Yvette Vickers was a stage and b-movie actress of the 1950s, mostly known for her roles in The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) and the Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959). Her first movie appearance was more promising -albeit uncredited- in Sunset Boulevard (1950) as “Giggling Girl on Phone”, in the Christmas party scene. It seems Yvette wasn’t as career focused or as lucky as her peroxide contemporaries, Marilyn, Jane or Mamie were. Playboy playmate for July 1959 (shot by Russ Meyer), she drifted to bit parts in the 60s, developing a reputation of a man-stealing, fast party girl, slowly fading out of the industry altogether.

Jump to April of 2011, when a concerned neighbor discovered her dead body in her Benedict Canyon two-story home, a decrepit gem of a tiny wooden pied-à-terre (about 700 ft2 / 65 m2), which had been her home since the 50s. She had no family or friends, preferring to keep to herself, apparently becoming increasingly paranoid that she was being stalked. (What if she was right?..)

The house was built on a steep hill in Benedict Canyon by very dense woods and was literally being consumed by trees breaking into it from all sides, taking over and devouring it from within. It was also infested with ants, rats and spiders. Yvette herself was also in a similar state. The electricity was on autopay and had not been cut off in the 6-12 months she had been laying on the carpeted floor next to a still turned on heater. The following description might be rough but it’s what death naturally does to a body. It still feels disrespectful. Anyway,

“Examination of the decedent’s chest and abdomen reveals no internal organs; these areas are filled with spider web-like material. The head shows a small area with gray hair. No eyes are present. The examination of the head discloses no brain tissue.”

A half brother came out of the woodwork, claimed her humble estate and immediately put the house on the market. He had movers throw all of Yvette’s belongings in the trash; press clippings, movie scripts, clothes, mementos, photographs, recordings, everything was hauled away to the public dump, while Yvette was cremated. The house sold for half the asking price, a mere $275,000 and was promptly demolished.

Somebody broke into her home before the demolition and filmed the cobwebbed, empty space. I recognized it as being the set for many of her pin up photos and I spliced some obvious ones together. It’s so eerie to see the crisp, black and white images of young Yvette next to the somber reality that came to be many years later.

[click on thumbnails for high res]

Within a few weeks, nothing was left of Yvette Vickers, but for some old movie clips on youtube.

She joins the many ghosts of Old Hollywood.

I like and respect Yvette. Well spoken, soft spoken, an artist, unapologetically sensual and chaotic, did her thing against social conventions of her time and she seemed to have really enjoyed her life.

Her orphaned wig among the cobwebs..

P.S.
Check this out:
This is what ghosts are: