Angie Dickinson’s Life Through Rare Vintage Photos

Angie Dickinson was born with the name Angeline Brown on September 30 in the year 1931, to Fredericka and Leo Henry Brown. She was the second child of her parents. Angeline was lovingly called Angie (for short) by her family and pals.

Little did anyone know that years later, this name would catch on and this America’s sweetheart would be known as Angie. There’s a bit of story behind that too. But, we’ll get to that later.

The Browns followed Catholicism. Her father Leo Henry Brown published and edited two local newspapers namely Kulm Messenger and the Edgeley Mail. He also doubled up as the movie projectionist in the town’s sole theater.

Because her father worked as a movie projectionist, Angie was introduced to the world of movies from her childhood falling in love with them in no time. If only Angie knew that one day she will rule the hearts of America as a star.

Inspired by her father’s work, Angie initially aspired to become a writer. Though she loved watching movies, becoming an actor was the last thing on her mind. But she was a good writer and at 14, Angie won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest.

Angie then pursued her business studies from Glendale Community College. In addition to that, she also worked as a secretary at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank.

While pursuing her business studies from Glendale Community College, Angie fell in love with Gene Dickinson, the jock from the school’s football team. The duo began dating and even decided to get married in 1952.

Angeline Brown, after her marriage, came to be known as Angie Dickinson. The couple then separated, seven years later, in 1960. However, a few reports suggest that the couple had already separated a year before.

Angie’s entry into the world of showbiz was by fluke – and not planned. Angie had participated in a local pageant Miss America. She made it to its final, coming in second. Apparently, the pageant was attended by a casting agent who spotted her and cast her as a line dancer in The Jimmy Durante Show.

The show gained her exposure. She was advised to consider a career in acting. Things were looking bright for her and how!

Angie gave it a thought and took the formal route. She studied acting before she went on to do NBC’s The Colgate Comedy Hour. 1954 saw her television debut. Her smashing debut led her to do other projects such as Tombstone Territory, Broken Arrow, Grey Ghost, It’s A Great Life, and more.

In the same period, Angie also made a couple of appearances in a handful of movies including Lucky Me, The Return of Jack Slade, China Gate, and more.

In 1960, Angie was cast as Frank Sinatra’s life partner in Ocean’s 11. The two were also romantically involved and dated for almost a decade. They eventually called it quits in 1964, but remained lifelong friends.

In a 2019 interview to CBS, Angie admitted she was ‘very close’ to marrying the star Frank Sinatra in 1964. The duo had first met on the set of The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1954.

Angie Dickinson landed her first major role when she was cast as a lead in 1959 production Rio Bravo. In the movie, she played the role of flirtatious ‘feathers.’ The movie changed her image to a large extent making her the latest pin-up girl on the block.

However, Dickinson couldn’t relish this success as Hawks (movie’s director) sold her contract to Warner Brother without her consent. Did this move work in her favor? Let us find out!

At Warner Brothers, Angie was downgraded to secondary roles. This did not sit well with Dickinson. She felt she was going backward. But, this situation did not last for long as she was offered leading roles in the next decade.

Dickinson went on to do The Chase with Marlon Brando in 1966. During this period, she also did movies such as Jessica, Rome Adventure, Captain Newman, M.D. and The Sins of Rachel Cade.

In March 1966, men’s magazine Esquire featured Dickinson in its issue. Dickinson for the photoshoot exposed a lot, wearing just a powder blue cardigan and a pair of white kitten heels. The cover went on to become one of the iconic covers of the magazine.

It also catapulted Dickinson’s status as a Hollywood siren in the people’s imagination. The iconic image was recreated again in the future by pop sensation Britney Spears and Victoria Angels.

In 1974, Dickinson was seen playing Suzanne Pepper Anderson in an episode of Police Story. Her appearance became so popular that NBC decided to develop its spinoff titled Police Woman.

Dickinson was initially reluctant to come on board, but when she was told about the character’s popularity, she gave her resounding yes. We are glad she did as it increased female representation in lead roles (especially on procedural dramas) on the small screen. The series went off the air after a four-year successful run.

In 1965, Dickinson got married again. She got hitched to composer Burt Bacharach. However, their marriage was far from ideal. In a 2019 interview to CBS, Dickinson even opened up about her marriage to Burt.

In the interview she said, “He never loved me and had no respect for me.” The couple parted ways in 1981. They had a daughter Lea Nikki from their union. Unfortunately, Lea passed away in 2007.

Angie Dickinson was rumored to have had a torrid affair with US President John F. Kennedy. The duo was apparently introduced by Dickinson’s ex-flame Frank Sinatra at a party.

Sinatra took her to a party hosted by Kennedy’s sister Pat before 1960 Democratic Convention. They were introduced and speculated to have hit it off instantly, on the spot. However, neither Kennedy nor Dickinson ever addressed the truth behind their rumored affair.

In 1989, Angie Dickinson returned a hefty signing amount of her planned autobiography. Apparently, the publisher wanted her to ‘come clean’ about her rumored affair with President John F Kennedy. Dickinson refused to incorporate a chapter on the same, returning the entire amount.

By then she had completed writing around hundred pages. The autobiography was thus canned and never took off. However, Dickinson has expressed her desire to write in the recent interviews.

Police Woman proved to be a path breaking series culturally. It inspired more and more women to join the police departments across the U.S. In 1987, Dickinson’s efforts were recognized by LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) who awarded her with an honorary doctorate.

Police Woman changed the face of television content and paved the path for female centric and female led television shows such as Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman.

After ruling the small screen for four years with Police Woman, Angie returned to the big screen in 1980 with Dressed to Kill, where she played the role of a housewife Kate Miller. Angie Dickinson gave a spectacular performance in it and wowed the audience with her acting chops.

Angie regards Kate’s character close to her heart, and credits the film’s director Brian De Palma for extracting a noteworthy performance from her.

Angie was supposed to return the small screen with her own show The Angie Dickinson Show. However, after shooting the initial episodes, Angie felt it’s better to can the show as the humor was not up to the mark, as per her standards.

She was later seen in a host of specials such as Jealousy, A Touch of Scandal, Stillwatch, Hollywood Wives, and more during the late 1980s. She also tried singing on camera during this time.

During this period, Angie became romantically involved with one of the leading heroes of her film aka Glenn Ford. Ford and Angie had starred together in 1967 production The Last Challenge.

Recalling her interaction, Angie in an interview with The Spectrum said, “When we were preparing for the horse-riding scene, he looked at me and said, you are sitting too tall. So I had to slouch,’’ before describing him as a stay-at-home kind of guy.

The ‘90s brought new love for Angie as she began dating television presenter Larry King. They began dating in July 1990 and continued their romance for several years. However, there is sparse information about the exact timeline of their relationship.

But the duo was seen on several occasions together. Angie on a few occasions appeared on Larry’s shows as well. Larry King passed away earlier this year in January due to sepsis.

Angie Dickinson has been nominated for EMMYs thrice consecutively in 1975, 1976 and 1977. She was nominated for EMMYs for her wildly popular procedural drama The Police Woman.

For the same, Dickinson was nominated for Golden Globes (again consecutively) in 1960, 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978. Angie managed to score two Golden Globes for Police Woman in 1960 and 1975. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1987.

Angie Dickinson has a fine sense of humor which she has displayed on and off screen on numerous occasions. One of her humorous quips and quotes include “My mother was against me being an actress- until I introduced her to Frank Sinatra.”

Another famous quote of hers is this one – “I dress for women. I undress for men / There is a difference between a Hollywood wife and a Hollywood woman.”

Angie Dickinson is quite realistic about the inescapable process of aging. However, she feels that she is lucky to have a little leeway when it comes to ‘looking the part.’

In one of her interviews, she mentions, “You can’t stop the aging process. There’s only so much oil you can put on your body. I’ve always tried to go with my age. If the part requires somebody a little younger or older, I can probably get away with that.”

In November 1993, Angie Dickinson ‘famously’ stormed out of the set of This is Your Life: Special Episode. Apparently, she was told by the show’s host that she would be reuniting with the director Brian De Palma.

But, the show’s host went back on his promise. Unhappy with how things were folding, Angie left the show’s set in a fit of rage – an unthinkable thing to do in that era.

Her immensely popular show Police Woman had legions of fans. Some of these fans included various celebrities and big shots. US President Gerald Ford, for example, is believed to be one such high profile fan of her show.

As per one of the reports, Ford once rescheduled his White House press conference so as not to miss an episode of Police Woman. Such was the craze of her show Police Woman.

Angie Dickinson is the only female actor to have appeared twice in Ocean’s 11. In the original Ocean’s 11, Angie played the role of Beatrice Ocean. She returned to play a small part in the rebooted version of Ocean’s Eleven (starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts) in 2001.

Besides Angie, Henry Silva is the only other actor to appear in the original and the rebooted version of the film. Have you watched the 1960 version of the film yet?

Angie’s daughter Lea (from her second marriage to Burt) took her own life in 2007. Lea was born prematurely. She suffered from a host of severe health issues including Asperger Syndrome.

In the latter years of her life, Lea was admitted to a psychiatric residential treatment centre. It was a joint decision by Burt and Angie. Dickinson let go of many roles just to be with her.

In 2000, Dickinson became a bit selective about the work she was doing. Dickinson’s 2000 -2004, on a professional front, is marked with fewer projects as compared to her 1990s timeline.

During this period Dickinson was seen in projects such as Comanche, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales For Every Child, Duets, Pay It Forward, The Last Producer, Big Bad Love, Elvis Has Left The Building and Judging Amy besides the Ocean’s Eleven.

Angie Dickinson has been away from the spotlight for a while. She was last seen in a 2019 television movie Mending Fences wherein she played the role of Ruth Hanson. Before that, she was seen in 2004 television series Judging Amy as Evelyn Worth.

In 2019, her vintage pictures were part of the celebration schedule of Memphis Film Festival. Dickinson, now in her late 80s, has more or less retired – making a rare appearance here and there.

Many of Angie Dickinson’s interviews are refreshing reads and watch as she presents the issue as it is without sugarcoating it. The acting doyenne, in an interview to Culture Map Austin, opened up about the ageist attitude of Hollywood towards its female actors.

She said that at her age, roles are hard to come by and how she would prefer to sleep, rather than waking up at five in the morning to do a terrible part in some project.

In the same interview, Angie Dickinson opened up about her favorite actors. She admitted of seeing their works and getting blown away by some of their performances. Angie listed Jessica Biel, Emma Stone, Craig Ferguson, Eloise Mumford as her favorites from the new crop of actors.

She also admitted of like sultry appeal of performers such as Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Garner, Brad Pitt, Jessie Biel, and George Clooney.