Dateline: Friday, October 27, 2000
Wednesday I went to the Castro and saw House of Wax. The original with Vincent Price, Charles Bronson (as Buchinsky), pretty Carolyn Jones. Tim's friend Erica was working at the box office, as she often is, and she let me in for free!
I got popcorn, but it was a bit of a let down.
The movie was entertaining 50's camp horror. And in 3-D. Glasses provided by the Castro. Carolyn played the Joan of Arc wax figure.
Maybe 20 years ago (yes, I'm dating myself), Carolyn Jones was once in something on the TV, and Mom said, "that's Carolyn Jones, she was on The Addams Family." Carolyn Jones was dark haired Morticia, but here she was blonde. She was also in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956); and How the West Was Won (1962), Ice Palace (1960), Career (1959), Last Train from Gun Hill (1959), The Man in the Net (1959), A Hole in the Head (1959), Marjorie Morningstar (1958), King Creole (1958), Baby Face Nelson (1957), The Bachelor Party (1957), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Tender Trap (1955), The Seven Year Itch (1955), East of Eden (1955), Desirée (1954), Three Hours to Kill (1954), The Big Heat (1953), The War of the Worlds (1953), Road to Bali (1952) and The Turning Point (1952).
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IMDb's biography on her says only that she has Comache Indian ancestry. And was married three times: to Peter Bailey-Britton (1982 - 1983; her death); Herbert S. Greene (1968 - 1977; divorced); Aaron Spelling! (1953 - 1965; divorced). The, at times, sweetly sinister seductress was born Carolyn Baker April 28, 1929, Amarillo, Texas in the year of the stock market crash.
Carolyn used her voice before she used her looks and acting talent. While she was still in high school she worked as a disc jockey for a Texas radio station, and later, when she was still struggling to make her way in Hollywood, she continued to work in radio.
At this point I started doing more research and rented some more of her films and decided to make her... Person of the Week.
She appeared in 37 films. Was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in The Bachelor Party ("Just say you love me ‹ you don¹t have to mean it.") and she won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer in 1958. She made films with Hitchcock, Lang, Capra, Kazan, Curtiz, was in a Road picture, worked with Frank, Dean, Marilyn, Brando and Elvis.
Carolyn guest starred on series television from 1955 until 1981, on shows such as Quincy, Wonder Woman (as Queen), Kolchak ("Demon in Lace -- aka The Succubus"), The Viginian, Batman (as sexpot Marsha), Wagon Train, Dick Powell Show, Zane Grey Theater and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in "The Cheney Vase").
She was versatile enough to handle romantic, dramatic, and comedy roles and capable of playing a gangster's moll, a nutty bongo player, a West-taming frontier wife, and a Gomez-seducing French-speaking Japanese-singing "Tish" Addams. As Morticia, the big eyes, smooth porcelain skin, and long straight black wig suited Carolyn's small, pale face perfectly, presaging the gothic punk look of the '80s. The '63 Movie Life Yearbook gave her stats as 5' 5 and 1/2" and 117 pounds, 35-25-37. Her slinky figure was perfect for Morticia's black-widow gown (her real talent may have been her ability to stand up and walk in that bewitching "tube dress").
"The Addams Family" debuted September 18, 1964, in the Friday 8:30 p.m. timeslot on ABC and ran for 64 episodes ... the debut was one week before the debut of "The Munsters" ... "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters" were cancelled within one week of each other in '66.
She was in Roots, and in 1982 she was a "ruthless, filthy rich, old broad" on the show Capitol, but had to drop out after the first season, because of her illness. Carolyn had been diagnosed with colon cancer in March of 1981.
She had vomited blood, and when doctors did tests, they discovered that cancer had ravaged her colon, and spread to her liver. Surgeons removed two thirds of her colon, and Carolyn continued on, the best she could. She told friends that she was having treatments for ulcers. In the meantime, Carolyn quietly went through treatment. She worked during the day, and went to the hospital for chemo at night. No one knew. She kept her illness a complete secret. It seemed that the cancer had gone into remission, but in late 1982 - it returned and spread quickly.
Doctors retaliated with massive injections of drugs, to no avail. Seeing that the end was near, in July of 1983 - Carolyn wed her boyfriend, actor Peter Bailey-Britton. She wore a lace and ribbon cap to hide the fact that she lost her hair during chemo. The wedding was attended by Jim Backus, June Allyson, Sally Struthers and Red Buttons.
The very next month, Carolyn, completely ravaged by the disease, fell into a coma in her home on Norma Place in West Hollywood, California. She died there on August 3, 1983, with her husband at her side. She was 53.
Thanks to the preoccupation with death and celebrity and celebrity death on the web. I can offer some photos:
