Darlene Tompkins

Tompkins was born in Chicago, Illinois on November 16, 1940.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200814223640/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2a79536 Darlene Tompkins] at the British Film Institute{{cite web

| title=Darlene Tompkins

| publisher=Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen | url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/516/Darlene+Tompkins/

| accessdate=2009-04-09 }} Her parents were divorced when she reached the age of five and she took the surname of her stepfather. Her family performed in plays and vaudeville, and she had an early goal to be a Hollywood actress. At the age of twelve she was mauled by a dog which left her very self-conscious. To help overcome her shyness, she was entered into a beauty contest by her mother. Her subsequent beauty pageant victories attracted some attention and she appeared in commercials.{{cite book

| first=Tom | last=Weaver | year=2002

| title=Science fiction confidential: interviews with 23 monster stars and film makers

| publisher=McFarland | isbn=0-7864-1175-9

| page=296 }}

Her first acting role was in Beyond the Time Barrier (1960). She then co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii (1961). She had a role in My Six Loves (1963) and played parts in several television shows.{{cite book

| title=Drive-in dream girls: a galaxy of B-movie starlets of the sixties

| first=Tom | last=Lisanti | year=2003

| publisher=McFarland | isbn=0-7864-1575-4

| pages=172–180 }}

Her career was interrupted by a marriage and the birth of two sons. She tried to resume acting again when the marriage ended in the mid-1970s, but by then she was in her thirties and had difficulty landing roles. Since then she worked as a stand-in and stuntwoman and remarried.

Tompkins died on July 18, 2019[https://web.archive.org/web/20200814223640/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2a79536 Darlene Tompkins] at the British Film Institute following complications of a stroke and was taken off life support.{{cite web|url=https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/elvis-co-star-darlene-tompkins-blue-hawaii-dies-at-78-she-was-on-life-support/|title=Elvis co-Star Darlene Tompkins (Blue Hawaii) dies at 78. She was on life support.|publisher=The Life and Times of Hollywood|date=2019-07-23|accessdate=2019-07-24|archive-date=July 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724233908/https://thelifeandtimesofhollywood.com/elvis-co-star-darlene-tompkins-blue-hawaii-dies-at-78-she-was-on-life-support/|url-status=dead}}

• {{IMDb name|0866995}}

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Category:1940 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from Chicago

Category:Place of death missing

Category:21st-century American women

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