The 1950s and ’60s were graced by several prominent bombshells, who lit up the silver
screen and became hugely famous not only for their talent but for their beauty as well. Sadly,
many of them had tragic ends, far too young. Join Facts Verse, as we present:
Old Hollywood Bombshells Who Died Tragically Young
Joi Lansing While Joi Lansing’s name might not rise to the
top of the list of bombshells in the 50s and 60s, she was certainly a famous and successful figure.
And she was one who tragically died far too young. Like the notorious “3 M’s” – aka Marilyn Monroe,
Mammie Van Doren, and Jayne Mansfield, Joi was admired for her curvy figure, blond tresses,
and overall beauty. She started out early, signing with MGM when she was only 14. Her
big break can when she landed the role of Shirley Swanson on the show, “Love That Bob.” It was a
long-running gig for Joi, as she stayed on the show for 125 episodes over the course of five
years. From there, she was able to use her fame to continue getting work in TV, film, and on stage.
She was even a staple of nightclub performances, at a time when this type of performance was much
more common. She starred in films like "Who Was That Lady?" “Klondike, and "Marriage on the
Rocks,” before landing what would be the other big role in her career: her part as the wife of Lester
Flatt in “The Beverly Hillbillies” She was on that hit show from 1965 to 68. Throughout her career,
she was always utilized as a “glamour girl” who shined on screen due to her looks. But she hated
the moniker, saying it ultimately held her back creatively, and career-wise. It also meant that
she felt immense pressure to keep up her youthful and gorgeous looks. She reportedly took many
different supplements in an attempt to keep her young looks, and there were rumors that she got
breast augmentation surgery to be even more busty. Sadly, Joi died in 1972, at age 44, of breast
and ovarian cancer. She had reportedly undergone cancer treatment surgery two years prior as well,
and she also had severe anemia. There have been some who posited the notion that her cancers
were caused by her various cosmetic injections and hormonal treatments to try to retain her youthful
long and elongate her career. If this is true, it’s certainly a tragic twist on her sad story.
Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield is perhaps the second most
well known of the blonde bombshells from this ear, with Marilyn Monroe taking the top slot. Still,
Jayne was a gorgeous and famous star who was able to make a career off of her curves. She
found a later start than many young stars, heading to Hollywood only after she was 21,
and already married. She also already had a child. Her success came, in large part, because
of the success Monroe was already having. Every studio wanted to find their answer to Monroe,
to cash in on the craze of the blonde bombshell. Since Mansfield was already a voluptuous version
of Monroe, it seemed natural that she’d be put up as a Monroe alternative. And her version of
Monroe was even curvier, and slightly naughtier, an image that Mansfield was happy to play up.
Monroe certainly took notice and wasn’t exactly flattered by the imitation. She once remarked that
the imitations were an insult to both of them. She added that while imitation is supposed to be
considered flattery, she found Mansfield’s take on her look to be vulgar and gross. Mansfield played
into the rivalry and wasn’t shy about her image or her body. She reportedly started secretly seeing
President Kennedy after Monroe had, remarking that Marilyn must have been pissed to find out about
it. She posed nude in Playboy and was known for flashing photographers on the street. She was even
the first actress in America to be fully naked on screen. This happened in the movie Promises,
Promises, in 1963. Mansfield was known for movies like The Girl Can’t Help It,
and Too Hot to Handle. It seemed as if she’d have a long and healthy career. Sadly, Mansfield
tragically lost her life in a car accident in 1967. She was traveling with her 3 children,
her boyfriend at the time, as well as a driver, en route to New Orleans. She’d
come from a performance in Biloxi, Mississippi that night. Their car smashed into the back of
a trailer truck. The three adults in the front seat, and their family dog,
were all killed instantly. Amazingly, the children in the back seat managed to survive
the ordeal. Mansfield was wearing a wig in the car, which was thrown off her head upon impact.
Photographs of it were mistakenly identified as her head, and thus the rumor began that she’d been
decapitated. While that wasn’t true, she did die of severe head trauma from the accident.
Marilyn Monroe There’s no more famous blonde bombshell than
the inimitable Marilyn Monroe. Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, Norma Jeane Mortenson grew up under the
care of various foster parents and an orphanage. She managed to climb her way to the top of the
world though, becoming perhaps the biggest starlet in the world, and of all time. When she was 18,
she changed her name to Marilyn Monroe and began a modeling career. Two years later, she got a
contract with 20th Century Fox and began her foray into the acting world. In the early 50s studio,
critics, and audiences began to pay attention to young Marilyn, as she appeared in small parts in
movies like All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle. She was so compelling on screen that she was able
to parlay those roles into a string of acting successes. Over the course of the 50’s she rose
to the biggest star in Hollywood, on the backs of both her modeling, as well as movies like
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven-Year Itch, and Some Like It Hot. She became a favorite of
tabloid publications, who followed her every move. She famously married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio,
and she had a marriage to playwright Arthur Miller too. And while she brilliantly played
up the image of the beautiful, but not so bright, starlet, in reality, Monroe was incredibly smart
and well-read. She preferred staying at home and reading books on philosophy and
poetry to going to Hollywood parties. But she knew how to play the Hollywood game as well.
Sadly, Monroe’s life came to an early and tragic end on August 5th, 1962. She was found in her
home in LA, having overdosed on sedatives. There were empty pill bottles strewn around the room,
and the police ruled it as a suicide. However, in the years since, there have
been many unconfirmed theories put forth, some of which claim she was murdered, others claiming the
overdose was an accident. Regardless, the world lost this bright star far too soon.
Natalie Wood Natalie Wood wasn’t a blonde bombshell,
but she was certainly a bombshell. She was also an incredibly talented actress who left
behind a body of work that rivaled any actress of her era. She started out as a child actress,
scoring a part in her first movie at age 4, and finding huge success from her role in Miracle
on 34th Street. And unlike many child stars, she was able to transition into adulthood with grace
and without burning out. She received her first Oscar nomination for her performance in Rebel
Without a Cause, alongside James Dean. She sadly had to find out about her friend and costar’s
death in a car crash, and she was tremendously distraught. It was an eerie foreshadowing of her
own untimely death. Those hers didn’t come at the hands of a car accident – it was aboard a
boat. But before that, she starred in movies like West Side Story, Love with the Proper Stranger,
and Splendor in the Grass. She got two more Oscar nominations for the latter two of those. She was
married to actor Richard Wagner two times, having divorced from him for around a decade,
then marrying him again. It was while she was still married to him that she was killed in a
boating accident. She reportedly fell overboard in the waters off the shore of Catalina Island in
California. For years, the people aboard the boat, which included Wagner and Christopher Walken,
were not charged with being involved in her death, which was ruled an accident. But more
recently the investigation was reopened, and her cause of death was changed to,
“drowning and other undetermined factors." A few years later, in 2018, Wagner was newly named as
a person of interest in the case, though he has yet to be charged with anything.
Grace Kelly Grace Kelly managed to make
the incredible transitions from an ordinary girl, to a huge movie star, to the literal princess. And
she managed to pack all of that into only a little bit of life, as hers was cut tragically short in
1982. Born in Philly, Grace found success at age 22 when she was cast in her first movie,
Fourteen Hours. She popped on screen in a major way, with her flawless features and stunning
physique. She was able to parlay that success into more roles in prominent films such as Rear Window,
Dial M for Murder, and The Country Girl, the latter of which she won an Oscar for Best
Actress. At the height of her Hollywood fame, she fell in love with Prince Rainier of Monaco.
They got married, making her the Princess of Monaco. That position had many demands,
not least of which was that she was required to give up her acting career. But she said yes,
in the name of love. Sadly, she suffered a stroke while behind the wheel of her car on Sept 13th,
1982. The car went down the side of a steep mountain and fell into a ravine. Amazingly
she and her daughter survived the initial crash. And while her daughter, Stephanie,
recovered from the crash eventually, Grace died the next day in the hospital.
Now it’s time to hear from you. Which of these bombshells from
the ‘50s and ‘60s is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below!