Martha Vickers

Martha Vickers (May 28, 1925 – November 2, 1971) was an American model and actress.

Early life

Born Martha MacVicar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she began her career as a model and cover girl. Her father was an automobile dealer, and the family moved to Hollywood when he assumed control of an agency in Burbank, California. Vickers was 15 at that time.

Film

Vickers' first film role was a small uncredited part in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

She played minor roles in several films during the early 1940s, working first at Universal Studios and then at RKO Pictures. She next went to Warner Bros., where "they gave her the star push, rearranging her surname to 'Vickers.'" Her work there included the role of Carmen Sternwood, the nymphomaniac younger sister of Lauren Bacall's character in The Big Sleep (1946). During the 1950s, Vickers' film career stalled; however, she continued to act in television, such as the role of Sheila Hayes in the 1959 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Jaded Joker." Her final two performances in 1960 were on The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.

Personal life

Vickers was married three times; to A. C. Lyles (March 15, 1948 – September 28, 1948), Mickey Rooney (June 3, 1949 – September 25, 1951) and actor Manuel Rojas (September 1, 1954 – May 5, 1965). Each marriage ended in divorce. Vickers had one son with Mickey Rooney, and two daughters with Rojas.

Death

Vickers, 46, died of esophageal cancer at Valley Presbyterian Hospital, in Los Angeles, California, on November 2, 1971. She is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California.

Filmography