MAMIE VAN DOREN

I never wanted to be a trophy wife. I wanted to make it on my own. I didn't want to depend on a man.

Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and I were so different from each other. I was doing very young movies, and Marilyn, who was ahead of me, was doing a lot of homogenized movies that weren't quite as wild as the ones I was doing. Jayne was more of a character of herself.

I have never been a Marilyn Monroe wannabe. I have always been happy in my own skin!

My best asset is my brain. Without my brain, I don't think the rest of me would be too hot.

It is possible that blondes also prefer gentlemen.

I studied really hard. But Hollywood never appreciated my talent.

I didn't feel like I was meant to be a nurse or a secretary.

I came to Hollywood determined to follow in Jean Harlow's footsteps, but I was determined not to die young. My hope was to endure. And endure I have.

I took my acting very seriously. I did over 40 films, and naturally, some of them were called B-movies because the woman was at the top of the billing. Women couldn't star in their own movies.

I realize there's a line between looking good and being an embarrassment. I don't want to be one of those dames who is trying too hard to appear young. I'm Mamie Van Doren, and I fully intend to act my age.

The studios always had their idea of what I was, and they'd give me the dumb-blonde roles.

It isn't so bad getting old. It really isn't. As long as I can stay healthy.

Being a sex symbol had its advantages. You got to meet a lot of interesting people, and men especially. It was a man's world in those days, and I had a lot of luck with men.

I was always one step behind Marilyn. She made all the right moves, hung out with the right people who could advance her career. I was just the opposite. I was always breaking dates with moguls and running off with guys younger than myself.

The one mistake I will always kick myself for is not doing 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' It was written for me.

There's nothing worse than Hollywood when you're on the way down. It has a way of telling you, 'Mamie, get out. You've had it.'

I was always protective of Jayne. I never allowed people to talk about her behind her back because those same people would talk about me.

I met Chanel in the 1960s when I was working over in Europe. She sent me clothes all the time because I was only, like, 110.

My dream was to go to Hollywood and become a movie star, and it happened. This country is geared toward that. When an actor can become president, anything can happen.

I truly believe that one of the reasons why I look and feel so well is because I've very few inhibitions. I don't care about age. Life is too short to worry about what other people think.

Sometimes I think I made a big mistake by not paying more attention to Prince Axel. He was looking for a wife and genuinely cared for me. Well, he had the hots for me is more like it. I would have made a great princess.

I'm going to tell you something: it's a job to be glamorous. I mean, if you think it comes easy, it doesn't. Marilyn went through it; all the sex symbols go through it.

It's such a shame that you were put in a category of a dumb blonde, but that's what they did in the '50s. You fought the system, but you didn't win.

'Untamed Youth' was my favorite. I got to sing and dance and do my own gyrations.

I was groomed as a so-called sex symbol, a rival to Marilyn Monroe, and from then on, whenever my picture appeared in paper, it was 'sex kitten,' 'sex symbol,' 'sex goddess,' 'sex pot.' I've accepted it, and I'm flattered, but in some ways, it's been a hindrance to me because I haven't been able to be taken seriously as an actress.