Carol Marie Wayne (September 6, 1942 – January 13, 1985) was an American television and film actress. She appeared regularly on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as the Matinee Lady in the Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches.
Carol Wayne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Carol Marie Wayne September 6, 1942 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | January 13, 1985 (aged 42) Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1966–1985 |
| Spouses | Loreto Cera
(m. 1965; div. 1967) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Nina Wayne (sister) |
Early life
editBorn in Chicago, Wayne began her show business career as a teenage figure skater in the Ice Capades along with her younger sister, Nina.[1]
Career
editWayne did television guest shots on I Spy (as the title character in the episode "Trouble with Temple"), Bewitched (as a rabbit turned into a cocktail bunny), I Dream of Jeannie (as dim-witted starlet Bootsie Nightingale), Love American Style, Emergency! and The Fall Guy, and appeared in many sketches on The Red Skelton Show.
Wayne said she was "discovered" at a Hollywood party and auditioned for The Tonight Show after appearances as a Las Vegas chorus line dancer.[2][3]
She gained her greatest fame for appearances (1967–1984) on The Tonight Show,[4] including 100-plus appearances (1971–1984) as the buxom Matinée Lady on The Tonight Show in Johnny Carson's popular Art Fern's Tea Time Movie sketches, which were filled with sexual double entendres. After her death, Carson kept the Art Fern character off the air for most of the next year. He eventually hired Danuta Wesley and later Teresa Ganzel to be his new Matinée Lady.
Wayne made appearances on several game shows during the 1970s including Mantrap and Hollywood Squares. She was a regular panelist on Celebrity Sweepstakes. She landed roles in several films, including Gunn, The Party (both directed by Blake Edwards), Scavenger Hunt, Savannah Smiles and Surf II. Her final onscreen appearance came in the 1984 drama Heartbreakers, for which she received the best reviews of her career. Critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Her performance is so good, so heartbreaking, if you will, that it pulls the whole movie together."[5]
In February 1984, Wayne appeared nude in a pictorial for Playboy magazine.[2] The same year, she filed for bankruptcy.[6][7][8]
Personal life
editWayne was married three times. She married her first husband, Loreto "Larry" Cera, on May 1, 1965; they divorced in June 1967. In 1969, Wayne married her second husband, rock-music photographer Barry Feinstein, with whom she had a son, Alex Feinstein (b. 1970).[3][9] The couple divorced in 1974. A year later, she married television and film producer Burt Sugarman, who served as producer on Celebrity Sweepstakes.[10] They divorced in 1980.[11]
Wayne told Johnny Carson in an interview on April 30, 1974, one of 38 appearances, that she enjoyed gardening and growing bonsai trees, and in another interview, breeding Andalusian horses.[citation needed]
Death
editIn January 1985, Wayne vacationed at the Las Hadas Resort in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, with companion Edward Durston, a car salesman.[6][7][12] After an argument, Wayne reportedly took a walk on the beach. Three days later, a local fisherman found Wayne's body in a shallow bay. An autopsy performed in Mexico revealed no signs of alcohol or other drugs in her body, and her death was ruled "accidental."[6][8]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Gunn | Ernestine | |
| 1968 | The Party | June Warren | |
| 1979 | Scavenger Hunt | Nurse | |
| 1980 | Gypsy Angels | Waitress | |
| 1982 | Savannah Smiles | Doreen | |
| 1984 | Surf II | Mrs. O'Finlay | Alternative title: Surf II: The End of the Trilogy |
| 1984 | Heartbreakers | Candy | |
| 1984 | E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind | Regine |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E | Ginger LaVeer | Episode: "The Super-Colossal Affair" |
| 1966 | The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. | Shelia | Episode: "The Faustus Affair" |
| 1967 | I Spy | Temple | Episode: "The Trouble with Temple" |
| 1967 | Occasional Wife | Miss Orange Grove | Episode: "The New Secretary" |
| 1967 | I Dream of Jeannie | Bootsie Nightingale | Episode: "Here Comes Bootsie Nightingale" |
| 1969 | Bewitched | Bunny | Episode: "A Bunny for Tabitha" |
| 1970 | The Red Skelton Show | NBC Soundstage Tour Guide Chambermaid |
Episodes: "The Magic Act" "The Private Detective" |
| 1970–1972 | Love, American Style | Various | 6 episodes |
| 1971 | Sarge | Receptionist | Episode: "Psst! Wanna Buy a Dirty Picture?" |
| 1971 | The Bold Ones: The Lawyers | Christie Mullins | Episode: "The Letter of the Law" |
| 1971–1984 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Art Fern's Tea-Time Movie Lady[13] | Multiple appearances at irregular intervals. |
| 1972 | Mannix | Bobbi | Episode: "A Puzzle for One" |
| 1972 | Every Man Needs One | Nancy | Television movie |
| 1973 | The Girl with Something Extra | Mimi | Episode: "John & Sally & Fred & Linda" |
| 1974 | Medical Center | Blanche | Episode: "Adults Only" |
| 1974 | Emergency! | Renee, Miss October | Episode: "The Screenwriter" |
| 1974-1976 | Celebrity Sweepstakes | Herself (regular panelist)[14][15] | Television game show |
| 1979 | Whew! | Herself (celebrity player) | Television game show |
| 1979 | Heaven on Earth | Television movie | |
| 1981 | The Big Black Pill | Allegra Farrenpour | Television movie |
| 1981 | The Fall Guy | Rose | Episodes: "The Meek Shall Inherit Rhonda" "The Japanese Connection" |
References
edit- ^ "Carol Wayne". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ a b "'Playboy' Magazine February 1984 vol.31, no.2". Vintageplayboymags.co.uk. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ a b "Carol Wayne, Sexy Blonde on Carson Show, Drowns". Los Angeles Times. January 14, 1985. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^ Smith, Ronald L. (2008). Comic Support: Second Bananas in the Movies. Carol Publishing Group. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-8065-1399-7.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (September 3, 1985). "Heartbreakers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved August 16, 2022 – via RogerEbert.com.
- ^ a b c Austin, John (July 16, 1991). More of Hollywood's Unsolved Mysteries. SP Books. ISBN 978-0-9440-0773-0. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Austin, John (July 16, 1994). Hollywood's Babylon Women. SP Books. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-5617-1288-5. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
Buxom blonde actress Carol Wayne was bankrupt and hooked on cocaine andn booze when she jetted off to Mexico in January 1985,...Accompanying Wayne was a Los Angeles used car salesman...named Edward Durston.
- ^ a b "Carol Wayne / Mysterious Death of Carol Wayne". Tvparty!. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ Kelly, Debra (November 19, 2022). "The Tragic Real-Life Story Of Film Actress Carol Wayne". Grunge. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
- ^ Beale, Lauren (August 2, 2011). "Mary Hart, Burt Sugarman buy unit at Ritz-Carlton Residences". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^ "Carol Wayne, TV Comedienne, Dies". Los Angeles Times. January 15, 1985. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
- ^ Fleming, E. J. (October 2, 2015). Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites: Seventeen Driving Tours with Directions and the Full Story (2d ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1850-0. Retrieved July 16, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Panama Red (December 20, 2013). "Carol Wayne on the Tonight Show wearing a Knotted Shirt". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV) (January 31, 2015). "WAVE Channel 3 - Celebrity Sweepstakes (Opening, 1975)". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ "Celebrity Sweepstakes--Alan Sues demonstrates comical irony". YouTube. January 1, 2010. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
