"MARIE MCDONALD: OLD HOLLYWOOD'S ORIGINAL GONE GIRL" (046)

From Beneath the Hollywood Sign

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As CAROLE LANDIS was known as “The Ping Girl” and ANN SHERIDAN was known as “The Oomph” Girl,” actress MARIE McDONALD was saddled with the equally misogynistic title, “The Body.” Yes, she was tall, leggy, and curvy, but she was also talented, a fact that many of the powerful men of Hollywood seemed to forget. Unfortunately, Marie was better known for her wild private life that included seven marriages, high profile romances, tabloid escapades, and one of the most bizarre kidnappings to ever happen in Hollywood. This week, we tell the colorful story of this long-forgotten leading lady.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

Tragic Hollywood: Beautiful, Glamorous, and Dead (2013), by Jackie Ganiy;

“Marie McDonald ‘Gets Sick’ With Former Husband,” January 6, 1955, Toledo Blade;

“Millionaire Asks Divorce From Marie McDonald,” May 22, 1956, Daytona Beach Morning Journal;

“Marie McDonald Reported Held By Kidnappers,” January 4, 1957, Ellensburg Daily Record;

“Marie McDonald Tells Police How She Was Seized By Two Men,” January 5, 1957, Reading Eagle;

“Marie McDonald Stars In Police Film of Kidnapping,” January 8, 1957, The Telegraph;

“Grand Jury Probes Marie’s Kidnap,” January 16, 1957, The Deseret News;

“Marie McDonald Leaves Hospital” June 15, 1958, Reading Eagle;

“Actress Marie McDonald Weds Again,” May 25, 1959, St. Petersburg Times;

“Marie McDonald’s Fourth Husband Seeking Divorce,” September 18, 1962, Daily News;

“New Ruling Calls Marie McDonald Death Accidental,” December 30, 1965, The Toledo Blade;

“Marie McDonald, Actress, Is Dead; Autopsy Was Inconclusive, Glamour Girl Was 42,” October 21, 1965, The New York Times;

“Movie Producer Donald Taylor Apparent Suicide,” January 3, 1966, Rome News Tribune;

“Phantom Intruders Abducted A Pin-Up Star,” July 2, 2022, Medium.com;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Movies Mentioned:

Pardon My Sarong (1942), staring Lou Abbott and Lou Costello;

Lucky Jordan (1942), starring Alan Ladd and Marie McDonald;

I Love a Soldier (1944), starring Paulette Goddard, Sonny Tufts, and Beulah Bondi;

Guest In The House (1944), starring Anne Baxter and Ralph Bellamy;

Getting Gertie’s Garter (1945), starring Marie McDonald and Dennis O’Keefe;

Living In A Big Way (1946), starring Gene Kelly and Marie McDonald;

The Geisha Boy (1958), starring Jerry Lewis and Marie McDonald;

Promises! Promises! (1963), starring Jayne Mansfield and Marie McDonald;

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