Sandra Dee biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Sandra Dee was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942, in Bayonne, New Jersey. Her parents, Mary and John Zuck, met as teenagers at a Russian Orthodox church dance. They married shortly after. From a young age Dee was a precocious performer, who often liked to ham it up in front of friends and relatives. Her talents were encouraged by her mother, who wanted a better life for her daughter. Mary often dressed Dee in elaborate costumes, and entered her in local talent shows and pageants.

But while her career as a child star was just beginning to take off, Dee's family was falling apart. Her father, who had a penchant for drinking and gambling, had forced her mother to take part-time work as a secretary for distinguished real-estate agent, Eugene Douvan. Dee's mother divorced her father five years later, eventually marrying Douvan, who was 30 years her mother's senior. Dee would never see her father again.

Film Career

By age 12, Sandra Dee was a successful New York model. She landed her first commerical—a Coca-Cola ad—when she was just 14. That same year, she was discovered by Universal film producer Ross Hunter, who helped signed her onto her first film, Until They Sail (1957). In 1959, Dee hit box-office success with the beach movie Gidget and the young-love movie A Summer Place. The theme song from A Summer Place became a big hit, and the movie became a touchstone for many young people.

During this time Douvan, now Dee's stepfather, died of heart failure. The wealthy tycoon had failed to amend his will to include Dee and her mother, however, leaving the women penniless. Sandra was pressured to become the breadwinner, and she began working harder in Hollywood in order to support both her and her mother.

In 1960, Sandra Dee filmed Come September in Italy with pop idol Bobby Darin. Originally repelled by Darin's arrogance, Dee eventually fell in love with the crooner. The couple married that same year, but without the support of their families. Dee's mother was especially critical of the union, and distanced herself from Dee. In response, Dee turned completely to Darin for emotional support. Although their marriage remained a secret for years, the couple appeared together in several films, including If a Man Answers (1962) and That Funny Feeling (1965).

From 1960 through 1963, Dee was one of Hollywood’s top money makers. Her earnings peaked in 1961, the year she took over the role of Tambray "Tammy" Tyree from Debbie Reynolds in 1957's Tammy and the Bachelor. Dee appeared in two Tammy films, but her portrayal of the character never caught on with audiences. Dee only appeared in six other films in the 1960s, and her 1967 divorce from Bobby Darin also marked the end of her short-lived stardom.

Career Decline

Sandra Dee found herself a divorcée in 1967, and the landscape of Hollywood films had also changed: Audiences no longer lined up to see the sugary-sweet fare that made her a star in the 1960s. Dee only appeared in one film in the 1970s: The Dunwich Horror (1970). She starred in four made-for-TV movies as well. In the 1970s, she also played roles on various TV series, such as Night Gallery, Love, American Style and Fantasy Island. In 1983, she appeared again on Fantasy Island and in her final film, Lost.

Personal Life

Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin had one child together, Dodd Mitchell Darin. Dodd Mitchell later penned a book about his parents, Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, in which he chronicled his mother's anorexia, drug and alcohol problems, and the sexual abuse Dee suffered as a child at the hands of Douvan.

Six years after their divorce, in 1973, Bobby Darin died. Sandra Dee died from complications from kidney disease in February 2005 in Thousand Oaks, California.

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