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Carol Wayne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carol Wayne (September 6, 1942 - January 13, 1985) was an American actress best known for her comedic portrayals of dim-witted, buxom sexpots.
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Born in Chicago IL, Carol began her show business career as a teenage figure skater in the Ice Capades along with her brunette younger sister Nina Wayne (born September 18, 1943). The Wayne Sisters later became showgirls of the Folies Bergère at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Carol followed Nina to Hollywood in the mid 1960s and the sisters began appearing in TV shows of the era. Nina appeared in the Dick Van Dyke feature film The Comic, and co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Camp Runamuck as girl's counselor "Caprice". Nina later had a daughter Jessica with John Drew Barrymore (father of actress Drew Barrymore) and retired from acting.
Carol did TV guest shots on I Spy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie (as dim-witted starlet "Bootsie Nightingale"), Love American Style, Emergency!, The Fall Guy, and became famous for her 100+ appearances (1971-1982) as the Matinee Lady on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in his Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches. After her death, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinee Lady.
Carol considered a romantic partnership with Carson, but explained in an interview that the timing never worked: each was always involved with someone else at the time. Carol was married three times. Her second husband was rock and roll photographer Barry Feinstein (the father of her only son Alex) and her third husband was television/film producer Burt Sugarman, who produced the gameshow Celebrity Sweepstakes on which Carol often appeared. Despite her "dumb blonde" image, Carol more often than not came up with the correct answers to the questions.
Carol also appeared on the gameshows Mantrap and Hollywood Squares and was close friends with comics Richard Pryor, and Pat McCormick (her co-panelist/judge in 1984's cable TV pageant Best Chest in the West).
She had roles in several films, including Gunn and The Party (both directed by Blake Edwards) as well as Savannah Smiles.
In 1984, Carol declared bankruptcy, appeared nude in the February issue of Playboy (her measurements: 39C-24-35) and was seen nude in her final film, Heartbreakers, co-starring Peter Coyote.
In January 1985, Carol and her companion Edward Durston vacationed at the Las Hadas Resort, where Carol drowned in the shallow bay waters of Manzanillo, Mexico. She was pronounced dead at age 42 on Jan 13, 1985. Her companion Durston had returned to Los Angeles without Carol days earlier after a reported argument. Ironically, Edward Durston was also with Diane Linkletter (daughter of Art Linkletter) when she committed suicide in 1969 [1].
Carol Wayne was cremated at the request of her son's father, ex-husband Barry Feinstein.
An episode of Mysteries and Scandals on E! network (episode #111) covered the career and mysterious death of Carol Wayne.