Beautifully Tragic Models: 1950s to Present
Joi Lansing: 1950s Pinup
Joi Lansing was born in Salt Lake City Utah on April 6, 1928. Her family moved to Los Angeles California in 1940 and Joi immediately rushed to all of the Hollywood studios in hopes of being noticed. In the good old days of the studio system, an actress could easily be signed and then begin collecting a paycheck whether or not she was given any parts in movies.
As luck would have it, Joi was signed with MGM at the age of 14. She was living every girl's dream; a glamorous life at the studio where she actually finished high school, took dancing lessons, voice lessons, and was regularly thrown bit parts in movies.
Joi was riding high! All of this fun and a handsome paycheck to boot! It was not long before Joi married her first husband, Jerry Safron, in 1950 at the age of 17. It was a short-lived union that ended in an annulment. It was a personal failure but Joi was too young and had too many other options to stay focused on one man.
Publicity still of Joi Lansing
Mickey Rooney and Modeling
She was soon dating Mickey Rooney exclusively every night, and the couple was seen at all the hot spots such as Ciro's and the Mogambo. Joi was living the fantasy of many pretty young girls with high hopes of Hollywood stardom; dressing up, modeling pretty clothes, and being paid to improve her talents made her girlfriends' day jobs seem mundane and it was impossible for Joi to want a simple life of motherhood and family.
In 1948 she had a good role as a model in The Counterfeiters, and then went on to star in a number of cheesy movies in which she had good solid parts and continued to develop as an actress.
1950s Curvy
Lansing was given several roles that allowed her to wear skimpy and tight-fitting clothing as the 1950s curvy look gained popularity. Joi was 5' 4" and barely 105 pounds, with a small waist and platinum hair. She was the ideal image of the pinup girl which led to many more parts in B movies and some memorable roles in Superman and the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour.
Just when things seemed to be solidifying in her career; there had been plans to cast her as Superman's wife in the new Superman series, but tragically, actor George Reeves mysteriously died and Joi was back to accepting parts on popular television shows but nothing permanent.
Joi Lansing after plastic surgery of the jaw and chin
Plastic Surgery on Jawline
Although she was beautiful, she fretted over her imperfections and their ramifications on her career. Joi had a fine shapely and slender frame but her facial proportions were less than ideal. This led her to get plastic surgery on her jawline. In Lansing's youth, her cheeks looked large in comparison to her small and slightly receding chin and jaw. After having facial implants, she looked more balanced and symmetrical.
As she aged she desperately struggled with trying to develop her career into something more meaningful. Joi was getting older and still had no children in her personal life and had not reached the notoriety that she had hoped for.
Unsuccessful Marriages
The life that seemed so promising when Joi first landed her studio job as a teenager was now empty and depressing. She married for the second time in 1951 to Lance Fuller, and was divorced by 1953. She married her third husband, Stan Todd, in 1962 with the hope that she would develop a solid career and then focus on a traditional family life.
Just like Marilyn Monroe, Lansing began to feel depressed in her 30s due to her desire to live a normal, traditional life. Her face and figure were becoming the things that she clung to, and her last memorable and substantial appearances were on the popular sitcom, The Mothers In Law, in late 1968.
Breast Cancer and Death
Joi was devastated when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and whether she had a lumpectomy or a breast removed was not publicly released, but she definitely had an operation that failed, as she died later that same year in 1972 at the age of 44.
Sharon Tate in a press photo for the May 1969 issue of Eye Magazine.
The Murder of Sharon Tate
When one hears of tragic beauty the first thing that comes to mind is very often, Sharon Tate and the brutal murder that took the lives of Sharon, her house guests, and her unborn child.
She had come from Texas in hopes of gaining fame and fortune as a Hollywood actress, and all seemed to be going as planned for Sharon. She was quickly noticed and landed a string of modeling jobs and bit parts on The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and popular situation comedies of the early 1960s.
Marriage to Roman Polanski
Sharon was on the fast track to fame and fortune by all accounts, but she shocked friends when she chose to marry Roman Polanski, a short, unattractive man who was considered to be an up-and-coming director. Sharon was at the point in her life where she wanted to settle down, and her new husband was more interested in exploiting his wife's beauty than in marrying and starting a family.
However, the two did marry in the modern fashion of the time with the groom dressed in a flashy coat in the "Sargent Pepper" Beatles style, while Sharon wore a mini dress. She soon discovered that she was pregnant and made every attempt to hide the fact from her husband, who would have told her to get an abortion. After several months Sharon told Roman that she was having a baby, and he was furious.
Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski at their Cielo Drive home
Reluctant Polanski
After a rather depressing and lonely few months of pregnancy Roman eventually warmed up to the idea of being a father and Sharon was thrilled with her life. The couple lived in a rented home on Cielo Drive.
The marriage was a strained one as Roman regularly cheated on Sharon, and it's reported that Sharon had a few flings that were generated by the neglect of her husband.
Manson Family
On August 9, 1969, Roman was in Europe and Sharon was 8 months pregnant at home with several house guests when the Charles Manson gang broke into their home and began savagely stabbing all of them. Sharon begged that they spare the life of her unborn baby, asking that they keep her alive just to deliver the baby and then kill her.
The gang pondered the idea for a while but then remembered that their ultimate hatred was people who had earned money, and Sharon was a "rich pig" in their eyes, so they went on stabbing her 16 times.
Roman Polanski came back from Europe to find the ultimate tragedy, his wife was dead at the age of 26.
The Murder of Dorothy Stratten
Dorothy Stratten was born on February 28, 1960, in Canada. Her parents were Dutch immigrants who had a son one year after Dorothy was born and then another girl, Louise Stratten in 1968.
In 1977 Dorothy was working at Dairy Queen when she met a 26-year-old pimp, promoter, and drug dealer, Paul Snider. Paul was bad news for Dorothy, for he began romancing her without regard to her delicate age and took her to a studio to have professional nude photographs taken of her and sent them off to Playboy.