| | ||||||||||
 Angie Dickinson biography: Dickinson, the second of four daughters, was born Angeline Brown (but called "Angie" by family and friends) in Kulm, North Dakota, the daughter of Frederica and Leo H. Brown. Her father was a small-town newspaper publisher and editor.In 1942, her family moved to Burbank, California, and she graduated from Bellarmine-Jefferson High School in 1947 at just 15 years of age. The previous year, she had won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest. She studied at Glendale Community College and in 1954 graduated from Immaculate Heart College with a degree in business. Taking a cue from her publisher father, she had intended to be a writer. While a student from 1950-52, she worked as a secretary at Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank (now Bob Hope Airport) and in a parts factory. In 1953, she placed second in a beauty pageant. Soon after her first marriage to Gene Dickinson she decided to pursue a career in acting. She studied the craft and a few years later was approached by NBC to guest-star on a number of variety shows, including The Colgate Comedy Hour. She soon met Frank Sinatra who became a lifelong friend. She would later play Sinatra's wife in the film Ocean's Eleven. On New Year's Eve 1954, Dickinson made her acting debut in an episode of Death Valley Days. This led to other roles in such productions as Buffalo Bill Jr, eight episodes of Matinee Theatre, City Detective, Gray Ghost, General Electric Theater, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Broken Arrow, Meet McGraw (twice), Northwest Passage, Gunsmoke, Tombstone Territory, Cheyenne, Meet McGraw, The Restless Gun, Perry Mason, Mike Hammer, Wagon Train, Men Into Space, and a memorable turn as the duplicitous murder conspirator in a 1964 episode of the classic The Fugitive series with David Janssen and fellow guest star Robert Duvall. In 1965, she had a recurring role as Carol Tredman on Dr. Kildare. After appearing in the TV mini-series Pearl (1978), Dickinson returned to the big screen in Brian De Palma's thriller Dressed to Kill (1980). The role earned her a 1981 Saturn Award for Best Actress. The film featured Dickinson in a 35-minute sequence, dialogue free, being stalked through the maze of a New York museum and ending shockingly with her character's brutal murder in an elevator. She took a less substantial role in 1981's Death Hunt, reuniting her with Lee Marvin, and also appeared in Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen. Earlier that year, she reportedly had been the first choice to play Krystle Carrington on the TV series Dynasty but turned down the role (which went to Linda Evans). After nixing her own Johnny Carson-produced prospective sitcom, The Angie Dickinson Show, in 1980 after only two episodes had been shot because she didn't feel she was funny enough, the private-eye series Cassie & Co. became her unsuccessful attempt at a TV comeback. She then starred in several TV movies such as, One Shoe Makes it Murder (1982), Jealousy (1984), A Touch of Scandal (1984), and Stillwatch (1987). She also had a pivotal role in the highly rated mini-series Hollywood Wives (1985), based on a novel by Jackie Collins. On the big screen, Dickinson reprised her role as Wilma for Big Bad Mama II (1987) and completed the TV movie Kojak: Fatal Flaw, in which she was reunited with Telly Savalas. She co-starred with Willie Nelson and numerous old buddies in the 1988 TV western Once Upon a Texas Train. Dickinson hosted the December 12, 1987 Saturday Night Live. In the 1993 ABC miniseries Wild Palms, produced by Oliver Stone, she was the sadistic, militant sister of Senator Tony Kruetzer, played by Robert Loggia. That same year, she starred as a ruthless Montana spa owner in Gus Van Sant's theatrical film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. In 1995, Sydney Pollack cast her as the prospective mother-in-law of Greg Kinnear in the romantic comedy Sabrina starring Harrison Ford, a remake of the Billy Wilder classic. She also played Burt Reynolds' wife in the thriller The Maddening and the mother of Rick Aiello and Robert Cicchini in the comedy National Lampoon's The Don's Analyst. In 1997, she seduced old flame Artie (Rip Torn) in an episode of HBO's The Larry Sanders Show called "Artie and Angie and Hank and Hercules." During the first decade of the new millennium, Dickinson played an alcoholic, homeless mother to Helen Hunt in Pay it Forward (2000); the grandmother of Gwyneth Paltrow in the drama Duets (2000) and the mother of Arliss Howard in Big Bad Love (2001), co-starring Debra Winger. Having appeared in the original Ocean's Eleven (1960) with good friends Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, four decades later she made a brief cameo in the 2001 remake with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. An avid poker player, during the summer of 2004 she participated in the second season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown. After announcing her name, host Dave Foley said "Sometimes, when we say 'celebrity,' we actually mean it."[citation needed] Dickinson is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award. In 1999, Playboy Magazine ranked Dickinson #42 on their list of the '100 Sexiest Stars of the Century'. And in 2002, TV Guide ranked her #3 on their list of the '50 Sexiest TV Stars of All Time', behind Diana Rigg and George Clooney (who tied for #1). More recently, Dickinson starred in a Hallmark Channel film, Mending Fences, that premiered in July 2009. She was married to Gene Dickinson, a former football player, from 1952 to 1960. She was romantically linked to Frank Sinatra, whom Dickinson called "the most important man in my life" and with whom she shared "a very comfortable relationship" on and off for ten years. They remained friends until his death in 1998. She was also linked to actor David Janssen (whom she called "A great date and a great love"), and allegedly to President John F. Kennedy, although she has chosen not to address those rumors. Dickinson was married to Burt Bacharach in 1965, and they remained married for fifteen years, until 1980. Dickinson temporarily put her career on hold, although she did appear in the occasional picture such as the western The Last Challenge (1967) with Glenn Ford and the comedy Some Kind of Nut (1969). Their daughter, Lea Nikki, known as Nikki, was born a year after they were married, in 1966. Nikki was born three months prematurely, which resulted in chronic health problems including visual impairment, and she was later diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Burt penned the song, Nikki, for his fragile young daughter. Angie declined many roles in order to focus on caring for her daughter. Nikki's parents eventually placed Nikki at the Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Faribault, Minnesota.Nikki remained there for nine years. Later, Nikki studied geology at California Lutheran University, but her poor eyesight prevented her from pursuing a career in that field. On January 4, 2007, Nikki committed suicide in her apartment in the suburb of Thousand Oaks, north of Los Angeles. She was 40.In a joint statement, Dickinson and Bacharach said: "She quietly and peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages to her brain brought on by Asperger's... She loved kitties, and earthquakes, glacial calving, meteor showers, science, blue skies and sunsets, and Tahiti. She was one of the most beautiful creatures created on this earth, and she is now in the white light, at peace."A fan wrote that he had met Nikki and her mother three years prior to her death, at a party celebrating the birthday of the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury. The fan wrote: "She was a big fan of astronomy, and loved looking through telescopes... I brought a telescope to Ray's party and showed her and Angie Mars and the Andromeda galaxy. Nikki was fascinated. She had a genuine, child-like sense of wonder about the sky. Angie couldn't have been sweeter or more gracious. I'll never forget that night. This is really sad news Angie Dickinson quote: | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Career Highlights | ||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
