It must have been like a scene from a gothic film noir, part Sunset Boulevard (in which, ironically, our subject had a debut cameo), part What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, all real life sadness and horror: on April 27, Beverly Hills police, acting on a tip from a neighbor, enter the cobwebbed doorway of a 1920s home in Benedict Canyon and discover the mummified corpse of a former actress, model, singer and apparently a very lonely lady named Yvette Vickers, best known for her supporting roles in the enduringly beloved cult classics Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959). She may have been dead for as long as a year, a tragic wrap to a glamorous, if complicated, life. Yvette’s bizarre demise rivals the equally macabre finales for fellow B movie icons Susan Cabot (The Wasp Woman) and director Al Adamson (Dracula vs. Frankenstein), and will no doubt augment her legend as a Hollywood “scream queen.”
Born Yvette Vedder in Kansas City MO 82 years ago on August 29, 1928, the daughter of jazz musicians, she seemed destined for the spotlight. After attending UCLA, the petite, gorgeous, vivacious blue-eyed blonde turned to both acting and modeling, quickly establishing a busy career and appearing in a diverse range of films including James Cagney’s Short Cut to Hell (1957), Reform School Girl (1957), I, Mobster (1958), Paul Newman’s Hud (1963), and opposite Shelley Winters in What’s the Matter With Helen? (1971). In between were numerous guest shots on a wide variety of television shows including M Squad, Mike Hammer, Dragnet, Bat Masterson, My Three Sons, The Bob Cummings Show and Emergency! Her last film role was in 1990’s Evil Spirits. The Bay Area’s own boobie baron Russ Meyer shot a famous Playboy layout of Yvette when she was Playmate of the Month in July, 1959. Reportedly married and divorced twice, leaving behind no children, her romances included Cary Grant and Jim Hutton (father of Timothy). But she died alone.
In 2000, Yvette independently recorded and released a CD called “A Tribute to Charlie and Maria,” singing original jazz tunes written by parents, Charles (a tenor saxophonist) and Maria (a classical pianist) Vedder. Her voice is sultry and sassy, perfectly suiting the smoothly sensuous if sentimental material. Yvette sometimes sang on stage with them while growing up in Kansas City and later Southern California, and the Vedders actually produced several albums in the ‘50s and ‘60s via their own label, Ventura Records.
I had the honor of meeting and conversing at length with Yvette about ten years ago at a celebrity convention in South San Francisco. She was sweet, friendly, gracious and very appreciative of her fans. Her ageless appeal as a “sex kitten” secured her an immortal spot in cult movie history, but her warmth as a human being is what I’ll remember about her most fondly. She didn’t deserve to die like this. Nobody does, at least nobody this nice.
Will “the Thrill” Viharo is a pulp fiction author and B Movie impresario.
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