wrote on page 27 of his biographical book about his parents Dream Lovers that Sandra's mother, Mary Cymboliak, and her sister Olga "were first generation daughters of a working class Russian Orthodox couple." Sandra herself recalled on page 30 "we belonged to a Russian Orthodox Church, and there was dancing at the social events."

Alexandra would soon take the name Sandra Dee. She became a professional model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 by the age of four and subsequently progressed to television commercials.

There has been some confusion as to Dee's actual birth year, with evidence pointing to both 1942 and 1944. According to her son's book she was born in 1944, but since Dee started modeling and acting at a very young age, she and her mother falsely inflated her age by two years so she could find more work. Therefore 1942 was listed as her birth year in official studio press releases, leading to that year being considered truthful in verifiable sources. If Dee was indeed born in 1942, she was 18 when she married the 24 year-old Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...

 in 1960.

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." During her modeling career, Dee attempted to lose weight to "be as skinny as the high fashion models", though an improper diet "ruined [her] skin, hair, nails - everything". 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. According to the actress, she "could have killed [herself]" and "had to learn to eat all over again."

Career

Ending her modeling career, Dee moved from New York to Hollywood in 1957. There, she made her first film, Until They Sail
Until They Sail
Until They Sail is a 1957 American black and white CinemaScope drama film directed by Robert Wise. The screenplay by Robert Anderson, based on a story by James A. Michener included in his 1951 anthology Return to Paradise, focuses on four New Zealand sisters and their relationships with U.S...

, in 1957, and the following year, she won a Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress
Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress
The Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress originated in 1948. Between 1954 and 1965, multiple winners were announced. The category was discontinued following the 1983 ceremonies.-Winners:*1948: Lois Maxwell*1950: Mercedes McCambridge...

, along with Carolyn Jones
Carolyn Jones
Carolyn Sue Jones was an American actress.Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses...

 and Diane Varsi
Diane Varsi
Diane Marie Antonia Varsi was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets...

.

She became known for her wholesome ingenue
Ingenue (stock character)
See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...

 roles in such films as The Reluctant Debutante
The Reluctant Debutante
The Reluctant Debutante is a 1958 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and William Douglas-Home based on Douglas-Home's play of the same name...

, Gidget
Gidget (film)
Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume...

, Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...

, and A Summer Place
A Summer Place (film)
A Summer Place is a 1959 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sloan Wilson. It was directed by Delmer Daves and stars Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee...

. She later played "Tammy" in two Universal sequels to Tammy and the Bachelor
Tammy and the Bachelor
Tammy and the Bachelor is a 1957 romantic comedy film and is the first of the four Tammy films. It stars Debbie Reynolds as Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree, Walter Brennan as Grandpa Dinwitty and Leslie Nielsen as Peter Brent...

in the role created by Debbie Reynolds.

During the 1970s, Dee took very few acting jobs but made occasional television appearances.

Personal life

Her marriage to Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...

 in 1960 kept her in the public eye for much of the decade. They met while making the film Come September
Come September
For the Natalie Imbruglia song, see Come September .Come September is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.-Plot:...

(released in 1961) together. She was under contract to Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

, which tried to develop Dee into a mature actress, and the films she made as an adult—including a few with Darin—were moderately successful. They had one son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell Darin). She and Darin divorced in 1967 and Darin died in 1973.

In 1994, Dee's son Dodd Darin published a book about his parents, Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, in which he chronicled his mother's anorexia, drug and alcohol problems and her disclosure that she had been sexually abused as a child by her stepfather, Eugene Douvan.

Illness and death

Dee's adult years were marked by ill health. She admitted that for most of her life she battled anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...

, depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

 and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

. In 2000 it was reported that she had been diagnosed with several ailments, including throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

 and kidney disease
Nephropathy
Nephropathy refers to damage to or disease of the kidney. An older term for this is nephrosis.-Causes:Causes of nephropathy include administration of analgesics, xanthine oxidase deficiency, and long-term exposure to lead or its salts...

. Complications from kidney disease
Nephropathy
Nephropathy refers to damage to or disease of the kidney. An older term for this is nephrosis.-Causes:Causes of nephropathy include administration of analgesics, xanthine oxidase deficiency, and long-term exposure to lead or its salts...

 led to her death on February 20, 2005, at the Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....

.

Sandra Dee is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...

 in Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...

, not far from her mother, Mary C. Douvan, who died on December 27, 1987. She is survived by her son, her daughter-in-law and two granddaughters.

In popular culture

One of the popular songs of the Broadway musical
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...

 and 1978 movie Grease
Grease (film)
Grease is a 1978 American musical film directed by Randal Kleiser and based on Warren Casey's and Jim Jacobs's 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway...

is "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee", in which the rebellious Rizzo satirizes new girl Sandie's clean cut image, likened to Sandra Dee's. Dee's life with Bobby Darin was dramatized in the 2004 film Beyond the Sea, in which Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...

 played Darin and Dee was played by Kate Bosworth
Kate Bosworth
Catherine Ann "Kate" Bosworth is an American actress. Bosworth starred in the television series Young Americans, in which she played Bella Banks. She became known with a leading role in 2002's Blue Crush. The following year, Bosworth played the teenage girlfriend of porn star John Holmes in...

. Sandra Dee is referenced as a sex symbol in Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...

's song "Come On and Dance" from the album Too Fast For Love
Too Fast for Love
Too Fast For Love is the debut record of American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe; 900 copies were released in November 1981 on the band's Leathür Records label. Elektra Records signed the band the following year, at which point the album was remixed and partially re-recorded...

. She is also mentioned in Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

' 1980 hit "I Ain't Living Long Like This" in the third verse where Angel the road house queen is compared to Texas Ruby
Texas Ruby
Texas Ruby , born Ruby Agnes Owens, was a pioneering country music female vocalist of the 1930s through the early 1960s.-Biography:...

 and also mentioned in Felix da Housecat
Felix da Housecat
Felix da Housecat is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electroclash. His name was inspired by Felix the Cat....

's song "Everyone Is Someone In L.A."

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1957 The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen (1957 film)
The Snow Queen is a 1957 Soviet animated film directed by Lev Atamanov. It was produced at the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow and is based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen...

Gerda Voice: English version
Until They Sail
Until They Sail
Until They Sail is a 1957 American black and white CinemaScope drama film directed by Robert Wise. The screenplay by Robert Anderson, based on a story by James A. Michener included in his 1951 anthology Return to Paradise, focuses on four New Zealand sisters and their relationships with U.S...

Evelyn Leslie
1958 The Reluctant Debutante Jane Broadbent
The Restless Years
The Restless Years
The Restless Years is an Australian soap opera which followed the lives of several Sydney school-leavers and young adults. It was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for Network Ten. It debuted December 1977 and ran until late 1981. It was not renewed by the network due to declining ratings...

Melinda Grant Alternative title: The Wonderful Years
1959 A Stranger in My Arms Pat Beasley Alternative title: And Ride a Tiger
Gidget
Gidget (film)
Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume...

Gidget (Frances Lawrence)
Imitation of Life
Imitation of Life (1959 film)
Imitation of Life is a 1959 American film directed by Douglas Sirk, produced by Ross Hunter and released by Universal Pictures, starring Lana Turner and John Gavin and features Sandra Dee, Dan O'Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson. Gospel music star Mahalia Jackson...

Susie, age 16
The Wild and the Innocent
The Wild and the Innocent
The Wild and the Innocent is a 1959 Western film starring Audie Murphy and Sandra Dee as two inexperienced young people who get into trouble when they visit a town for the very first time.-Cast:*Audie Murphy as Yancy Hawks*Joanne Dru as Marcy Howard...

Rosalie Stocker
A Summer Place
A Summer Place (film)
A Summer Place is a 1959 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sloan Wilson. It was directed by Delmer Daves and stars Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee...

Molly Jorgenson
1960 Portrait in Black
Portrait in Black
Portrait in Black is a thriller released by Universal International. Produced by Ross Hunter, who also produced Airport and other films for Universal, the film starred Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn...

Cathy Cabot
1961 Romanoff and Juliet
Romanoff and Juliet (film)
Romanoff and Juliet is a 1961 feature film adaptation of the play of the same name released by Universal Pictures. Peter Ustinov wrote the screenplay, directed, and starred in the film...

Juliet Moulsworth Alternative title: Dig That Juliet
Tammy Tell Me True Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree
Come September
Come September
For the Natalie Imbruglia song, see Come September .Come September is a 1961 romantic comedy film directed by Robert Mulligan, and starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin.-Plot:...

Sandy Stevens
1962 If a Man Answers
If a Man Answers
If a Man Answers is a comedy film directed by Henry Levin and starring Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. It was produced by Ross Hunter Productions, Inc, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Morris from a novel by Winifred Wolfe.-Plot summary:Chantal Stacy is a...

Chantal Stacy
1963 Tammy and the Doctor Tambrey "Tammy" Tyree
Take Her, She's Mine
Take Her, She's Mine
Take Her, She's Mine is a 1963 comedy film starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. The film was written by Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron, and Nunnally Johnson, with Dee's character based on the then 22-year-old Nora Ephron, and directed by Henry Koster...

Mollie Michaelson
1964 I'd Rather Be Rich
I'd Rather Be Rich
I'd Rather Be Rich is a 1964 romantic comedy film with musical aspects directed by Jack Smight, produced by Ross Hunter and starring Sandra Dee. The film focuses on dying man who wishes to meet his granddaughter's fiancé, but he is unavailable, so the woman persuades another man to substitute for...

Cynthia Dulaine
1965 That Funny Feeling
That Funny Feeling
That Funny Feeling is a 1965 American film starring Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, and Donald O'Connor. This was the second film with O'Connor and Kathleen Freeman together, the first being Singin' in the Rain.-Cast:...

Joan Howell
1966 A Man Could Get Killed
A Man Could Get Killed
A Man Could Get Killed is a 1966 adventure comedy film directed Ronald Neame and Cliff Owen, shot on various locations in Portugal and starring James Garner, Melina Mercouri, Sandra Dee, Anthony Franciosa, and Robert Coote, as well as the fourteen year old Jenny Agutter in a minor role. The...

Amy Franklin Alternative title: Welcome, Mr. Beddoes
1967 Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding Heather Halloran
Rosie! Daphne Shaw
1970 The Dunwich Horror
The Dunwich Horror (film)
The Dunwich Horror is a 1970 B-movie from American International Pictures directed by Daniel Haller and produced by Roger Corman. The film was based on the short story of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft with a script co-written by future Academy Award winning director Curtis Hanson. This was the...

Nancy Wagner
1971 Ad est di Marsa Matruh
1983 Lost Penny
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1971–1972 Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...

Ann Bolt
Millicent/Marion Hardy
2 episodes
1972 The Manhunter Mara Bocock Television movie
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Ada Television movie
Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...

Bonnie Galloway 1 episode
1972 The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense (TV series)
The Sixth Sense is an American paranormal thriller television series featuring Gary Collins and Catherine Ferrar. Based on the 1971 television movie Sweet, Sweet Rachel, the series was broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company from January 1972 through December 1972.-Synopsis:Collins is...

Alice Martin 1 episode
1974 Houston, We've Got a Problem
Houston, We've Got a Problem
Houston, We've Got a Problem is a 1974 television film about the Apollo 13 spaceflight, directed by Lawrence Doheny and starring Ed Nelson in the role of NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz....

Angie Cordell Television movie
1977 Fantasy Island Francesca Hamilton Television movie
1978 Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...

Marie Quinn 1 episode
1983 Fantasy Island Margaret Winslow 1 episode
1994 Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...

Connie (Voice) 1 episode

External links

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