Beverly Michaels

Michaels began her career at the age of 16 in 1944 as a showgirl at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub in New York. Her stage debut, also at age 16, was in the play Glad to See You which ran in Philadelphia and Boston from November 1944 to January 1945.{{cite book |last1=Koper |first1=Richard |title=Fifties Blondes: Sexbombs, Sirens, Bad Girls and Teen Queens |date=2010 |publisher=BearManor Media |location=Albany GA |isbn=9781593935214 |page=203}} After that show closed, she was a dancer in Havana for about a year. Returning to the US, she worked as a chorus girl on Broadway.{{cite web |last1=Stephens |first1=Chuck |title=A Face In The Crowd: Beverly Michaels |url=https://www.filmcomment.com/article/beverly-michaels-noir-attack-of-the-100-foot-hotcha/ |website=Film Comment |publisher=Film at Lincoln Center |access-date=7 February 2021}}

Arriving in Hollywood in 1948 at the age of 21 and standing at least 5 feet 9 inches tall{{cite book |title=Koper op cit |pages=204–205}} (some sources cited 6 feet),[https://www.newspapers.com/image/587564921/?terms=actress%20beverly%20michaels%20bus%20driver&match=1 "Beverly Michaels Tallest Actress in Movie Colony"], Johnson City Press, Johnson City, Tennessee, November 28, 1953.Wilson, Earl. [https://www.newspapers.com/image/259143408/?terms=%22actress%20beverly%20michaels%22 "It Happened One Night."] Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu, Hawaii. February 8, 1954 Michaels quickly found modeling jobs, in which she was initially credited as "Beverley Michaels." Under contract to MGM Studios, she made her first screen appearance in Mervyn LeRoy's East Side, West Side (February 1950), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, James Mason and Van Heflin.{{cite web |title=Beverly Michaels Filmography |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/20748-Beverly-Michaels?isMiscCredit=False |website=AFI Catalog |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=17 January 2021}}.

File:Beverly Michaels.jpg

Michaels then appeared in two films by independent film director and producer Hugo Haas. The first, the 1951 film noir Pickup, was a surprise hit, albeit a secondary B feature, and launched Haas's career as a Hollywood director. It also had a large part in starting the cycle of bad girl movies of the 1950s, which usually starred blonde sexpots. The New York Times' film reviewer wrote: "Beverly Michaels, a comparative newcomer, is flashily attractive, hard and vulgar as his two-timing mate, but her histrionics are, like the cheap character she portrays, coarse and in need of polishing."{{cite news |title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'Pickup,' Hugo Haas Film About Widower and Gold-Digger, Arrives at the World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/08/31/archives/the-screen-in-review-pickup-hugo-haas-film-about-widower-and.html |website=The New York Times | date=August 31, 1951 |access-date=17 January 2021}} Haas' follow-up release The Girl on the Bridge (1951) was his last picture with Michaels.

Michaels went on to win contracts with Columbia and, later, Universal Pictures. She also appeared in a Bowery Boys film No Holds Barred, released by low-budget studio Monogram Pictures in 1952.

In late 1952 Michaels toured Alaska for the USO, singing Christmas carols for the troops. At about this time, she met the director and screenwriter Russell Rouse,{{cite book |title=Koper op cit |pages=205–206}} who later became her second husband. Rouse cast her in a starring role in his film noir Wicked Woman (1954).{{cite news |title=At The Palace |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/03/27/archives/at-the-palace.html |website=The New York Times |date=March 27, 1954 |access-date=17 January 2021|last1=T |first1=-- H. H. }} The Village Voice praised her performance as "wonderfully lurid," and included the movie in a list of the 25 most memorable cult films.{{cite web |last1=Sarris |first1=Andrew |title=Those Wild and Crazy Cult Movies |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2019/12/04/those-wild-and-crazy-cult-movies/ |website=The Village Voice |date=December 4, 2019 |access-date=17 January 2021}}

Later roles included the 1955 noir film Crashout,{{cite news |last1=Kehr |first1=David |title=ON VIDEO:Escaping One Prison for Many |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/movies/homevideo/in-crashout-new-to-dvd-convicts-rush-to-nowhere.html |website=New York Times |date=July 26, 2013 |access-date=17 January 2021}} Hammer Films' Women Without Men (1956){{cite web |title=Women Without Men |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/women-without-men/2030055371/ |website=TV Guide |access-date=17 January 2021}}{{cite web |title=BFI Catalog op cit |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150056128}} and guest-starring roles in television shows.

In a 1954 newspaper interview, Michaels was questioned about her choice of racy roles:

"One of the penalties, she says, is that some people, especially the wolf type, can't forget it was just a movie. She has had, she says, to give several real-life brush-offs. However, Beverly says, they are things you have to accept. 'I get my share of wisecracks. But I ignore them. You have to. If you're going to play roles like I have, you have to expect to be a target for such remarks. I just pretend I don't hear them. If you're going to be supersensitive, you had better get out of the business...I always have hope that my next picture will make me a decent woman.'"

{{cite news |title=The Lady Is a Tramp |url=https://newspapers.com/image/447574173/?terms=actress%20Beverly%20Michaels&match=1 |access-date=7 February 2021 |work=The Bunkie Record, Bunkie Louisiana |date=May 14, 1954}}

Michaels was one of six children of Denzil and Catherine Michaels (nee Chisholm).{{cite book |title=Koper op cit |page=203}} She attended Cathedral City High School, where she played center on the girls' basketball team.{{cite news |title=Tallest Gal Film Star Basketball Courting |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/149966344/?terms=actress%20beverly%20michaels%20bus%20driver&match=1 |access-date=February 7, 2021 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=February 4, 1954}}

In 1949, she married MGM executive Voldemar Vetluguin, producer of her first film East Side, West Side.{{cite web |title=AFI op cit |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/152310-Voldemar-Vetluguin?sid=23fe0a4c-bb6f-4d34-b07c-2a4a88bfdef6&sr=12.850165&cp=1&pos=0&isMiscCredit=false}} She was 20; he was in his 50s.Marriage License Nr.SM-1442, State of California and Certificate of Marriage, September 2, 1949, Judge of the Municipal Court, Santa Monica, Los Angeles.{{cite news |title=Vetluguin, Who Popularized Cover Girl Photos, Dies |url=https://newspapers.com/image/683884972/?terms=voldemar%20vetluguin%201953&match=1 |access-date=February 6, 2021 |publisher=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=May 18, 1953}} They divorced in 1952.

In 1957, she married Russell Rouse,{{cite book |title=Carson City NV Marriage Index, op. cit.}} director and screenwriter of Wicked Woman and many other films.{{cite web |title=AFI op cit |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Search?searchField=Name_AltName_CharName&searchText=russell+rouse&sortType=sortByExactMatch}} They had two sons.{{cite book |title=Koper op cit |page=207}}{{cite news|title=Oscar-Winning Director and Writer Russell Rouse |date=October 4, 1987|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-10-04-mn-32900-story.html|access-date=2011-12-04}} One, film editor Christopher Rouse, won an Oscar in editing for The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007.{{cite web |title=Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database |url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/080-12/ |website=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science |access-date=February 13, 2021}} Michaels was a Democrat who supported Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers.

In the 1980s, a cult following grew among fans of the "bad girl" 1950s melodrama genre. While this public interest centered mostly on Cleo Moore, Diana Dors and Mamie Van Doren, Michaels' contributions were duly noted, including a tribute to Wicked Woman written by Lily Tomlin in the short-lived magazine Movies. After her retirement, she made an appearance at a film noir festival to honor her deceased husband Russell Rouse during a screening of "Wicked Woman."{{cite web |title=Discussion with Eddie Muller, March 7, 2002 |url=http://www.noirfilm.com/BC_Eddie_Muller.htm |website=The Danger and Despair Knitting Circle: A Resource for Classic Film Noir}}

After Rouse's death, Michaels moved from Southern California to Phoenix, Arizona, where she lived until her death from a stroke at the age of 79.

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