"ONE LOOK IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS"

Back in 1921, ad man Fred Barnard is said to have coined the phrase, "One look is worth a thousand words". There are a number of versions of the phrase from different eras, but I think Mr. Barnard's fits the bill here.

Longtime WoM correspondent from Horrorwood, Karloffornia was kind enough to provide this photo of the lovely Susan Denberg from CINE WORLD magazine from ca. 1966.

I'd go on, but I've used as many words as I've needed to.

See more about Susan Denberg HERE.

SUSAN DENBERG ON A MATCHBOOK COVER?

Her turn-ons were sports cars and "exciting" clothes. She had aspirations to become an actress. She liked to read, dance, sunbathe and swim. Her favorite author was Harold Robbins. She was also Playboy's Playmate of the Month for August 1966.

Born Dietlinde Zechner on August 2, 1944 in in Bad Polzin, Germany and raised in Klagenfurt, Austria, as a young woman she took the stage name Susan Denberg and became a dancer in London and Las Vegas. After her photo shoot in PLAYBOY by renown glamour photographer Peter Gowland, she signed a contract with Hammer Films and starred alongside Peter Cushing in FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN in 1967.

Despite her learning some English, Denberg's accent was so heavy that the studio opted to dub her dialogue using the German voice actress Nikki van der Zyl. Miss van der Zyl also dubbed Honey Rider's voice (played by Swiss actress Ursula Andress) in DR. NO.

Prior to that, she played Magda Kovacs in the Season 1, Episode 6 story, "Mudd's Women", on STAR TREK.

After just a few more film and TV appearances, her life suddenly spiraled out of control and she descended into alcoholism and drug addiction. This, she claimed, happened after her first LSD trip sent her off the rails.  After spending some time in a mental hospital, she was able to turn her life (somewhat) around. By that time, her parents had disowned her.

Updated image, now legible!

She returned to Vienna and worked as a topless waitress in a "porno bar" called Rondell Rauschkino and a nude dancer at another Vienna club called Renz.

Although she was once reported as dying by suicide, as far as this blogger can tell, she is currently spending a quiet, retired life in Austria at the age of 81. By all accounts, she's fortunate to have made it this far.

A lot of famous blonde actresses aren't so lucky.

The idea for this post happened last week, while I was absorbed in watching an episode on Scott Michaels' Dearly Departed Tours YouTube Channel titled "Hollywood Matchbooks THEN and NOW". Michaels has several of these vids where he takes a handful of matchbook covers from old Hollywood restaurants, hotels and other locations and compares them to what's at those same addresses today. Sadly, at least half or more of them have either been demolished or have changed hands or venues.

A few minutes into this show, he opened up a matchbook for Hollywood Massage. When he turned it over and I was amazed to see the color picture of someone recognizable. After rewinding it a few times, I finally figured out it was a picture of none other than Susan Denberg!

Now, I'm positive that such an upstanding establishment as Hollywood Massage would have passed on any permission to use the photo and this was before licensing became a common business practice. Still, it surprised the hell out of me.

I was unable to come up with a photo of Susan that exactly matches the one on the matchbook, but I'm sure you'll forget that small detail after you scroll through the images below and visit her naughty, NSFW gallery HERE.

This looks to me like same outfit as in the matchbook photo.

Now, had I known that Susan Denberg was working at the Hollywood Massage back in the day . . .

View the Dearly Departed Hollywood Matchbooks THEN and NOW episode HERE.

SUSAN DENBERG'S VITAL STATISTICS

Susan Denberg

Miss August 1966

BIRTHPLACE: Bad Polzin, Germany

HAIR: BLONDE

EYES: GREEN

BUST: 34" C

WAIST: 25"

HIPS: 34"

HEIGHT: 5' 7"

WEIGHT: 123 lbs

• AMBITIONS: I'd like to be an actress.
• TURN-ONS: Sports cars, exciting clothes.
• TURNOFFS: Impoliteness, bad dressers, self-admiration.
• IN MY SPARE TIME: I like reading, dancing, sunbathing, attending car races, relaxing and swimming.
• FAVORITE AUTHOR: Harold Robbins.
• PLAY ME A: Ballad.
• PEOPLE I ADMIRE: Caesar, Napoleon and Cleopatra.
• MY IDEAL EVENING: Dinner in a romantic restaurant, seeing a show and the drinking and dancing till closing time.
• FAVORITE ACTORS: Steve McQueen and Sean Connery.

SUSAN DENBERG GALLERY

BEFORE THEY WERE SCREAM QUEENS: SUSAN DENBERG

I have a difficult time calling someone's life "tragic" when the reasons for their personal downfall are brought about by their own conscious choices. Unfortunate, yes, but not tragic.

Such is the case of the model and actress, Susan Denberg. In the article about her posted earlier this week from Marvel's UK magazine, HAMMER HORROR, author Alan Barnes wrote what is probably the most in depth look at the beautiful Austrian that I've come across. The caption preceding the article states that Miss Denberg had been "long considered one of the most mysterious, and tragic, of all the Hammer starlets". Reading the piece certainly affirms that the one-time Playboy Playmate placed herself in positions that were unhealthy and which most probably lead to her abandoning her career and ultimately being rescued from the decadence of Hollywood by her father when she was still just in her 20's.

Susan Denberg (born August 2, 1944 in Bad Polzin, Germany, now Połczyn-Zdrój, Poland) left home barely in her 20's and hit London as an au pair girl, but soon looked to show business where she joined the famous dance company, Bluebell Girls. The story goes that she was spotted by an agent while she was in Vegas with the Bluebell's and "the rest is history", as they say.

Unfortunately, her jobs in front of the movie cameras were few and far between. In the meantime, she partied with many top actors of the day, including Stuart Whitman, Jim Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Richard Pryor and apparently many others.

Susan Denberg with actor Stuart Whitman.

“What was important to me,” she said, “was that I was being noticed by people that mattered. My philosophy was: Be nice to the stars, let your name be linked with theirs, and sooner or later you’ll make it. Why not use sex to get on? Others do it and I haven’t heard an actor or a producer complain.” This was not a career tactic lost on many good-looking girls who wanted movie roles.

Her biggest break of all ended up not being in front of a movie camera, but in front of famous glamour photographer Peter Gowland's Rolliflex for a shoot as Playmate of the Month for the August 1966 issue of PLAYBOY. She also appeared in the April 1967 issue (this time in a short, pixie haircut popular in the day) as a Playmate of the Year finalist, running against the slender Tish Howard and the voluptuous Lisa Baker. Miss Baker ended up taking the prize package and that left Denberg wondering what was next.

Susan Denberg in a provocative pose.

After a disastrous (and possibly career-breaking) impromptu striptease she performed at a party given by Frank Sinatra (the Chairman of the Board was not at all pleased), she ended up back in London where she landed a role in Hammer Studios' production of FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN, opposite Peter Cushing, where she made a bit of a splash, mainly because of her association with PLAYBOY. Her acting in the film was competent enough for a Hammer Glamour star, but her voice was dubbed because of her strong accent. Dubbing was provided by the voice actress and coach, Nikki Van der Zyl, who also dubbed, among many others, including the characters Kissy Suzuki in James Bond's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Vesper Lind in CASINO ROYALE, and Sarah Framsen in SCARS OF DRACULA.

In the meantime, she kept on with her heavy partying, still trying to hitch her wagon to someone's star, but nothing seemed to come of it except drinking, taking drugs and being passed around from one man to another.

In the September 1968 issue of THE NATIONAL POLICE GAZETTE, she confessed, “[I became] hooked on LSD and marijuana. It calmed me down, and I made such wonderful love. I needed LSD every day, almost every hour. I took all sorts of drugs when I was in Hollywood… I used to do wild, nude dances at parties held by big-time Hollywood stars.”

After a bad acid trip, her father came and took her back to her hometown in Austria where she was purportedly strung out enough to warrant a trip to a neurologist where she endured electro-shock therapy and then for a stay at a mental asylum.

Rumors were then claiming that she had died, but so far, there is no evidence for it and she seems to be living a life away from the limelight under her birth name.

In 1969, she wrote a column for the UK's News of the World about her experiences. Her words of wisdom were: "If this story warns other young girls  who are offered a bite at the red apple of stardom, only to find a Garden of Eden swarming with vipers, I shall have achieved something".

Following is a gallery celebrating the fabulous face and form of Susan Denberg as we remember her from her days before she was "created" by Peter Cushing's Dr. Frankenstein.

WARNING!

MATURE CONTENT AHEAD! 

Susan Denberg's photoshoots from PLAYBOY.

August 1966 - Playmate of the Month

April 1967 - Playmate of the Year Playoff

CALENDAR GHOULS - NOVEMBER 2013