Martha Vickers

Biography

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

== Early life == Martha Vickers was born Martha MacVicar in Ann Arbor, Michigan; where she spent her early childhood. Her father was an automobile dealer, and due to his career, the family relocated frequently. She subsequently attended schools across Chicago, Miami, St. Petersburg, Detroit, and Dallas before settling in Burbank, California in 1940 when her father assumed control of an agency there. Vickers was 15 at that time. During school she actively participated in countless student shows. After finishing her studies in California, she began her career as a model and cover girl.

== 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. In an interview, Vickers once stated that the roles given to her were so insignificant she preferred to return to modeling. Her definitive breakthrough came after she was noticed by Warner Bros. photographer Tom Kelly, who was searching for a model with a specific look to cast in The Big Sleep (1946). Vickers was selected from dozens of candidate models. Following the discovery, studio executive Jack L. Warner signed her to a contract and suggested she alter her birth name from Martha MacVicar to the professional stage name Martha Vickers. Her work there included the role of Carmen Sternwood, the promiscuous, drug-addicted younger sister of Lauren Bacall's character in The Big Sleep (1946). Although it was only a supporting role, novelist Raymond Chandler noted that Vickers' standout performance prompted the studio to cut many of her scenes. She was also featured in a musical, The Time, the Place and the Girl (also 1946), followed by two Warner Bros. comedies, Love and Learn and That Way with Women (both 1947). During the 1950s Vickers worked more often in television than in films, with her final performances in either medium released in 1960.

== Television == Vickers starred in "The Last Thirty Minutes" on Ford Theatre in 1954. Her other TV appearances included the 1959 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Jaded Joker", in which she played Sheila Hayes. 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. Outside of acting, Vickers enjoyed swimming and horseback riding. She also expressed a personal ambition to write a great novel, stating in a 1948 interview that she had already chosen a title for the project.

== Death == Vickers died at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles on November 2, 1971, at the age of 46, following a long illness. She is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California.

== Filmography ==