Sandra Dee | |
|---|---|
 Dee in 1959 | |
| Born | Alexandra Zuck April 23, 1942 Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | February 20, 2005 (aged 62) Thousand Oaks, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park |
| Other names | Sandra Douvan |
| Education | University High School |
| Alma mater | Professional Children's School |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1957–1983 |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Cymboliak Zuck;[1] April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingénues, Dee earned a Golden Globe Award as one of the year's most promising newcomers for her performance in Robert Wise's Until They Sail (1958). She became a teenage star for her performances in Imitation of Life and Gidget (both 1959), which made her a household name.[2]
By the late 1960s, her career had started to decline and a highly publicized marriage to Bobby Darin ended in divorce. The year of her divorce, Dee's contract with Universal Pictures was dropped. She attempted a comeback with the 1970 independent horror film The Dunwich Horror, but rarely acted after this time, appearing only occasionally in television productions throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The rest of the decade was marked by alcoholism, mental illness, and reclusiveness, particularly after her mother died in 1987. Dee sought medical and psychological help in the early 1990s and died in 2005 of complications from kidney disease.
- ^ Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins (Fifth ed.). Jefferson and London: McFarland and Company. 2010. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7864-4373-4.
- ^ Kashner & MacNair 2002, p. 268.