Barbara Nichols
Encyclopedia
Barbara Nichols was an American actress who often played brassy comic roles in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s.
. She began modeling for pinup magazines in the late 1940's. In the mid-1950s, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing regularly in second leads in a number of films including Miracle in the Rain
(1956), The King and Four Queens
(1956), The Naked and the Dead
(1958), The Pajama Game
(1957), Pal Joey
(1957), Sweet Smell of Success
(1957), That Kind of Woman
(1958), Where the Boys Are
(1960).
On Broadway
, she appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey and in Let It Ride
(1961).
Nichols was a popular model in cheesecake
magazines of the era and was considered a minor rival to Marilyn Monroe
, along with Jayne Mansfield
, Mamie Van Doren
, Cleo Moore
, Greta Thyssen
, Diana Dors
and Sheree North
. Unlike the rest, Nichols rarely starred in films, but had showy supporting roles in A-films starring such actors as Clark Gable
, Susan Hayward
, Sophia Loren
, and Doris Day
. One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science fiction film The Human Duplicators
.
Nichols was also a frequent guest star on many television series including It's a Great Life
, The Jack Benny Television Show, The Twilight Zone
, The Untouchables
, Batman
, and The Beverly Hillbillies
. Her last film was Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
in 1976.
, New York.
Early life and Career
Nichols was born as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New YorkQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. She began modeling for pinup magazines in the late 1940's. In the mid-1950s, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing regularly in second leads in a number of films including Miracle in the Rain
Miracle in the Rain
Miracle in the Rain is a novella by American writer Ben Hecht, published in The Saturday Evening Post bimonthly magazine on April 3, 1943 and adapted by him into a feature film released on March 31, 1956.-Film version:...
(1956), The King and Four Queens
The King and Four Queens
The King and Four Queens , a western movie, involves a middle-aged cowboy adventurer who learns that a stolen fortune remains buried on a ranch that serves as home to four gorgeous young widows and their battle-axe mother-in-law: the drifter turns on the charm. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film...
(1956), The Naked and the Dead
The Naked and the Dead (film)
The Naked and the Dead is a 1958 widescreen film based on Norman Mailer's World War II novel The Naked and the Dead. Directed by Raoul Walsh and filmed in Panama the screenplay attributed to the Sanders Brothers adds a strip tease and larger action scenes to Mailer's original narrative...
(1958), The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game (film)
The article is about the 1957 film. For other uses see The Pajama Game .The Pajama Game is a 1957 musical film based on the stage musical of the same name...
(1957), Pal Joey
Pal Joey (film)
Pal Joey is a 1957 film, loosely adapted from the musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Jo Ann Greer sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad and Miss Sadie Thompson. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin...
(1957), Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir made by Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison and Martin Milner. The screenplay was written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman...
(1957), That Kind of Woman
That Kind of Woman
That Kind of Woman is a 1959 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, who was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. It stars Sophia Loren. The screenplay by Walter Bernstein, based on a short story by Robert Lowry , is highly reminiscent of the 1938 film...
(1958), Where the Boys Are
Where the Boys Are
The kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...
(1960).
On Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, she appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey and in Let It Ride
Let It Ride (musical)
Let It Ride is a Broadway musical based on the 1935 Broadway farce Three Men on a Horse by George Abbott. The musical, with book by Abram S. Ginnes and music and lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, opened in New York at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on October 12, 1961, and played 68 performances...
(1961).
Nichols was a popular model in cheesecake
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
magazines of the era and was considered a minor rival to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, along with Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
, Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren
Mamie Van Doren is an American actress and singer; who rose to popularity as Universal Pictures's version of 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe....
, Cleo Moore
Cleo Moore
Cleouna "Cleo" Moore was an American actress, usually seen in the role of a blonde bombshell, in 1950s Hollywood films. She was known as Columbia Pictures's clone of 20th Century Fox's, Marilyn Monroe...
, Greta Thyssen
Greta Thyssen
Greta Thyssen is a Danish-born American film actress and former model. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, she appeared in films and television shows between 1956 and 1967.-Career:...
, Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
and Sheree North
Sheree North
Sheree North was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She was known for being 20th Century Fox's answer to Marilyn Monroe from 1954 to 1956...
. Unlike the rest, Nichols rarely starred in films, but had showy supporting roles in A-films starring such actors as Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
, Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
, Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
, and Doris Day
Doris Day
Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
. One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science fiction film The Human Duplicators
The Human Duplicators
The Human Duplicators is an American science fiction film released in 1965 by independent company Woolner Brothers Pictures Inc.-Plot:The plot involves a giant alien named Dr. Kolos who is dispatched to Earth from a faraway galaxy on orders to create android doppelgängers by employing the...
.
Nichols was also a frequent guest star on many television series including It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956...
, The Jack Benny Television Show, The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, and The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
. Her last film was Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a 1976 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern, Teri Garr, and Art Carney...
in 1976.
Death
Barbara Nichols died October 5, 1976, aged 47, from what has been described as a "liver ailment". She was interred at Pinelawn Memorial Park in FarmingdaleFarmingdale, New York
The Village of Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York in the United States...
, New York.
Filmography
- River of No ReturnRiver of No ReturnRiver of No Return is a 1954 American Western film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. The screenplay by Frank Fenton is based on a story by Louis Lantz, who borrowed his premise from the 1948 Italian film The Bicycle Thief...
(1954) (uncredited) - ManfishManfishManfish is an adventure film, released by United Artists in 1956. Filmed in Jamaica, it was released in Great Britain as Calypso. It was based on the stories "The Gold-Bug" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. Actor John Bromfield starred as Captain Brannigan and Lon Chaney Jr. played the...
(1956) - Miracle in the RainMiracle in the RainMiracle in the Rain is a novella by American writer Ben Hecht, published in The Saturday Evening Post bimonthly magazine on April 3, 1943 and adapted by him into a feature film released on March 31, 1956.-Film version:...
(1956) - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
- The King and Four QueensThe King and Four QueensThe King and Four Queens , a western movie, involves a middle-aged cowboy adventurer who learns that a stolen fortune remains buried on a ranch that serves as home to four gorgeous young widows and their battle-axe mother-in-law: the drifter turns on the charm. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film...
(1956) - The Wild Party (1956)
- Sweet Smell of SuccessSweet Smell of SuccessSweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir made by Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and stars Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison and Martin Milner. The screenplay was written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman...
(1957) - The Pajama GameThe Pajama Game (film)The article is about the 1957 film. For other uses see The Pajama Game .The Pajama Game is a 1957 musical film based on the stage musical of the same name...
(1957) - Pal JoeyPal Joey (film)Pal Joey is a 1957 film, loosely adapted from the musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Jo Ann Greer sang for Hayworth, as she had done previously in Affair in Trinidad and Miss Sadie Thompson. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin...
(1957) - The Naked and the DeadThe Naked and the Dead (film)The Naked and the Dead is a 1958 widescreen film based on Norman Mailer's World War II novel The Naked and the Dead. Directed by Raoul Walsh and filmed in Panama the screenplay attributed to the Sanders Brothers adds a strip tease and larger action scenes to Mailer's original narrative...
(1958) - Ten North FrederickTen North FrederickTen North Frederick is a 1955 novel by John O'Hara. It focuses on the life of an ambitious American named Joe Chapin, who desires to become President of the United States. The novel tells Chapin's story along with those of his patrician wife, two rebellious children, and mistress. It won the 1956...
(1958) - That Kind of WomanThat Kind of WomanThat Kind of Woman is a 1959 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, who was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. It stars Sophia Loren. The screenplay by Walter Bernstein, based on a short story by Robert Lowry , is highly reminiscent of the 1938 film...
(1958) - Woman ObsessedWoman ObsessedWoman Obsessed is a 1959 romantic drama film about the hardships faced by a widow and her eight-year-old son on a rugged Canadian ranch.The film stars Susan Hayward and Stephen Boyd with Barbara Nichols, Theodore Bikel, and James Philbrook. It was made in CinemaScope with DeLuxe Color.- Plot...
(1959) - Who Was That Lady?Who Was That Lady?Who Was That Lady? is a 1960 comedy film starring Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, and Janet Leigh. The movie was made by Ansark-Sidney, distributed by Columbia Pictures, directed by George Sidney, and produced by Norman Krasna, who also wrote the screenplay based on his successful Broadway play Who Was...
(1960) - Where the Boys AreWhere the Boys AreThe kind of cool modern jazz popularized by such acts as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, and Chico Hamilton, then in the vanguard of the college music market, features in a number of scenes with Basil...
(1960) - The George Raft StoryThe George Raft Story (film)The George Raft Story is a fictionalized 1961 movie biography of former top Hollywood film star George Raft. Ray Danton portrays Raft and the film was directed by Joseph M. Newman...
(1961)
- House of Women (1962)
- Looking for LoveLooking for Love (film)Looking for Love is a 1964 romantic musical-comedy film starring popular singer Connie Francis.-Plot:Francis plays Libby Caruso, who has spent a whole month trying to get into show business with her singing, and hasn't succeed. Libby then decides to retire and get a job where she can meet the right...
(1964) - Dear HeartDear HeartDear Heart is a 1964 American comedy film, starring Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page. It was directed by Delbert Mann.- Plot :The story takes place in New York, where Evie Jackson attends a convention in the city and meets Harry Mork , a womanizer who has become engaged to prove his maturity.-Cast:...
(1964) - The Disorderly OrderlyThe Disorderly OrderlyThe Disorderly Orderly is a 1964 American comedy film released by Paramount Pictures, and starring Jerry Lewis. The film was produced by Paul Jones with a screenplay by director Frank Tashlin, based on a story by Norm Liebermann and Ed Haas.-Plot:...
(1964) - The Human DuplicatorsThe Human DuplicatorsThe Human Duplicators is an American science fiction film released in 1965 by independent company Woolner Brothers Pictures Inc.-Plot:The plot involves a giant alien named Dr. Kolos who is dispatched to Earth from a faraway galaxy on orders to create android doppelgängers by employing the...
(1965) - The Loved OneThe Loved One (film)The Loved One is a 1965 black comedy film about the funeral business in Los Angeles, which is based on The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy , a short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh...
(1965) - The Swinger (1966)
- The Power (1968)
- Criminal Affair (1968)
- Charley and the AngelCharley and the AngelCharley and the Angel is a 1973 Disney family/comedy film set in an unidentified small city in the 1930s Depression-era Midwestern United States and starring Fred MacMurray in one of his final film appearances...
(1973) - The PhotographerThe PhotographerThe Photographer is a chamber opera by composer Philip Glass that is based on the homicide trial of photographer Eadweard Muybridge. The opera is based on words drawn from the trial as well as Muybridge's letters to his wife...
(1974) - Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved HollywoodWon Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved HollywoodWon Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a 1976 film directed by Michael Winner and starring Madeline Kahn, Bruce Dern, Teri Garr, and Art Carney...
(1976)