Sheree North

 Sheree North, born Dawn Shirley Crang (January 17, 1932 – November 4, 2005)

She was an actress, dancer and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe. North made her film début as an uncredited extra in Excuse My Dust (1951). She made her Broadway début in the musical Hazel Flagg, for which she won a Theatre World Award. She reprised her role in the film version, Living It Up (1954), starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In early 1954, at age 22, she appeared in a live TV version of Cole Porter's Anything Goes on The Colgate Comedy Hour, with Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra and Bert Lahr. In 1955, she got the part intended for Monroe in “How To Be Very, Very Popular” and LIFE magazine featured her on the cover of the March 21st issue. Her many movie film credits included "Madigan" (1968), "The Gypsy Moths" (1969), "The Trouble With Girls" (1969), "The Organization" (1971), "The Outfit" (1974), "Breakout" (1975) and "The Shootist" (1976). In television she was a regular on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (1974-75) and costarred in the series "Big Eddie." In the 1980s, she appeared in the series "I'm a Big Girl Now," "Our Family Honor," and the film "Maniac Cop" (1988). She guest-starred on "Seinfeld" (1995-96) and appeared in the documentary "Intimate Portrait: Marilyn Monroe" (1996). She also directed and produced several shows for theater, last being a production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" at the Laguna Playhouse in 2000. North was married four times and had two children. n November 4, 2005, North died during cancer surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was 73 years old.