Marie McDonald

 Marie McDonald, born Cora Marie Frye (July 6, 1923 – October 21, 1965)

At the age of 15, she dropped out of school and began modeling. In 1939, McDonald was named "Miss New York State". Later that same year, she debuted in George White's Scandals of 1939. The following year, at age 17, she landed a showgirl role in the Broadway production at the Earl Carroll Theater called Earl Carroll's Vanities. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Hollywood hoping to develop a career in show business. She continued modeling and continued to work for the owner of the Broadway theater as a showgirl at his Sunset Boulevard nightclub. After auditioning for Tommy Dorsey in December 1940, she joined Dorsey & His Orchestra on his radio show and she later performed with other big bands. In 1942, she was put under contract by Universal for $75 a week and immediately appeared in several minor roles. That year, she appeared in three motion pictures, most notably, Pardon My Sarong, which earned her the nickname "The Body" for her shapely physique. During World War II, McDonald became one of Hollywood's most popular pin-up girls and she posed for the United States military magazine, Yank. While she initially did not mind being called "The Body", McDonald soon grew tired of the nickname and focus on her body and expressed a desire to be known for her acting and singing skills. In 1944, McDonald co-starred in Guest in the House, in which she received the first positive reviews in her career. Her next starring role came when she worked for independent producer Edward Small as the title character in the 1945 screwball comedy Getting Gertie's Garter. In 1947, McDonald signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and co-starred with Gene Kelly in Living in a Big Way (1947). She later toured the world in a very successful nightclub act. She returned to the screen in 1958, when she was cast as actress Lola Livingston in The Geisha Boy, a slapstick comedy, opposite Jerry Lewis. In 1963, she made her last film appearance in the sex comedy Promises! Promises!, opposite Jayne Mansfield.

McDonald's seven marriages (one remarry) and various romances kept her in the media throughout her career. At one point time, she was involved with gangster Bugsy Siegel. On October 21, 1965, McDonald's husband, Donald F. Taylor, found McDonald's body slumped over her dressing table in their Hidden Hills, California home. On October 30, the coroner announced that McDonald's death was caused by "active drug intoxication due to multiple drugs" and was determined to be an accident or a suicide. The case was then referred to a suicide team of psychologists and psychiatrists who would determine the final mode of McDonald's death. She was 42 years at the time of death, and interred at Forest Lawn-Glendale.