Yvette Mimieux, ‘60s starlet of ‘Time Machine,’ dies at 80

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NEW YORK (AP) — Yvette Mimieux, the blond and blue-eyed 1960s film star of “Where the Boys Are,” “The Time Machine” and “Light in the Piazza,” has died. She was 80.

Michelle Bega, a family spokeswoman, said Mimieux died in her sleep of natural causes overnight Monday evening at her home in Los Angeles.

In 1960′s “The Time Machine,” based on H.G. Wells’ 1895 novel, Mimieux starred opposite Rod Taylor as Weena, a member of the peaceful, blond-haired Eloi people in the year 800,000, who don’t realize they’re being bred as food by the underground Morlocks.

That role and others that soon followed made Mimieux one of the ‘60s most radiant starlets. The same year, she also starred in the MGM teen movie “Where the Boys Are” as one of four college students on spring break in Florida. Her character, distraught after being sexual assaulted in a motel, walks despondently into traffic.

“I suppose I had a soulful quality,” she told the Washington Post in 1979. “I was often cast as a wounded person, the ‘sensitive’ role.”

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was born on Jan. 8, 1942, in Los Angeles to a French father and a Mexican mother. She was “discovered” at age 15 when publicist Jim Byron, as he told it, spotted her on bridle path from a helicopter while flying over the Hollywood Hills. She and a friend were riding on horseback; Byron landed in front of them and gave her his card. Mimieux began as a model before MGM signed her in 1959.

“The subtle approach is the thing,” Byron told The AP in 1961. “I think we’ve got another Garbo on our hands.”

And for a few years, Mimieux was ubiquitous. Life magazine put her on the cover with the headline: “Warmly Wistful Starlet.” She made eight films before turning 21.

Mimieux starred in four films in 1962, including Vincent Minnelli’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and Guy Green’s “Light in the Piazza.” In the latter, she played the beautiful, mentally handicapped daughter of Olivia de Havilland. On a trip to Italy, Mimieux’s character Clara is pursued by a young Italian in Florence, played by George Hamilton.

Mimieux played a bride in “Toys in the Attic” (1963), an epileptic surfer in “Dr. Kildare” (1964) and a bride in “Joy in the Morning” (1965). She was three times nominated for a Golden Globe, including for her role in the short-lived ABC series “The Most Deadly Game,” from Aaron Spelling. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, she increasingly appeared in TV movies, some of which she helped write.

Mimieux co-wrote and co-produced the 1984 CBS TV movie “Obsessive Love,” about a deranged fan obsessed with a soap opera star. Mimieux said she had to battle the network over having a woman, played by herself, in such a role. Her idea stemmed from John Hinckley’s obsession with Jodie Foster, only with the gender roles reversed.

“The network felt people wouldn’t believe me as this woman. They said to me, ‘She’s a loner, and she shouldn’t be attractive,’” Mimieux told The New York Times in 1984. “I asked them, ‘Are you saying that only unattractive people can be crazy or lonely or have unfulfilled lives?’″

Mimieux said television was never the “love affair” she had with film. But she complained about the kinds of roles she was offered, and the one-dimensional type of women that were written. (One of her last notable movies was the 1979 Disney film “The Black Hole.”) So Mimieux retired from show business in her late 40s. Her interests — including archeology, painting and traveling — always went beyond fame. Off-screen, Mimieux was much more than the naïve starlet she was pigeonholed as.

“I decided I didn’t want to have a totally public life,” she told the Post. “When the fan magazines started wanting to take pictures of me making sandwiches for my husband, I said no.

“You know, there are tribes in Africa who believe that a camera steals a little part of your soul, and in a way I think that’s true about living your private life in public. It takes something away from your relationships, it cheapens them.”

Mimieux first married Evan Harland Engber in 1959 before later divorcing. She was married to the film director Stanley Donen, from 1972 to 1985. In 1986, she married the real estate mogul Howard F. Ruby. She’s survived by Ruby and numerous stepchildren.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

‘Women of the Movement’: Who are Ruby Hurley and Medgar Evers in Real Life?

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There are numerous cast members and characters to keep track of in Women of the Movement on ABC, including new additions Ruby Hurley and Medgar Evers. The two representatives from the NAACP, portrayed by Leslie Silva and Tongayi Chirisa, travel to Sumner, Mississippi, for the Emmett Till (Cedric Joe) trial. They both stay at the home of Dr. Howard (Alex Désert) to help with the investigation of Till’s murder.

ABC’s historical drama details the true story of a 14-year-old Black boy kidnapped and brutally murdered by two white men in 1955. The series emphasizes the role his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (Adrienne Warren), played in fighting for a fair trial and justice for her son. Jay-Z and Will Smith produce the six-part series.

‘Women of the Movement’ Leslie Silva | ABC/James Van Evers

‘Women of the Movement’: Who is Ruby Hurley from the NAACP in real life?

In Women of the Movement Episode 4, Ruby Hurley pretends to be a woman picking cotton in Mississippi to learn more about Emmett Till’s murder. According to Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 5: Completing the Twentieth Century, she wore cotton picker’s clothes to interview witnesses for the Till case.

When a journalist asks “the NAACP’s dynamic duo” about the Lee case in Women of the Movement, it is because that is what Hurley and Evers were working on at the time. Medgar Evers and Ruby Hurley investigated the murder of minister George W. Lee in Belzoni, Mississippi, before they participated in the investigation of 14-year-old Emmett Till.

Ruby Hurley and Medgar Evers actually went undercover, as field workers to find information on missing witnesses. Ruby built trust with the field hands she spoke with and risked her life to find out what really happened to Emmett the night he died. #WomenOfTheMovement https://t.co/9wqqV8ejOG — Women of the Movement (@WomenOfMovement) January 14, 2022

RELATED: ‘Women of the Movement’: Carolyn Bryant Shared the Truth with 1 Journalist; ‘They’re All Dead Now Anyway’

People often refer to Hurley as the “queen of civil rights.” She moved from New York to Alabama in 1951 to set up the first NAACP office in the Deep South. She held the Regional Secretary of the NAACP’s Southeast Regional Office role, something unheard of for women at that period. In 1956 Hurley fled to Alabama after the state barred the NAACP from operating there. Shortly after, she opened a regional office in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lived until her death on Aug. 9, 1980.

‘Women of the Movement’: Who is Medgar Evers?

‘Women of the Movement’: Tongayi Chirisa | ABC/James Van Evers

ABC’s Women of the Movement series portrays numerous civil rights activists from the 1950s, including Medgar Evers. The World War II veteran became the Mississippi field secretary for the NAACP in 1954. He also worked as a salesman for T.R.M. Howard’s Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. After the 1954 ruling by the Supreme Court to desegregate schools, Evers worked on numerous cases to integrate school systems and universities. He rose to prominence after his involvement in investigating Emmett Tills’ murder. Evers and his wife lived in the same town as T. R. M. Howard — Mound Bayou, Mississippi.

On June 21, 1963, Byron De La Beckwith assassinated Evers. He was rushed to a local hospital in Jackson but initially refused entry because he was Black. When his family explained who he was, they finally admitted Evers, but he died 50 minutes later.

RELATED: ‘Women of the Movement’ Glynn Turman Talks Race — ‘The Bullet Holes Say Nothing’s Changed’ (Exclusive)

‘Women of the Movement’ cast — What Silva and Chirisa are known for

Viewers might recognize the actors who portray Hurley and Evers in the Women of the Movement cast — Leslie Silva and Tongayi Chirisa — from various TV shows or movies. According to IMDb, Silva’s well-known roles were in Odyssey 5, Providence, and Shades of Blue. Tongayi Chirisa is well known for NBC’s Crusoe, The Jim Gaffigan Show, and Mr. Bones 2: Back from the Past.

RELATED: ‘Women of the Movement’: Will There Be a Season 2 After the Emmett Till Story Closes? (Exclusive)

Yvette Mimieux, Star of ‘The Time Machine,’ ‘The Black Hole,’ Dies at 80

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Actress Yvette Mimieux, who starred in movies including “Where the Boys Are,” “The Time Machine,” “Light in the Piazza,” “Toys in the Attic,” “Dark of the Sun” and “The Picasso Summer,” died Tuesday. She was 80.

The beautiful blonde Mimieux made most of her films in the 1960s, but she was also among the stars of Disney’s 1979 sci-fi film “The Black Hole.”

Among the films Mimieux made in 1960 were MGM’s glossy teen movie “Where the Boys Are,” in which four coeds including Mimieux’s Melanie head to Fort Lauderdale for spring break in search of fun and the “right” boy, and George Pal’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” starring Rod Taylor and with Mimieux third billed as Weena, Taylor’s romantic interest, who lives among the Eloi, a peaceful race living in the year 802,701.

In 1962 she appeared in four films, including the big-budget critical and commercial disaster “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm,” in which she played the Princess.

In the classic “Light in the Piazza” (later made into a musical that ultimately played Broadway in 2005), however, Mimieux had the interesting challenge of playing the beautiful, charming Clara, who is nevertheless mentally disabled as a result of a childhood head injury and thus very naive in the ways of the world. Olivia de Havilland played Clara’s mother, who is extremely protective of her as they travel through Italy and highly alarmed when a young Italian in Florence (played with a rather unconvincing accent by George Hamilton) pursues Clara romantically. In “Diamond Head,” set in Hawaii, she played the sister of Charlton Heston’s Richard “King” Howland, the controlling, powerful agricultural titan (and hypocritical racist) who insists that Mimieux’s Sloane end her relationship with a native Hawaiian played by James Darren.

In George Roy Hill’s “Toys in the Attic” (1963), based on the play by Lillian Hellman, Mimieux played Lily, the child-bride of ne’er-do-well con man Julian, portrayed by Dean Martin, who returns home to New Orleans; Mimieux’s Lily is manipulated by Julian’s sister, who has incestuous feelings for her brother.

In a 2001 article on Mimieux, the New York Daily News declared: “She gave her two best screen performances as beautiful young women who are emotionally arrested,” citing “Light in the Piazza” and “Toys in the Attic.”

In Jack Cardiff’s 1968 action film “Dark of the Sun,” Mimieux reteamed with her “Time Machine” co-star Rod Taylor. Jim Brown also starred in the story of mercenaries in the Congo trying to retrieve millions of dollars in diamonds, some refugees and Mimieux’s character.

The next year she starred with Albert Finney in “The Picasso Summer,” a film with a fabled and troubled history. Finney starred as a San Francisco artist married to Mimieux who becomes insecure after a party and decides to seek inspiration by traveling to Europe and finding Picasso; Mimieux’s bored wife jumps at the chance for such an adventure.

The actress tried series television with “The Most Deadly Game” in 1970-71, starring with George Maharis and Ralph Bellamy. Bellamy’s character led a group of independent agents who take on especially difficult murder cases, but the show’s run on ABC was brief. Thereafter she appeared in TV movies and some feature films including “Skyjacked” (1972), in which she starred with Heston and James Brolin; Daniel Petrie’s underwater sci-fier “The Neptune Factor” (1973), which also starred Ben Gazzara, Walter Pidgeon and Ernest Borgnine; “Journey Into Fear” (1975), also starring Sam Waterston and Zero Mostel; “Jackson County Jail” (1976), which also starred a young Tommy Lee Jones; and Disney’s expensive, effects-heavy 1979 film “The Black Hole,” which also starred Anthony Perkins and Maximilian Schell.

For the 1984 CBS TV movie “Obsessive Love,” Mimieux shared story credit, was co-producer and starred opposite Simon MacCorkindale.

Mimieux tired series regular television again with NBC’s 1985 primetime soap “Berrenger’s,” set amongst a family that owns and runs a New York department store, but the show’s run was brief. She appeared on “The Love Boat” a couple of times, co-starred in a “Perry Mason” movie in 1990, and made her last screen appearance in the 1992 NBC TV movie “Lady Boss.”

Yvette Carmen Mimieux was born in Los Angeles; her father was French and her mother Mexican.

Mimieux was married to film director Stanley Donen from 1972 until their divorce in 1985. The next year she married Howard F. Ruby, a real estate tycoon who formerly headed Oakwood International.

This Dolly Parton Impersonator Will Make You Do a Double Take

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Hello Dolly 2.0!

Clash of the Cover Bands champ Karen Hester proved why she was totally deserving of her big win when she got the opportunity to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 19.

The Dolly Parton tribute artist wowed the crowd as she turned out a medley of the country star’s biggest hits, including “9 to 5,” “Jolene” and “Two Doors Down,” as seen in E! News’ exclusive first look at the episode.

The camp activities leader from Myrtle Beach, S.C. was a dead ringer for Dolly, taking to the stage wearing a gold and white striped mini-dress with fringe details, styled with T-strap heels and the iconic singer’s signature sky-high blonde hairdo.

“I’m sure there’s going to be all types of emotions I’m probably going to feel, along with nerves, but a whole lot of excitement, too,” Karen told her local NBC 10 News hours before her performance on Jan. 19, which happens to be on the same day Dolly herself turns 76.

Jared Leto Returns With Another Mesmerizing Accent In ‘WeCrashed’ Trailer

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Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto are a couple with big dreams but flawed business acumen in the first trailer for the Apple TV+ drama series “WeCrashed.”

Debuting March 18, “WeCrashed” is based on the hit Wondery podcast of the same name. It follows the rise and fall of Adam Neumann (Leto) and his wife, Rebecca (Hathaway), who in 2010 founded the flexible co-working space WeWork.

By early 2019, WeWork was the largest private-sector office tenant in London, New York and Washington, D.C., with a valuation of $47 billion. Less than a year later, however, the global company’s value plunged about $40 billion following a failed IPO. That fall, Neumann stepped down amid detailed accusations of employee mistreatment and questionable financial decisions.

Fans of Leto’s divisive performance in 2021’s “House of Gucci” will be happy to see the Oscar winner once again adopting a foreign accent to play Neumann, who was born in Israel. As for Hathaway, the series will mark her first television role since her one-episode appearance in “Solos,” which debuted on Amazon last year.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly last month, showrunners Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello described “WeCrashed” as an eight-episode “cautionary tale” that’s told “through the prism” of the world-famous couple at its center.

“We as a society get swept up in unicorns and this idea that you can get rich quick,” Eisenberg said. “I mean, Adam Neumann unironically said that he wanted to be a trillionaire. That’s just wild.”