Mamie Van Doren is a classic actress whose credits include Yankee Pasha, Untamed Youth, Teacher's Pet, and The All-American. She has worked with everyone from Clark Gable, Tony Curtis, and Jeff Chandler to musical pioneer Eddie Cochran and a flurry of great directors and producers. One of her latest projects is a country album titled "Still a Troublemaker". Throughout the course of her career, Mamie has been imitated, written about, and even harshly criticized. I recently had the pleasure of speaking to her about her life and career, her costars, her thoughts on critics, some of her recent projects, and even her regimen for staying so young! Additionally, Mamie spoke about her earliest days in the business and what it was like to be a sex symbol in the conservative 1950's. You can read the transcription and listen to the audio below. If your browser is not equipped with Flash, you can download it here.

MP: I’m speaking with Mamie Van Doren, actress, singer, sex symbol and the original bad girl of classic Hollywood. One of her latest projects is a country album called Still a Troublemaker. Mamie, it’s an honor to be on the phone with you today, thank you so much!

Mamie: Well it’s an honor to be on your show Gary; thank you for asking.

MP: Your birth name is Joan, and interestingly enough, you were named after Joan Crawford. Did you ever have the chance to meet Joan Crawford?.

Mamie: Yes I did meet Joan Crawford a couple of times, quite a few times as a matter of fact. The first time I met her, I had a date with Rock Hudson at the Golden Globe Awards and we were sitting at the same table. So that was my first time. I was under contract to Universal; in 1953 I had my contract, and they set me up on a date with Rock Hudson. When we went, I was so frightened. They’d just changed my name to Mamie Van Doren, so that was a very, very delightful evening, having to meet my namesake. Then of course she did a movie a little later at Universal called Female on the Beach, and I got to meet her there several times.

MP: Did you ever tell her you were named after her?

Mamie: Oh yes I did tell her and she was very pleased and very, very sweet about it.

MP: Your first film work was with RKO. Howard Hughes helped you get started, though the first few roles were bit parts. What was Hughes like in person and how were those early experiences making films?

Mamie: Well we didn’t have a union in those days. You worked six to seven days a week without a day off; it was pretty rough, I think we had Sundays off. I was just a bit player and meeting Howard – when you’re sixteen and you’re meeting somebody who’s very famous – my mother didn’t really like him at all. I had a problem with my mother because she didn’t want me to see him. He did put me in a few of his pictures, in bit parts, and I realized I didn’t really want to keep doing extra work or be a bit player. So I started to take drama lessons from Marilyn Monroe’s drama teacher and we became friends. She would be taking lessons and I would be taking lessons, so we got to know each other. That was kind of gratifying. Then of course I went on from there to do a lot of other things. Then I got lucky and was discovered in a play, and Universal talent scouts saw me and signed me to a seven year contract. My first starring role was opposite Tony Curtis in The All American.

MP: Do you think the 2004 film The Aviator was an accurate portrayal of Howard Hughes?

Mamie: It was pretty close but it was a little exaggerated, over the top. I don’t think he would’ve liked it (laughs). When I met him, it was right after he had his terrible airplane crash in Beverly Hills; he got his face burned and his body was burned. He grew a beard so you couldn’t see his scars and he was kind of screwed up then. He was very aggressive and very controlling. It’s hard to explain how Howard was. He would get in moods, you know?

MP: Did you model yourself after anyone or did anyone inspire your persona?

Mamie: No I just came from a different mold. That is for sure. I liked Lana Turner; she was really one of my favorites. I liked her acting and I liked her platinum hair. Of course Jean Harlow died in 1936 or ’37 I think and I was too young to really know anything about her, you know? I was only three or four when she died. But her image and legacy lived on and on and Jean Harlow had become the original platinum blond. I worked at MGM Studio where she was under contract and I got to know a lot about her and I wore one of her wigs when I was over there (laughs), and so I kind of patterned myself after Harlow more than anyone. I liked Mae West too. Mae West and Harlow were my two favorite platinum blonds. Jean was more like I was; she was kind of carefree and happy and always laughing. I don’t think she took herself too seriously. I never have. I’ve never acted my age and I never will. It’s just the way I’ve always been.

MP: That’s a great way to be.

Mamie: Sometimes it’s kind of rough. Sometimes I’m misunderstood and it’s hard to come by that. My life has been full of excitement. I’ve done pretty much what I wanted to do. I came from the Midwest, from South Dakota, and I came up the hard way. We lived on a farm; we didn’t even have electricity or running water if you know what I mean. People don’t know what that life is like. We came out here [California] during World War II and started. My dad went into the Defense Department to work and then I landed in Hollywood. I was just a little babe; I was a cute little girl and as I grew a little older I got to be noticed. My mom and I went to Palm Springs and I was in a beauty contest and that’s when Howard [Hughes] saw me and that’s when I really got into the movie business.

MP: You mentioned a few minutes ago your role in The All American in 1953 with Tony Curtis, Richard Long, and Stuart Whitman. How was it to work with a predominately male cast and what were your costars like?

Mamie: Because I was so young, I never thought about that. All I was thinking about was my acting and it was my first introduction to the big screen. Jesse Hibbs, who was the director, and Aaron Rosenberg [producer] were both all Americans. So they knew exactly what the movie was going to be like. They wanted me to be a certain type and I studied and I said “I’m going to take my craft very, very seriously”. I was very, very into acting and singing and dancing; I wanted to do everything. I wanted to please everybody and my chances at Universal – they had several young people under contract and you’re given a certain amount of time – and if you don’t make it then you’re out. So I had a seven year contract with a two year option and luckily I had the time to prove myself when I did the movie. I did the first movie and then I got the second movie, then the third, so it just kept going. I must’ve done a movie every other month over there, but I was learning and I was watching other famous actresses come on the lot, watching how they were and their poise and how their diction and voices were. I took diction and I took horseback riding; I did everything I could and absorbed the classes. They had a drama department where we would take lessons and I was absorbed in that more than anything. Men, at the time, were secondary to me. I never thought too much about having a big love affair with anyone. I had a love affair with myself, with what I was doing. I was so happy that I was given the chance and opportunity to do something that I was dreaming about all my life.

MP: When you were under contract to Universal, another one of your early costars was Jeff Chandler. There were some negative comments made about him some years ago in Esther Williams’ autobiography, which I believe were later found to be untrue. How did you interact with Jeff Chandler?

Mamie: Jeff Chandler – he was my muse. He really helped me get the role opposite him in Yankee Pasha. It was one of the first movies we had done at Universal in Cinemascope. 20th [Century Fox] had done one with Marilyn in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, and we did one over there called Yankee Pasha. It was taken from a book. Lovely Rhonda Fleming was co-starring. So when I met him [Chandler], I had to test for the role, there were three other girls, and they looked at the test, they liked me and I was signed to do the role. That was very helpful – to get a movie right away after the first movie. As far as Jeff was concerned, I had to work with him in the test to see how we reacted toward each other. Of course he was one of the sweetest actors I have ever worked with – he and Tony [Curtis] – I was so lucky to get both of them. Both of them were the best I could ever ask for.

MP: Did you feel that after appearing in these films beside established stars that you were being groomed for stardom?

Mamie: Well, not exactly. I never had that feeling because some of the roles they were putting me in were kind of the same thing – the dumb blond, the cute little blond with dumb lines. I never really got a chance to hone my acting chops. I just felt that I had been deprived of some of the abilities I was able to do and I was being held back somewhat. I tried hard to try to keep my personal life aside from the moves I was doing. But unfortunately, when you have a personal life that seems to outdo your movies, it’s very hard because the studio kind of backs up on you. The smart actors try to live their life in a cutesy, all-American girl [way] and then behind the scenes they don’t let anybody know what the hell they’re doing (laughs). With me, I let it all hang out; I was always upfront with my life. I didn’t want to have to pretend I was something I wasn’t. Gary, it was very conservative in the 50’s; I was knocking doors down then. To have a busty, blond bombshell in those days – it wasn’t accepted. We had the Kefauver Committee; we had the Eisenhower years and it was very, very tough after World War II, it was all post-war. I think Marilyn was lucky; she was six years older than I was and she opened the door first by doing a nude calendar. That really got her noticed. 20th stayed behind her and kept her going; they didn’t toss her under the car, that’s for sure. They helped her and got her going and she was very strong in trying to get what she wanted as a dramatic actress. I liked to do all kinds of roles; I didn’t just want to do drama. I wanted to do everything.

MP: One of those different roles was Untamed Youth and you worked with Eddie Cochran who was a Rock n Roll pioneer. I know you sang some Rock n Roll in that film as well. Did you know Eddie personally and did he have any influence on you?

Mamie: Yes I knew him personally. He came to my house; the director of the movie Untamed Youth brought Eddie to the house and he played some songs for me and wanted to know which one I liked. I picked out ‘Oobala Baby’ and I liked ‘You Ain’t Gonna Make a Cotton Picker Out of Me’. He said “I’m gonna sing that one” and I said “Awww okay. I’ll do Oobala Baby” (laughs). Les Baxter did the other songs, ‘Go, Go Calypso’ which was added at the end of the movie. That was the beginning of Rock and they’d never seen a woman do this on the screen; it was unheard of! You had Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing; you didn’t have all this Rock. So when I was working at Warner Brothers doing the movie, they brought over a couple of the producers and directors that had done movies ten years earlier and they were still doing them. They’d say “Is this what’s going on now?” They were shocked, and so was the Vatican. I couldn’t get the seal of approval on my movie. It was crazy. Even Elvis had problems because they’d always photograph him from his waist up. For a woman to do that was unheard of, so I had a lot of fight. I opened a lot of doors for women though. I think a lot of the things that Marilyn, and even Jayne Mansfield, all of us - we really pioneered and made it easier for women today to do what they’re doing. I don’t know whether they realize it. I think Madonna does because I have heard from her; she really appreciated it. But it’s been hard; it took a toll on my career. I wasn’t able to do the things I really wanted to do and now, at my ripe age, I would like to do the things I wanted to do and never been able to. I’m still going at it; I don’t care how old I am, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve never acted my age so I’m going to do what I feel like I’ve always missed. Singing is one of my favorites. I’ve always liked to sing and they like to watch me sing. Unfortunately in those days they didn’t have video or MTV. I was under contract to Capitol Records; I did an album from all the songs I did in Untamed Youth. It just seems like the visual got in the way of my ability as a singer. So now I can kind of do what I want to do. I can do the videos; I can sing and do what I want to do. Larry Ferguson is the one that asked me if I would please do an album for him and I said yes. I jumped at the chance. This album is called ‘Still a Troublemaker’ and the gal that wrote it, Kim McLean, she’s fabulous. She really went into Google and found out all my life history and wrote about it. She wrote and she did it through music. I tried to do my videos the same way, to visualize what it was like in just five minutes – it’s not that easy!

MP: Right! It’s hard to condense it all.

Mamie: Well to condense it in five minutes and get people to realize what the hell it was like, you know? It’s not that easy. But, so be it. I’m working on my second album now and I’m learning some of the things people like that I’m doing. What I was doing in the first album, I’m trying to do more of it in the second.

MP: Teacher’s Pet was one of your big films and some people thought Clark Gable was too old for the role. Also, I read online that your part in the film was originally much bigger. This is sort of a three part question. Why was your role cut down? What was your opinion on Gable in the lead role? And how was it to work with Doris Day? I understand there was some friction there.

Mamie: I never like to speak badly or poorly of another actress, but it was a difficult time. She kept to herself very much and she probably had personal problems of her own at the time, I don’t know. I got the script and I loved it. My role was rather large, you know? Then when I saw the movie, Paramount had a private showing, and I said “What?! What happened to my scenes?” I guess Ms. Day did not like – like I said I don’t know for sure, this is second hand – but I had heard that she put up a real fuss about having me in all these scenes so they were cut. Maybe it was for a reason, I don’t know. But I thought the scenes were good, especially the scene kissing Clark. He was a good kisser (laughs). In those days I had never kissed a guy with hair on his face; mustaches were not popular in the 50’s. So we kept doing the scene over and over. That was my very first scene! Can you imagine teaming me up with Gable and I was only 24 years old? He was probably in his late 50’s so that was a shock. But he looked good; I never even looked at his age, he looked good. He always handled himself beautifully and he always had his martini at 11 or 12 in the mid-day. He was a cool man; he was just like anybody, he was just so natural. Some actors are really full of themselves but he was not. He was so gracious and so helpful and I think I should have gotten him at the end of the movie, that’s for sure. There’s no doubt that Peggy DeFore should’ve had Clark Gable. No question about it (laughs).

MP: You mentioned Marilyn a few times and also Jayne Mansfield. Collectively the three of you were known as the “Three M’s”. Was there ever any competition between the three of you?

Mamie: We were all so very different, Gary. I was sort of the Rock N Roller and the wild one, but not really. I never got into heavy drugs or any of that. My head was always on my shoulders. I came from pretty good roots and I knew what bad is and Hollywood really wasn’t that bad to me. It’s how you treat it and where you come from. So I took everything with a grain of salt and just took one day at a time. That’s kind of the way I was. I hit some downers, you know, but everybody does that; it’s part of living. Marilyn was a whole different type of a person. I never wanted to be like Marilyn; I don’t ever want to be like her. Everybody says “Oh I want to be like Marilyn” – no way do I want to go that way. Hell, she’s talked about but she’s not here to enjoy her life, children, or whatever. She had such a short life, and Jayne was the same way. Jayne had her big family, which she left behind, and they’re all wonderful kids. I’ve talked to them on the telephone; Mariska called me and I hear from her sons on Facebook or I get an email. I keep in contact with everyone; if they want to, they can talk to me. It’s just nice to be alive and see what’s going on. I’m always looking forward to the future and I’m looking way past, saying “Okay. I know what people are going to want in 25 or 30 years”. I want to leave a legacy of how I really am.

MP: You also mentioned Jean Harlow a little bit earlier. Hollywood has always been fascinated with blondes - all the way back to Jean. Why do you think that is?

Mamie: I think platinum blond hair is kind of like little girls, very fragile and feminine and it gives off a little bit of sweetness and I think men like that and women like to be that. Not everybody can be a blond because sometimes your skin tones don’t match or look good with the hair. But platinum hair – you have to have the skin tone and the coloring to be able to wear it and I started bleaching my hair when I was in high school, in the very front, just the front of it. I would just go get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and just pour it on my hair; that’s how I bleached my hair in the beginning and it was so exciting. My hair was kind of dark, dishwater blond; I didn’t like it. My mother always liked my hair but I always wanted to be blond. I started coloring my hair and I just never stopped; I said I’ll never stop being a blond. The hair on my eyebrows is all blond, my lashes are blond, everything’s blond. I wanted to keep my hair the same way; it goes with me. I don’t have gray hair; I have a few silvers, very, very few on the sides of my head but that’s it. I don’t have any gray hair at all, I’m just so lucky. My grandmother never had any gray hair either so I guess I take after that side.

MP: Yeah, it runs in the family!

Mamie: Yeah I had really good genes in the family, strong Swedes. I’m Swedish and German and English, and I have some Sioux Indian. So all of that together is a real crazy combo.

MP: I wanted to ask you about your autobiography, Playing the Field, which was released in the late 1980s. The book gets great reviews but it’s also known to be controversial. When you wrote it, did you worry about getting a negative reaction from any of the people mentioned in the book?

Mamie: I wrote it the way it really was. I had no problem of ever worrying about anybody coming back to sue me because everything in there was 100%. I didn’t have to make anything up. A lot of them were alive and I knew that. Putnam was a very conservative publishing company, so they sent some of the articles to the people that were written about to see if they would write back to say “this is not true”, but nobody ever wrote back. I was never really even thinking of that. I was just thinking about getting my life out there, and if I was to make enemies then so be it. I didn’t think anything I did was wrong, you know? I thought it was all nice. I enjoyed my life. I didn’t really live for anybody else. I lived my own life the way I wanted to. Now that I look back, I am not a bit sorry for that at all. I did everything I wanted to do.

MP: Who were your closest friends in Hollywood?

Mamie: Well Hollywood is a weird place; Hollyweirdo they call it. I never really had close Hollywood friends. I always had friends outside of the business. I have a girlfriend who is a model, a hot top model in Paris. We’ve known each other since we were both 16 and we talk just about every day on the phone. We’re the same age so it’s really good because we can talk about everything we used to do. She used to do the same things I did (laughs), we were a couple of wild girls. So it’s fun that I’ve got her and she’s the only one that is my close friend. As far as men are concerned – men are hard to have as a friend when you’re younger. Now I have nothing but gay friends and I love my gay friends. I have so many wonderful gay friends. I don’t have any friends except gay friends it seems like (laughs).

MP: There’s an interesting blurb online about your meeting with The Beatles in 1964 when they visited the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. It was something about George Harrison I believe. What happened there?

Mamie: I was dating Johnny Rivers who was playing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go at the time. I wasn’t down there that night and he called me and said “Mamie come on down, The Beatles are here!” I said “Okay” because I only lived five minutes from the Go-Go so I got dressed and drove down. He met me in the back; it was just packed because everybody heard they were there. It was just crazy; people were all over, you couldn’t get in. They frisked me in the back and then Johnny and I went up, we were going to say hello to them. Just as we were ready to say hi, one of the photographers came from out of nowhere and snapped a picture. And George – it just pissed him off so much, he threw a glass of alcohol in his face, but it didn’t hit his face – it hit me (laughs)! But he was very apologetic afterwards; he felt terrible. He had called me afterwards when they were leaving and said he apologized that he had done that accidentally, because he really wanted to meet me. So that’s kind of what that was, but he was probably drunk, you know?

MP: A lot of people focus on controversy because it’s exciting, but there were other things in your career that haven’t gotten as much attention. For example, you toured for the troops during Vietnam, and you visited many wounded soldiers, even the amputees and burn victims that other celebrities didn’t want to see. How was that experience for you?

Mamie: Well, it’s controversy. It was not a popular war. I was unpopular in Hollywood for being pro-war. I was trying to realize what we were over there for was a good reason. I got a letter from President Nixon; I told him I wanted to go over there so he gave me a letter. I went over in ’68 first and it was really a bad time. The Tet Offensive was happening; they were showing the airfield and everything then. That was in April of ’68. That was terrible because there were more casualties. It was so bad, so bad in ’68. I went back again in ’71 and it was a little bit better. But at that time, Nixon was trying to bring us home with peace and honor. But I got over there and I realized that we shouldn’t have been over there. It was just crazy, so screwed up. All these young, wonderful people that were dying and could have been presidents and our leaders, and they’re gone. I saw that. What they’re doing now – they’re suffering now. I get a lot of letters on email and they’re talking about what it was like in Vietnam and some of them have a lot of illnesses and medical problems. It was so sad and I’m saying to myself, “This is going to happen with every war that we have”. Vietnam was just so unnecessary and was just crazy. I’m against war, ever since I saw it close up. I do not think we should be over anyplace. I think we should just stay out. Communism is okay if they like it, that’s their business. It’s their country; it works for them, they liked it. You can’t occupy somebody else’s land; it’s just not right. It’s theirs; they’ve been fighting for it. The French were in there, they tried, and it goes back and forth. History repeats itself over and over and it’s so stupid. It’s what we’re doing right now! We’re always in some place we should stay the hell out of. The main thing is – we’re losing our men and now I hear they’re thinking about women going on the front line. I’m going “Oh my God” you know? Women want to do that, I know, but in my time you wouldn’t think of that. I think “We’re raising babies and then we have to go to war for them too?” I’m not into that, I’m really not. I’m old-fashioned; I just can’t see our ladies out there shooting and killing. I just can’t see it.

MP: You talked a little bit about your country album called Still a Troublemaker. Did you have any musical influences?

Mamie: I like all kinds of music. The minute I heard Rock, I fell in love with it. I love Harry James; I love all the big band sounds. Then I married a guy named Ray Anthony. He was a treble player and he played with Glenn Miller. He was only 16 when he was playing with Glenn Miller. So he became very famous. When I married him, he was like the top band leader at that time. I have a son by him, Harry Anthony, and I’m very thankful for that – which I did when nobody was supposed to have children, when you’re supposed to be a so-called sex symbol. As soon as they heard that I was married and going to have a baby, they dropped my contract at Universal because they didn’t think that someone like Mamie should have a baby. So that was the best thing that ever happened because I went on and did a lot of things at other studios. Then I ended up going back to Universal and doing two more movies for them, so it all worked out the way it was supposed to. The best thing I produced was a son; that was the greatest.

MP: You’ve been interviewed, written about, and even judged by a lot of people. What do you say to the people who may not agree with your lifestyle?

Mamie: I don’t have a problem with that. I think that’s okay, whatever they want to think is okay. I can’t change that. It doesn’t bother me at all. It’s their problem; if they want to live a certain way, that’s their problem. I never even think about it to be honest. I never lose any sleep over anybody (laughs).

MP: And how do you keep in such good shape?

Mamie: Well, thank you for that nice remark. I live in a very nice neighborhood; I live in Newport Beach in California by the water. I spend a lot of time by the water. It’s very therapeutic for me. I take long walks with my dogs and I get a lot of sleep and drink a lot of water; I don’t eat very much. I exercise, keep a free mind, try not to ever worry. I don’t smoke. I’ve never really smoked except in movies. They’d put a cigarette in my hand and I’d go “Oh no I don’t have to smoke again” you know? I was always a “bad girl”; I was always supposed to be smoking and drinking, and I never drank. I don’t like the taste of alcohol. I like good champagne. I like Cristal champagne and I like a good glass of wine once in a while. But I never drank hard liquor in my life. I guess all these things catch up with you because you can do all these things when you’re younger but you still have the same body and you have to take care of it when you’re young. So I tried to do that and I think it’s paid off. I haven’t had any serious illnesses, you know? People get sick and then they’re in wheelchairs. I’m just very, very grateful and thankful for every day that I have. Every time I wake up, I thank God for every day. I talk to God every day and thank him.

MP: And what is a typical day like for you?

Mamie: I try to get to bed by 9 or 10. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I go to my computer, and I’ll start posting a lot of things, the news and everything, because I like to keep up with it. I read a lot. I go back to bed and then I wake up about 9. I probably get about 9 hours of sleep a night. I try to get a lot of sleep. I don’t take naps but if I get tired I do take a nap. I do Pilates once a week and that keeps my bones and my body in shape. I keep my body tight. I don’t eat a lot of food; I only eat once or twice a day, small amounts. I drink a lot of water, a lot of coconut water. I live on coconut water (laughs), all I drink is coconut water. It has a lot of potassium, it has vitamins in it. I try to keep a good thought for everyone. I’m very humbled by anybody that says nice things to me. I appreciate things, and all the things that you do for somebody else always come back. If someone does something bad to me, I try not to let it upset me; because it will affect them more than it will me, because I believe strongly in karma. What comes around goes around; that’s always the way it’s been. So they’re the ones that have to suffer and endure it later so I just let it go. You have to let go, let go of all the bad things.

MP: I’ve been on the phone with Mamie Van Doren, the original bad girl of Hollywood. Mamie, thank you so much for your time today. I’m going to make sure I check your website often to keep track of what you’re up to, and I’ll include a link to your site on the interview page.

Mamie: Oh how wonderful. I appreciate that very much Gary.