Matinee Classics - Angie Dickinson Biography & Filmography

Angie Dickinson ACTOR

PHOTOS

ANGIE DICKINSON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Angie Dickinson, birth name Angeline Brown, was born September 30, 1931 in Kulm, North Dakota. In 1942 her family moved to Burbank, California. In December of 1946, when she was a senior at Bellamarine Jefferson High School, she won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest. A year later, at only age fifteen, she graduated from high school. Dickinson then attended Glendale Community College and graduated from Immaculate Heart College with a degree in business in 1954. During her college stay, she married football player Gene Dickinson and took on his last name. While still married to him in 1953 (they divorced in 1960 and she remarried composer Burt Bacharach in 1965, whom she would also divorce in 1980), he encouraged her to enter a local Miss America beauty pageant and she took second place. In the same year she was one of five NBC beauty contest winners and appeared in various shows on the network. All of this exposure, as well as a suggestion from a television producer, led to the start of her acting career.

Dickinson’s first small part in a movie came in Warner Brothers’ 1954 musical “Lucky Me”, and it was followed by a number of television roles in series like “Death Valley Days” (1954), “Buffalo Bill, Jr.” (1955), “Matinee Theatre” (1955), “The Millionaire” (1955), “It’s a Great Life” (1955-56), “G.E. True Theater” (1956), “Gunsmoke” (1957), “Have Gun – Will Travel” (1957), and “Wagon Train” (1959). She played an extra in another film, “Tennessee’s Partner” (1955), before having her first credited role in “The Return of Slade” (1955). The actress continued to play supporting and lead parts in mainly 'B' westerns like “Hidden Guns” (1956), “Tension at Table Rock” (1956), and “The Black Whip” (1956). In 1959 she finally had her breakthrough role in the Howard Hawks western drama “Rio Bravo”. She played Feathers in the film, a flirtatious gambler that develops a crush for the town sheriff, who was played by Dickinson’s childhood idol John Wayne. Her character allowed her to show off her renowned legs – which in fact were insured by Lloyds of London. Her part also put her as one of the top movie stars in the decade to come.

Dickinson started the sixties off with a drama called “I’ll Give My Life” (1960), as well as the Richard Burton flick “The Bramble Bush” (1960), and Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin crime comedy “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960). Actually, the actress had prior been good friends with both leading men of the latter. These pictures were followed by the low budgeted political feature “A Fever in the Blood” (1961) and the Belgian Congo set melodrama “The Sins of Rachel Cade” (1961). Now blonde, Dickinson began being cast to play parts because of her beauty. However, as the decade progressed, she started to have fewer and fewer leads, for they were given to other decorative actresses. Still, she played in many lead roles and also gave great performances while part of the supporting cast.

One of her more popular parts was as gangster Ronald Reagan’s mistress in “The Killers” (1964). She also co-starred in “The Art of Love” (1965), a comedy in which she plays the love interest of both Dick Van Dyke and James Garner. After, Dickinson appeared in the star studded Arthur Penn/Sam Spiegel production “The Chase” (1966). In 1967 she came out with another memorable feature, the Lee Marvin crime thriller “Point Blank”. In 1969 she returned to the western genre with Robert Mitchum’s “Young Billy Young” and Burt Reynolds’ “Sam Whiskey”. The actress got to star opposite Rock Hudson as a sexy substitute teacher in 1971’s murder comedy “Pretty Maids in a Row”. She played her most sexually provocative role soon after, for the Great Depression picture “Big Bad Mama” (1974). In the film, although in her forties, Dickinson appeared in several nude scenes, creating much interest in the movie and many new male followers.

In 1974 she returned to the small screen (although she really had never taken a break) to star in the action drama “Police Woman” (1974-78). In the series she played Sgt. Suzanne “Pepper” Anderson, an officer for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit at the Los Angeles Police Department. The show became extremely popular, winning Dickinson a Golden Globe and also earning multiple Emmy nominations. She yet again was filmed naked for Brian De Palma’s thriller “Dressed to Kill” (1980), in which she played a sexually frustrated New York housewife. Through the rest of the decade, the actress played mainly in made for TV movies, like “Dial M for Murder” (1981), “Jealousy” (1984), and “Police Story: The Freeway Killings” (1987), but also appeared in the films “Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen” (1981), “Death Hunt” (1981), and “Big Bad Mama II” (1987).

In the nineties the actress had parts in multiple television series and movies, and additionally played roles in various pictures such as “Sabrina” (1995), “The Maddening” (1996), and “The Sun, the Moon and the Stars” (1996). In the 21st century, however, she made a surprising coming to A-list features. Dickinson had smart parts in a number of popular features, including “Duets” (2000), “Pay It Forward” (2000), and “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001). Her final contribution was a television movie called “Mending Fences” (2009).

For all of Dickinson’s achievements in the motion picture industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in addition to a number of other awards for her work both on the big and small screens.

Filmography

2009 Mending Fences

2004 Judging Amy

2004 Elvis Has Left the Building

2001 Ocean's Eleven

2001 Big Bad Love

2000 Pay It Forward

2000 Duets

2000 The Last Producer

2000 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

1999 Sealed with a Kiss

1997 George & Leo