American actress Mamie Van Doren (born February 6, 1931) has been in 41 films from 1951 to 2012. Van Doren was discovered by Howard Hughes as Miss Eight Ball, and Hughes put Van Doren in 4 RKO movies, including Jet Pilot, His Kind of Woman, and Two Tickets to Broadway.[1] These movies would have Van Doren playing minor roles, where she was often uncredited or credited as Joan Olander.
In 1953, Van Doren signed to Universal, with Universal having hopes of Van Doren becoming their version of Marilyn Monroe. Her first major film role, The All American, helped to shape her distinctive role in the 1950s as a "bad girl". Van Doren rose to fame, starring in rebellious-teen films, exploitation films, teen dramas, and musicals. These films, such as Untamed Youth, Running Wild, Teacher's Pet and High School Confidential, made her different from Monroe's roles as a "dumb blonde". These films, which would sometimes be risque, would challenge the Hays Code.
In the 1960s, Van Doren starred in several independent B-movies due to her contract with Universal not being renewed in 1960. Her last film with Universal was the 1960 film The Private Lives of Adam and Eve. In 1964, she starred in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, a film directed by Tommy Noonan and inspired by the success of Promises! Promises! (1963), which Van Doren had turned down.
Last film under contract with Universal. Van Doren stopped accepting roles from the studio, because they were not giving her the breakthrough roles she so desperately craved.
