Barbara Nichols
{{short description|American actress (1928–1976)}}
{{for|the American nurse leader|Barbara L. Nichols}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2012}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Barbara Nichols
| image = File:Barbara Nichols 1956.jpg
| caption = Nichols in 1956
| birth_name = Barbara Marie Nickerauer
| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|12|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Mineola, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|10|5|1928|12|30|mf=y}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Pinelawn Memorial Park
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1953–1976
}}
Barbara Marie Nickerauer (December 10, 1928Some sources formerly cited December 30, 1929, as her date of birth, although December 10, 1928, is accurate.
[http://death-records.mooseroots.com/ Search under Barbara Nickerauer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015064653/http://death-records.mooseroots.com/ |date=October 15, 2017}}, death-records.mooseroots.com; accessed March 20, 2016. – October 5, 1976), known professionally as Barbara Nichols, was an American actress who often played brassy or comic roles in films in the 1950s and 1960s.
Early life and career
Nichols was born Barbara Marie Nickerauer to George and Julia Nickerauer and was raised in Queens, New York.{{Citation needed |date=October 2022}}
Early in her career, Nichols was a showgirl when a club owner offered her a much higher salary to perform striptease. She declined the offer, keeping her focus on becoming an actress.{{cite news |title=Her Career Is a Teaser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55697569/barbara-nichols/ |accessdate=July 20, 2020 |work=Chattanooga Daily Times |agency=Associated Press |date=May 10, 1959 |location=Tennessee, Chattanooga |page=24 |via=Newspapers.com}} She began modeling for cheesecake magazines in the late 1940s and eventually was considered a minor rival to Marilyn Monroe. On Broadway, she appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey (she also appeared in the 1957 film version) and in Let It Ride (1961).{{IBDB name|95266}} In the mid-1950s, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing in showy supporting roles in A-films, such as Miracle in the Rain (1956), The King and Four Queens (1956), The Naked and the Dead (1958), The Pajama Game (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), That Kind of Woman (1958), and Where the Boys Are (1960), with high-profile actors, including Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Sophia Loren, and Doris Day. One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science-fiction film The Human Duplicators. Her final film was Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood in 1976.
Nichols was a frequent guest star on many television series, including It's a Great Life, The Jack Benny Television Show, The Twilight Zone (in the episode "Twenty Two" S2 E17 1961), The Untouchables, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Going My Way, Batman (episodes 35 and 36), Hawaii Five-O, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies.
Death
Nichols died on October 5, 1976, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from liver failure due to complications of a damaged spleen and liver reportedly sustained in separate automobile accidents many years earlier.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19761007&id=degzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3jIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=5207,3753094 |title=Barbara Nichols, 'dizzy blonde' actress, is dead |accessdate=October 19, 2012 |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |date=October 7, 1976}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/07/archives/barbara-nichols-dies-at-47-was-movie-and-tv-actress.html |title=Barbara Nichols Dies at 47 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 7, 1976 |accessdate=June 29, 2020 |url-access=subscription}} She is interred at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York.{{cite web |title=Obituary for Actress Barbara Nichols (Aged 47) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104843107/obituary-for-actress-barbara-nichols/ |website=Newsday (Suffolk Edition) |date=October 7, 1976}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Film |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1954
| Blonde dancer | Uncredited |
| 1956
| Manfish | Mimi | |
| 1956
| Miracle in the Rain{{Broken anchor|date=2024-10-10|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Miracle in the Rain#Film version|reason= The anchor (Film version) has been deleted.}} | Arlene Parker née Witchy | |
| 1956
| Dolly Moore | |
| 1956
| Sandy | |
| 1956
| Birdie McDade | |
| 1957
| Rita | |
| 1957
| Poopsie | |
| 1957
| Pal Joey | Gladys | |
| 1958
| Stella | |
| 1958
| Mildred Croft | |
| 1959
| Mayme Radzevitch | |
| 1959
| Jane | |
| 1960
| Gloria Coogle | |
| 1960
| Lola Fandango | |
| 1961
| |
| 1962
| Candy Kane | |
| 1964
| Gaye Swinger | |
| 1964
| June Loveland | |
| 1964
| Miss Marlowe | |
| 1965
| Gale Wilson | (Alternative title: Jaws of the Alien) |
| 1965
| Sadie Blodgett | |
| 1966
| Blossom LaTour | |
| 1968
| Flora | |
| 1968
| | (Alternative titles: Seven Men and One Brain and Sette uomini e un cervello) |
| 1973
| Sadie | |
| 1974
| Mrs. Wilde | |
| 1976
| Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood | Nick's Girl | |
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Television |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Episodes |
|---|
| 1953
| First Pretty Girl | Season 6 Episode 11: "Complications of a Nervous Man" |
| 1954
| The Mask | | Season 1 Episode 1: "Murder in the Burlesque House" |
| 1954
| The United States Steel Hour | Bridie | Season 1 Episode 17: "Good for You" |
| 1954
| The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse | Ruth | Season 6 Episode 24: "The Man in the Middle of the Ocean" |
| 1954
| | Season 1 Episode 9: "Heart of a Clown" |
| 1954
| Bar Patron / Party Flirt / Bobsey Baxter | Season 5 Episode 10: "Fred Allen's Sketchbook" |
| 1955
| Danger | Scheherazade | Season 5 Episode 32: "Sandy River Blues" |
| 1956
| Rosie | Episode: "Double Cross" |
| 1956
| Caroline Cabot | Season 2 Episode 29: "Glamour Doll" |
| 1956
| Sheila | Season 2 Episode 29: "The Con Man" |
| 1957
| | Season 3 Episode 62: "The Gentleman Caller" |
| 1957
| Jeri Ames | Season 1 Episode 14: "Unwelcome Alibi" |
| 1958
| Marian Billington | Season 5 Episode 1: "Bob and Schultzy Reunite" |
| 1958
| Maverick | Blanche | Season 1 Episode 15: "The Third Rider" |
| 1958
| Love That Jill | Ginger | 13 episodes |
| 1958
| Miss Kim O'Day | Season 4 Episode 7 |
| 1958
| Climax! | Dale Benson | Season 4 Episode 30: "The Push-Button Giant" |
| 1958
| Dragnet | | Season 8 Episode 3: "The Big Star" |
| 1958
| Guest | Episode dated November 19, 1958 |
| 1958
| Gertie, Bolivar's Girlfriend | Season 7 Episode 26: "Bolivar Gets Amnesia" |
| 1958
| Mildred Meyerhouser | Season 9 Episode 8: "Christmas Gift Exchange" |
| 1959
| Mildred Meyerhouser | Season 10 Episode 4: "The Jimmy Stewart Show" (uncredited) |
| 1959
| Rita Fay | Season 2 Episode 12: "The Case of the Baggy Pants" |
| 1959
| Myrtle, Bolivar's Girlfriend | Season 9 Episode 10: "Bolivar the Songwriter" |
| 1959
| Brandy LaFrance | Television movie |
| 1959
| Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse | Brandy LaFrance | Season 1 Episode 20: "The Untouchable: Part 1" |
| 1959
| Gladys Slade | Season 3 Episode 11: "The Politician" |
| 1959
| Brandy LaFrance | Pilot Episode |
| 1959
| | Season 1 Episode 10: "There Goes the Groom" |
| 1960
| Gertie, Bolivar's Girlfriend | Season 9 Episode 19: "Bolivar and the Roaring Twenties" |
| 1960
| Mildred Meyerhouser | Season 10 Episode 14: "Easter Show" |
| 1960
| Sadie Wren | Season 1 Episode 6: "A Time to Run" |
| 1961
| Liz Powell | Season 2 Episode 17: "Twenty Two" |
| 1961
| Leslie Blaine | Season 9 Episode 24: "The Small Elephants" |
| 1961
| Topaz McQueen | Season 1 Episode 26: "Marriage Can Be Fatal" |
| 1961
| The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor | Abby Landis | Season 2 Episode 34: "Duty Date" |
| 1961
| Kitty | Season 1 Episode 18: "Kitty" |
| 1961
| Lorraine Hadley | Season 1 Episode 23: "House Guest" |
| 1962
| Bunny Easter | Season 1 Episode 29: "No Strings Attached" |
| 1963
| Willy Simms | Season 2 Episode 17: "Five, Six, Pick Up Sticks" |
| 1963
| Marie | Season 1 Episode 21: "Has Anyone Seen Eddie?" |
| 1963
| Barbara Adams | Season 1 Episode 7: "All About Barbara" |
| 1963
| Ginny | Season 1 Episode 2: "Isn't It a Lovely View" |
| 1963
| Grindl | Wilma Bryan | Season 1 Episode 8: "Grindl, Witness for the Defense" |
| 1963
| Chickadee Laverne | Season 2 Episode 6: "Jethro's First Love" |
| 1964
| Ann Hilts | Season 1 Episode 15: "My Enemy, This Town" |
| 1964
| The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters | Mamie | Season 1 Episode 25: "The Day of the Dark Deeds" |
| 1965
| Laredo | Princess | Season 1 Episode 7: "A Question of Discipline" |
| 1966
| Bessie | Season 1 Episode 20: "The Night of the Whirring Death" |
| 1966
| Batman | Maid Marilyn | Season 2 Episode 1: "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" |
| 1967
| Wanda | Season 2 Episode 20: "Never Take Your Wife to a Convention" |
| 1967
| Ida Martz | Season 1 Episode 25: "The Phi Beta Killer Affair" |
| 1967
| Kitty, Big Sam's Moll | Season 2 Episode 11: "The Honeymooners: Two Faces of Ralph Kramden" |
| 1969
| Betsy | Season 2 Episode 1: "A Thousand Pardons - You're Dead!" |
| 1971
| Effie | Season 1 Episode 14: "Greener Pastures" |
| 1971
| Mrs. Hollister | Season 4 Episode 9: "Have I Got a Fellow for You!" |
| 1971
| Gladys | Season 3 Episode 14 (Segment: "Love and the Doctor's Honeymoon") |
| 1971
| Adam-12 | Ginger Stephens | Season 4 Episode 7: "Truant" |
| 1972
| Adam-12 | Janice Walker | Season 5 Episode 9: "Vendetta" |
| 1973
| Adam-12 | Elizabeth Mitchell | Season 6 Episode 4: "West Valley Division" |
| 1974
| Ginger | Season 4 Episode 12: "Details" |
| 1974
| Marie Antionette | Season 3 Episode 13: "Blue Christmas" |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- {{Find a Grave|6274929}}
- {{IMDb name}}
- {{IBDB name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Barbara}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American female models
Category:American film actresses
Category:American musical theatre actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Deaths from liver failure
Category:Actresses from Queens, New York
Category:20th-century American singers