Diane Jean McBain[1] (May 18, 1941 – December 21, 2022) was an American actress who, as a Warner Brothers contract player, reached a brief peak of popularity during the early 1960s. She was best known for playing an adventurous socialite in the 1960–1962 television series Surfside 6 and as one of Elvis Presley's leading ladies in 1966's Spinout.
Early life
McBain was born on May 18, 1941, in Cleveland, Ohio.[2] She moved to the Los Angeles area at an early age and began her showbusiness career as an adolescent model in print and television advertisements.[3][4]
During her senior year at Glendale High School, while appearing in a play, she was spotted by a Warner Bros. talent scout and added to the studio's roster of contract performers.[5]
Having received a positive reaction to McBain's initial performances, the studio realized it had a potential star under contract. She was given a prominent ingenue role in her first feature, the $3.5 million Ice Palace (1960) alongside Richard Burton and Robert Ryan. The filmed-on-location Technicolor epic was released on January 2, 1960, to mixed reviews, but McBain's notices were generally favorable.[7]
Warner Bros continued to keep McBain busy during 1960 with numerous appearances on its TV shows. She returned to 77 Sunset Strip on February 26, then nine days later found herself in Alaska with a guest role in the March 6 installment of The Alaskans, starring Roger Moore. Eight days later, she was in Bourbon Street Beat and the following day on Sugarfoot. Another episode of Bourbon Street Beat followed two weeks later on March 28, and still another 77 Sunset Strip on May 6. In eight more days, she was in an episode of Lawman, and three weeks thereafter, on June 6, a third episode of Bourbon Street Beat in as many months. On March 1 and 2, 1967, during the second season of the ABC series Batman, she played socialite Pinkie Pinkston, a friend of Batman's alias Bruce Wayne.
McBain had a banner year in 1960. In addition to appearing in a top feature film and guest-starring in eight TV episodes, she was assigned two more theatrical features. The first offered her one of three ingenue roles in a major "A" film, Parrish (1961), supporting Troy Donahue; the others were Connie Stevens and Sharon Hugueny.[8] The film was a hit and made over $4 million.[9][10]
Warners then gave McBain the star part in her own "B"-film vehicle, Claudelle Inglish (1961) when she replaced the original choice for the lead, Anne Francis, in the title role. It was based on a novel by Erskine Caldwell.[11][12]
Warners gave her another lead role in a feature, Black Gold (1962). She returned to guest starring on shows like Hawaii Five-O.[13]
When 77 Sunset Strip kicked off its sixth and final season in 1963 with a special five-part story called 'Five', McBain played opposite Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as "Carla Stevens".[15]
Warners announced her for Sex and the Single Girl (1964) in the role of a secretary.[17] She turned down the role and Warners elected not to renew her contract.[18][19]
She was announced for the films Spring Is for Crying[21] and Halcyon Years[22] but neither was made. She made Five from the Hawk in Spain.[23]
"I was very stupid about money," McBain said later. "My mother had always made my clothes, and I was embarrassed about it. I became a
shopaholic and spent a fortune on store-bought clothes. Tammy Bakker probably copied the way I did my shopping and eyelashes."[24]
Work began to dry up. "We were going through a revolution in society with the civil-rights movement and the Vietnam War," she said. "Now, white Anglo-Saxon, pretty people were low on the totem pole. We were thought to be on the other side, conservatives who were the cause of the war and the civil-rights problem. Dustin Hoffman, yes. Troy Donahue, no. Nobody wanted beautiful people on the screen. They wanted people like them, average. I didn't get much work."[24]
In August 1965 McBain's parents reported her as missing. It turned out she had checked herself into a hotel in San Diego under the name "Marilyn Miller" for "a change of faces, scenery and attitudes... I just wanted to be Miss Nobody from Nowhere." She said she had been despondent over a slackening income and not getting the type of roles she wanted.[25]
During the 1970s, McBain slowed her career somewhat to care for her son Evan, though she continued to make guest appearances in a number of television series. "I never really cared about superstardom, I only cared about the roles that were available to those who were superstars," she later said. "I was motivated to continue on in the face of total failure because I had a child to rear on my own with little help from his father. Acting was the best way for me to make money and the best way for me to be a more present mom in my son's life. Full-time jobs brought in money but kept me away from the day-to-day life of my child."[28]
She had roles in the features The Delta Factor (1970), The Wild Season (1971), Huyendo del halcón (1973), Wicked, Wicked (1973), and The Deathhead Virgin (1974), which she later called "the stupidest screenplay I ever had to work with."[28]
She was in a TV movie, Cab to Canada (1998), which she said "was enough to make me never want to act again".[28]
In 1990 she was seeking financing for her screenplay The Spilling Moon about the first woman to trek along the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.[19]
Personal life
In early 1968 McBain visited U.S. troops in Vietnam on a Johnny Grant tour with fellow actress Melody Patterson. McBain was married to Rodney Burke, whom she met at a Buddhist camp, from 1972 until their 1974 divorce. The couple had one son, Evan.[2]
In 1982, McBain was beaten, robbed, and raped by two men in her garage in West Hollywood at 1:30 am on Christmas Day after she came home from a party. She began a second career as a rape victim counselor.[32][33][34][35] The culprits were never found. "The shock of what happened caused loss of memory, inability to concentrate, and I'm still startled out of proportion," she said in 1990.[19]
Death
McBain died from liver cancer on the morning of December 21, 2022, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Los Angeles, California, where she had lived for a number of years. She was 81.[2]
Laura Stapley Paula Harding Doris Spinner Nita Maran Lu-Ann Lynwood Carla Stevens Carla Stevens Carla Stevens Carla Stevens
Episode: "Six Superior Skirts" Episode: "The Starlet" Episode: "Fraternity of Fear" Episode: "Leap, My Lovely" Episode: "Nine to Five" Episode: "5: Part 1" Episode: "5: Part 2" Episode: "5: Part 3" Episode: "5: The Conclusion"
Susan Shaw Xenobia Lana De Armand Cissy Davenport DeWitt
Episode: "Who Killed Marty Kelso?" Episode: "Who Killed Mr. Cartwheel? Episode: "Who Killed the Tall One in the Middle?" Episode: "Who Killed Nobody Somehow?"
^"Cocker Spaniel Named Best at Glendale Show: Palo Alto Dog Beats Out 1122 Purebreds to Win Prize in Kennel Club Competition". Los Angeles Times, 1 April 1957: 24.
^Hopper, Hedda. "Too Pretty to Act? She Disproves It". Los Angeles Times, 5 February 1961: b9.
^Hopper, Hedda. "Hedda Hopper: 'THEY'LL MAKE GOOD IN HOLLYWOOD!'". Chicago Daily Tribune, 27 December 1959: e10.
^FOCUS ON THE FORTY-NINTH STATE By BILL BECKERJUNEAU New York Times 27 September 1959: X7.
^"All-Time Top Grossers", Variety, 8 January 1964, p. 69
^"'Parrish' Gaining Noteworthy Cast: Remakes Still Order of Day; Massey in 'Great Imposter'". Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times, 25 April 1960: C13.
^Wagner, Laura Anne Francis: The Life and Career (p. 62) McFarland, 2011
^"HOLLYWOOD CALENDAR: Sweet Young... Stripper!". Scott, John L. Los Angeles Times, 18 June 1961: b9.
^"Mann Will Direct Odets' The Actor': Name Your Dish: Scaloppini Sal Mineo, Sausage Curtis?" Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times, 28 May 1962: C15.
^"'77 Sunset' Filming Starts". Los Angeles Times, 25 July 1963: C11.
^"Diane McBain: 'I Never Saw an Actor I'd Marry'". Alpert, Don. Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1964: V4.
^"Busy Buono Tapped as Boston Strangler: Beckett's 'Play' Concrete; Ford---'Too Big for Texas'". Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times, 1 July 1963: C9.
^ abc"In Search of . . . Diane McBain". Peary, Gerald. Los Angeles Times, 27 May 1990: 23.
^"Diane McBain Stars", Los Angeles Times, 14 July 1964: C11.
^"Actress Selected", Los Angeles Times, 9 May 1964: A9.
^"'Black Spurs' First on Lyles' New Deal", Los Angeles Times, 26 June 1964: D11.
^"Drury Gets Starring Role". Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times, 14 February 1966: c18.
^ ab"IN PERSON 'I didn't really know good films from bad'. From Elvis to Crawford, Diane McBain has shared the screen with a long list of stars since she signed her first contract at 18". Peary, Gerald. The Globe and Mail; 8 June 1990: C.3.
^"ACTRESS NOT MISSING: Diane McBain Found; Just Wanted 'Change'". Los Angeles Times, 5 August 1965: 3.
