Angie Dickinson

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Angie Dickinson (born September 30, 1931) is the former, popular runner-up in the 1953 Miss America beauty pageant, and a legendary American television and film actress who co-starred in Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend and The Art of Love with James Garner, and Ocean's Eleven with her ex-boyfriend Frank Sinatra. In addition, she is probably best-known for her role as Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the popular 1970s crime drama, Police Woman. She later won the Saturn Award in 1981 for her role as Kate Miller in Dressed to Kill.

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Early life

The daughter of a small town newspaper publishing company, Dickinson was born Angeline Brown in Kulm, North Dakota, to parents, Frederica & Leo H. Brown, the older of two sisters. For being a cutie pie at a very young age, her first job was to sell Hershey's Kisses for five cents, so her younger siblings could buy ice cream cones. Despite of being the peaches and cream girl she used to be, her father was an alcoholic, so her family moved to Burbank, California in 1942, when little Angie was only 11, and had been raised there ever since. Prior to attending Bellamarine Jefferson High School, she was already a teen beauty and won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights Contest late in 1946. She was also popular with her class, and by 1947, she graduated from high school and became even more sexier than ever, at only 15. At the same time, she was also looking for a job, prior to attending Glendale Community College before she transferred to Immaculate Heart College, she took on a job working as a secretary working at the Burbank Airport's (now Bob Hope Airport) parts factory from 1950 to late 1952. In 1953, she was qualified for a beauty pageant contest, just in time, and came in second place. The following year, she also graduated from Immaculate Heart College with a degree in business. She was originally going to be a writer, because she grew up with a publishing father, but there had already been a change of plans for this future beauty.

When the happy-go-lucky lady married a football player, she decided that the name change that Angie would use in order for her to become a professional actress, from Brown to Dickinson, was the most important thing for her to do and that was why she wanted to change her change. That same year, Angie Dickinson was also approached by NBC to guest-star in a number of variety shows, including The Colgate Comedy Hour, and became a member of the Rat Pack, where she worked with longtime companion, Frank Sinatra, that the two would soon later star in Dickinson's, Ocean's Eleven, and soonafter, she would remain on good terms with Ol' Blue Eyes up until Sinatra's death in the Spring of 1998.

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Younger beautiful character actress

After being the popular runner-up in the Miss America pageant, and for making her name well-known in the big-screen, Dickinson became one of the more versatile, popular and younger leading character actors of the 1950s and 1960s, having to guest-star in dozens of TV series. On New Year's Eve 1954, she made her acting debut on an episode of Death Valley Days. This part led to other roles such as, Buffalo Bill Jr, eight episodes of Matinee Theatre, General Electric Theater, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Broken Arrow, Gunsmoke, Cheyenne, Meet McGraw, The Restless Gun, Perry Mason, Mike Hammer, Wagon Train, Men Into Space, among many others. In 1965, she had a recurring role as Carol Tredman on Dr. Kildare, that Dickinson was also a household word to many viewers.

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Sexy 1950's and 1960's movie beauty

Though Dickinson enjoyed a vastly-popular movie career for nearly 2 decades, she didn't win or wasn't nominated for any Oscars in any of her roles. She had small roles starting with Lucky Me (1954), The Return of Jack Slade (1955), Man with the Gun (1955), and Hidden Guns (1956), among many other limited roles. She had her first starring role with Gun the Man Down (1956), and her career had skyrocketed from there, becoming one of Hollywood's sex symbols. She also starred in B moives, mostly of Westerns, beginning with Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957), where she got to work on-screen with a legendary actor James Garner, and gained more respect with him. In another Western, Rio Bravo (1959), she played a party woman who gets locked up by the sheriff. As the 1960s were approaching, and before she became a blonde, she starred in dozens of movies, making her the leading lady of the decade, starting with The Bramble Bush (1960), Ocean's Eleven (1960) with Frank Sinatra, A Fever in the Blood (1961), The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), Rome Adventure (1962), in Jessica (1962), she played the clean-cut woman who has an Italian heritage. She was also co-starred in The Art of Love (1965), where she played the love interest of both Dick Van Dyke and James Garner, where he was also reunited in this movie. She also enjoyed a string of movies during the 1960s and 1970s, with The Last Challenge (1967), Some Kind of Nut (1967), where she played Fred's wife. She starred in another Western, Young Billy Young (1969), a sexy teacher in Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), with Telly Savalas, a scary doctor in The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971), and her best movie role as playing widow Wilma in Big Bad Mama (1974).

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Television work

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Police Woman

After years of turning down so many roles, due to her daughter's autism, Dickinson came to the small screen in 1974 to play a different police character on an episode of the hit series Police Story. That one guest-starring role proved to be so popular that NBC had decided to turn it into a weekly detective series, Police Woman, which made her the series' first official female TV her autistic sister. That role of her sister's only lasted for one police officer, which proved to be the best move for her. Most of all, she became a pop icon of the 1970s, as her own show was seen in over 70 countries, it was also NBC's answer to both successful 1970s crime drama series such as, Kojak and The Rockford Files, a coincidental series on which the show also made its debut that same year on the same network. On this show, she played Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson, a cool, sexy and classy blonde policy who goes undercover at the Los Angeles Police Department, where she's a tough broad and even lovelier to criminals and to her best buds. Co-starring on the show were a couple of familiar actors, Earl Holliman (who replaced Bert Convy of Tattletales and Super Password fame), as: Sgt. Anderson's Italian-speaking commanding officer and ongoing friend, Lt. Bill Crowley and Ed Bernard as: Det. Joe Styles. On the first day of shooting, both Dickinson & Holliman were filming the scene in the hospital since somebody's mother had been very ill, however, the chemistry of the two were very comfortable that it was like falling in love with each other on the set. In early 1976, she alongside her co-star (Earl Holliman) were both invited to the Television Broadcasters Awards to award highly on the actor's achievement. He even adored the most accomplishments that the veteran actress did, including her work with such late actors as: Frank Sinatra and John Wayne, both of whom acted with Dickinson earlier. On many occasions, she would even invite her sister to guest-star on the show as season. In its first year, it was a ratings winner among many other popular 1970s detective series, and Dickinson was nominated for Emmys three times in a row for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, between 1975 and 1977, but didn't win. She was also nominated for Golden Globes four times, between 1975 and 1978, for Best TV Actress, but won only once. While Police Woman was riding high, she along with Frank Sinatra would watch her friend (Telly Savalas) who sang some songs, during her vacation. As she was continuing to play the no-nonsense cop, her marriage was in serious turmoil that she needed to slow down a little bit and concentrate on her daughter's disability in 1977. By the end of its fourth season in 1978, Police Woman had by far a complex season, the ratings were not just dropping, but her world was falling apart that included her daughter's serious autistic behavior to spend more time with her, as daughter Leah would not just have a caregiver, but to also be with her mother, thus NBC has decided to cancel the series after four seasons. But by all account, Dickinson, enjoyed playing the best cop on the show and will always be best remembered by it. That same year, she reprised her role playing the same character on the television special, Ringo, co-starring with Ringo Starr and John Ritter.

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Leading 1980s actress

After a two year absence from spending time with her daughter and the devastating divorce, she came back to the big screen with Dressed to Kill, which coveted her a 1981 Saturn Award for Best Actress. That same year, she also had another big role with Death Hunt. Early that year, she was the original choice to play the character Krystle Carrington on Dynasty, but she turned down the role and it went to Linda Evans. She tried to make a comeback on TV with Cassie & Co., but her show failed. She was also in demand of starring in dozens of TV movies such as, One Show Make it Murder, Jealousy, A Touch of Scandal, Hollywood Wives, Stillwatch, and in the big screen, she reprised her role in Big Bad Mama II (1987), and she went back to doing another TV movie in Kojak: Fatal Flaw, where she was reunited once again with Telly Savalas.

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1990s and later work

In addition to co-starring with younger actress Uma Thurman in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), she also played Burt Reynolds's husband in The Maddening (1995), which was an impressive movie. She also co-starred with Rick Aiello and Robert Cicchini as their mother in The Don Analyst. As the new millennium approached, she played an alcoholic woman in Pay it Forward (2000), and she also played Arliss Howard's mother in Big Bad Love (2001), the following year. And she came back to do a small role in Ocean's Eleven (2001), a movie that was a hit more than four decades ago.

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Personal life

In 1952, Angie married Gene Dickinson, a former football player. While Angie was busy working on guest-starring roles, she was too busy making guest-appearances and dating Frank Sinatra. They marriage ended in divorce in 1960.

She was married for some years to musician/composer Burt Bacharach, by whom she has a daughter, and was also rumoured to be one of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's mistresses. When asked about the affair, she said,"It was the best 20 seconds of my life." In the early 1960s, she was also romantically linked to Frank Sinatra. After she was married, the following year, she had a daughter named, Leah Nikki, in 1966, who was diagnosed with autism. The couple divorced in 1980.

Dickinson is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award.

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Filmography

Upcoming:

  • 3055 Jean Leon (2006) (documentary)
  • Chronicles of Narnia 2 (2007) (action)
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External links

fr:Angie Dickinson sv:Angie Dickinson

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