Yvette Mimieux

Yvette Mimieux
c. 1975
Born Yvette Carmen Mimieux
(1942-01-08) January 8, 1942
Los Angeles, California, US
Occupation Actress
Years active 1956–1992
Spouse(s)
Stanley Donen
(m. 1972; div. 1985)

Howard F. Ruby
(m. 1986)

Yvette Mimieux (born January 8, 1942)[1] is a retired American movie and television actress.

Early life and career

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was born in Los Angeles, California, United States, to a French father and a Mexican mother (surnamed Montemayor). Before her film career began, Mimieux was one of four finalists from a beauty contest picked by Elvis Presley (while he was filming Jailhouse Rock, 1957) who were invited to come to the set to compete for a bit role in the movie ("girl in bathing suit"). She and the other girls modeled their suits. Mimieux was not selected.

MGM

Her first film appearance was in Platinum High School (1960) for MGM, who signed her to a long term contract. She achieved fame in George Pal's film version of H. G. Wells's 1895 novel The Time Machine (1960) starring Rod Taylor, in which she played the character Weena. It was popular at the box office, as was the teen comedy Where the Boys Are (1960).[2][3] She also guest starred on Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (1960) and other shows.

MGM put Mimieux in the ingenue role in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961), an expensive flop. She had a central role in Light in the Piazza (1962) with Olivia de Havilland and George Hamilton, playing a mentally disabled girl. The film lost money but was well regarded critically. She had a small part in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1963), another commercial disappointment. Also later that year, she appeared in Diamond Head for Columbia, as well as Toys in the Attic, co-starring Dean Martin, based on the play by Lillian Hellman.

While at MGM, Mimieux made a cameo in Looking for Love (1964) and played Richard Chamberlain's love interest in Joy in the Morning (1965), a melodrama.

Post MGM

She was in a Western, The Reward (1967), the Disney comedy Monkeys, Go Home! (1967), and a heist film The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967). She was reunited with Rod Taylor in the MGM action movie Dark of the Sun (1968).

Mimieux was top-billed in Three in the Attic (1969) at AIP, an enormously-popular hit.[4] She appeared in the critically acclaimed movie The Picasso Summer (1969) alongside Albert Finney.[5]

Mimieux was the female lead in The Delta Factor (1970), an action film. She then had one of the leads in The Most Deadly Game (1970–71) a short-lived TV series from Aaron Spelling.

After making the TV movie Black Noon (1971) she was an air-hostess in MGM's Skyjacked (1972)[6] and was in the Fox science fiction film The Neptune Factor (1973).

She appeared in a two-part episode of Dr. Kildare ("Tyger, Tyger", 1964) and later appeared in numerous television series and made-for-television movies. She was an assassin in Spelling's Hit Lady (1974) and was in The Legend of Valentino (1975), wherein she played Rudolph Valentino's second wife, Natacha Rambova.

She was in the Canadian thriller Journey into Fear (1975) and made a pilot for a TV series based on Bell, Book and Candle (1976) but it was not picked up.

Later Films

Mimieux was a falsely imprisoned woman victimized by a sadistic guard in the film Jackson County Jail (1976) with Tommy Lee Jones, and a box office hit. She was in some horror-orientated TV movies, Snowbeast (1977), Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978), and Disaster on the Coastliner (1979).

Later, Mimieux co-starred in the first PG-rated Walt Disney Productions feature, The Black Hole (1979). She had the lead in Circle of Power (1981).[7]

She was in Obsessive Love (1984), a television movie about a female stalker which she co-wrote and co-produced. She had the lead in Berrenger's (1985) a short lived TV series and had a support role in the TV movie The Fifth Missile (1986).

Her last film was Lady Boss (1992).[8]

Personal life

Mimieux retired from acting in 1992. She was married to film director Stanley Donen from 1972 until their divorce in 1985.[9][10] In 1986, Mimieux married Howard F. Ruby, chairman emeritus and founder of Oakwood Worldwide.[11] She has no children.

Filmography

Television work

Recordings

  • The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm 1962 (MGM Records), as The Dancing Princess
  • Baudelaire's Flowers Of Evil (Les Fleurs Du Mal) 1968 (Connoisseur Society), reading excerpts of Cyril Scott's 1909 translation with music by Ali Akbar Khan

References

  1. ↑ "Free Family Tree, Genealogy and Family History". Familytreelegends.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  2. ↑ "Where the Boys Are (1960) Directed by Henry Levin". LETTERBOXD. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  3. ↑ Levy, Emanuel. "WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960): Iconic Spring Break Movie, Starring Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux". EmanuelLevy.com. Emanuel Levy - Cinema 24/7. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (20 December 1968). "THREE IN THE ATTIC". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times.
  5. ↑ Lindbergs, Kimberly. "A Tale of Two Films: THE PICASSO SUMMER (1969)". CINEBEATS. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "Skyjacked (1972)". TCM.com. Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Circle of Power (1981) Directed by Bobby Roth". LETTERBOXD. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Yvette Mimieux". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  9. ↑ "Yvette Mimieux". Nndb.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  10. ↑ "Overview for Yvette Mimieux". Tcm.com. 1942-01-08. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  11. ↑ "Howard F. Ruby". Oakwood.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
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