Trivia

She took her stage name (Mamie) from "First Lady" Mamie Eisenhower.

Once posed for famous pin-up girl artist Alberto Vargas, the painter of the glamorous "Vargas Girls". His painting of Van Doren was on the July 1951 cover of Esquire magazine.

Along with fellow blonde goddesses Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, she was known as one of "The Three M's".

In 1964, she was a guest at the Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood when The Beatles were at the club visiting Jayne Mansfield, and an inebriated George Harrison accidentally threw his drink on her while trying to throw it on some bothersome journalists.

Was discovered by Howard Hughes the night she was crowned Miss Palm Springs. He dated her for five years and launched her career by placing her in several RKO films.

In the mid-1950s Mamie dated Clint Eastwood.

Though her film career seemed to have fallen from grace, she performed a nightclub act in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1970s.

She and her husband Thomas Dixon maintain her website where various merchandise along with home-made short films starring herself are available. It also provides contemporary topless and nude photographs and her outspoken political views.

She was awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California on December 3, 2005.

In 1963, she posed twice for Playboy magazine to promote her film 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964), though she was never a Playmate.

Her film Untamed Youth (1957) was originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, but that only served to enhance the curiosity factor, resulting in it being a big moneymaker for the studio.

In the summer of 1949, at age 18, she won the titles Miss Eight Ball and Miss Palm Springs.

During the Vietnam War, she did tours for U.S. troops in Vietnam for three months in 1968, and again in 1970. In addition to USO shows, she visited hospitals, including the wards of amputees and burn victims.

Currently resides in Newport Beach, California with her husband Thomas Dixon.

In 2006, Mamie posed for photographs for Vanity Fair magazine with Pamela Anderson, as part of its annual Hollywood issue.

Was mentioned in the song "High School Confidential" by the Canadian New Wave group Rough Trade.

Issued out three quickie paperback biographies to juice up her fading popularity: "My Naughty, Naughty Life" (1961), "I Swing" (1965) and "My Wild Love Experiences" (1965).

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 1, 1994.

Signed by Universal Studios at age 18 with the hope that they could make her their answer to 20th Century Fox's Marilyn Monroe.

Since the release of her autobiography "Playing the Field", she has often been interviewed and occasionally returned to acting. She has consistently denied in interviews ever having breast implants.

In 1969, after complaining to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office that her checks bounced and creditors were calling her, authorities arrested Kenneth K. Tracy, her 66-year-old business agent. In November 1970, he pleaded guilty to bilking Van Doren out of $7,000.

She has three-quarters Swedish, as well as mixed English and German, ancestry.

Gave birth to her first child at age 25, a son, Perry Ray Anthony on March 18, 1956. Child's father is her second husband Ray Anthony.

Parents are Warner Carl Olander and Lucille Harriet Bennett.

Has appeared with Jackie Coogan in four films: High School Confidential! (1958), The Beat Generation (1959), The Big Operator (1959) and Sex Kittens Go to College (1960).

Was considered for the role of Venus De Marco in the horror film The Ice House (1969), which went to Sabrina.

Born on exactly the same date as Rip Torn.

In 2024, at age 93, has a brand-new record with Pink Martini. "I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out" b/w "Ich Dich Liebe".