B-Movie Central Cheese Blog

LOS ANGELES —  Beverly Garland, the B-movie actress who starred in 1950s cult hits like “Swamp Women” and “Not of This Earth” and who went on to play Fred MacMurray’s TV wife on “My Three Sons,” died. She was 82.

Garland died Friday at her Hollywood Hills home after a lengthy illness, her son-in-law Packy Smith told the Los Angeles Times.

Garland made her film debut in the 1950 noir classic “D.O.A.,” launching a 50-year career that included 40 movies and dozens of television shows.

She gained cult status for playing gutsy women in low-budget exploitation films such as “The Alligator People” and a number of Roger Corman movies including “Gunslinger,” “It Conquered the World” and “Naked Paradise.”

“I never considered myself very much of a passive kind of actress,” she said in a 1985 interview with Fangoria magazine. “I was never very comfortable in love scenes, never comfortable playing a sweet, lovable lady.”

Garland showed her comedic chops as Bing Crosby’s wife in the short-lived sitcom “The Bing Crosby Show” in the mid-’60s.

She went on to be cast in “My Three Sons” as the second wife of MacMurray’s widower Steve Douglas during the last three seasons of the popular series that aired from 1960 to 1972.

Her television credits also include “Remington Steele,” “Scarecrow and Mrs. King,” “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and “7th Heaven.”

Garland was born Beverly Fessenden in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1926, and grew up in Glendale. She became Beverly Garland when she married actor Richard Garland. They were divorced in 1953 after less than four years of marriage.

In 1960, she married real estate developer Fillmore Crank, and the couple built a mission-style hotel in North Hollywood, now called Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn. Garland, whose husband died in 1999, remained involved in running the North Hollywood hotel.

She was the honorary mayor of North Hollywood and served on the boards of the California Tourism Corp. and the Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau.

=========================================================

R.I.P. Beverly. You will be sorely missed.

LOS ANGELES —  Bettie Page, whose magazine photographs in bikinis and see-through lingerie helped her become one of the most notable models of the 20th century, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.

“She’s critically ill,” Mark Roesler of the Curtis Management Group told The Associated Press.

He said she had the heart attack on Tuesday and was hospitalized Friday in the Los Angeles area.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, “I would not deny that,” but he would not comment further on her condition.

Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.

Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.

After resurfacing in the 1990s, she occasionally granted interviews but refused to allow her picture to be taken.

Mueller credits his business dealings with Page for bringing her out of seclusion. He said he first met her in 1989 when he offered her “a bunch of money” to show up at autograph signings.

“I probably sold 3,000 of her autographs, usually for $200 to $300,” he said. “Eleanor Roosevelt, we got $40-$50. … Bettie Page outsells them all.”

=================================================

This really sucks.  She was THE pin-up model that set the standard for those who came after.  A lot of famous people die all the time and it just doesn’t matter, but she was an icon.  I really hope she pulls through and comes out ok.  There aren’t many icons left in the world from those golden days.

Hey folks,

Well I finally got the new issue posted after some personal issues kept me from getting it done on time. Sorry about that. Anyway, we got lots of great stuff for you this month, so without further adieu, here we go…

Interviews:

Rick Popko and Dan West
Nicola Fiore
Sebrina Siegel
Jim Wynorski
Jeff Markey
Lee Rudnicki

This Month’s Sleepover Girl:

Tucky Williams makes a return appearance as this month’s Sleepover Girl!

Articles:

Check out Danny Runion’s latest movie mashups article and see what he threw in the blender this month!

Movie Reviews:

Bikini Bloodbath Carwash
Boys of Summerville
Cottonmouth
Diary of a Bad Lad
Douglas Fairbanks – A Modern Musketeer
Hole in the Ground
Isle of the Damned
It Came from Over Yonder
Little Rascals The Complete Collection
Loss of Hope
Reunion
Stimulus
Sunday
The Sisters Four
Two Front Teeth
Unholy Reunion (Duane’s Review)
Unholy Reunion (Nic’s Review)
Visits
Welcome to Pipe Mountain

Book Reviews:

The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry
Thinking About Movies

So head on over to Rogue Cinema (http://www.roguecinema.com) and check out all the goodness in this month’s issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!