She was one of a bevy of sexy blondes shuffled about in 50s films, thrust into the limelight by ambitious movie studios as possible contenders to Marilyn Monroe's uncooperative pedestal. Almost none of these ladies managed to even step up to the plate when it came to the powerful allure of "La Monroe" and Carol managed to be no different. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1927 and at age 19 ...
show all She was one of a bevy of sexy blondes shuffled about in 50s films, thrust into the limelight by ambitious movie studios as possible contenders to Marilyn Monroe's uncooperative pedestal. Almost none of these ladies managed to even step up to the plate when it came to the powerful allure of "La Monroe" and Carol managed to be no different. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1927 and at age 19 won the "Miss Utah" title (then a brunette), coming up fourth runner-up when she segued into the "Miss America" contest. The attention she received led to a modeling, commercial and magazine cover career. Paramount took interest and signed her in 1955, billing her, of course, as the "next Marilyn." But Carol came off more hardbitten and unsympathetic than the vulnerable, innocent sex goddess, and when the knockout blonde's first two movies "The Scarlet Hour (1956)" and "The Wild Party (1956)" tanked at the box office, she was quickly written off. Only a few more film offers came her way, including director William Castle's gimmicky "House on Haunted Hill (1959)" (her best known); the campy horror _Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told (1968)_; and her last, "The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974)". She had steadier work on TV with guest appearances on "Bat Masterson," "Perry Mason," "Get Smart," "Mannix" and "Barnaby Jones," but by 1974 she was pretty much history. Carol wed three times; one was a brief marriage in the late 1950s to actor Wayde Preston, who starred in the rugged "Colt .45" TV western. She found an interesting avenue outside the Hollywood scene in the 1970s studying metaphysics.
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