Sheree North, the platinum blond bombshell of 1950s musical motion pictures remembered by younger audiences for her continuing television roles as Lou Grant's sultry girlfriend on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Kramer's mother Babs on "Seinfeld," has died. She was 72.
North, who had been in good health, died unexpectedly Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications following surgery, said her daughter, Dawn Bessire of Santa Monica.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday November 08, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 29 words Type of Material: Correction
North obituary -- The obituary of actress Sheree North in Monday's California section, in listing her survivors, omitted her stepdaughter, Jessica Youd, of Los Angeles, and Youd's three sons.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday November 09, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
North obituary -- The obituary for actress Sheree North in Monday's California section referred to the Broadway play "6 Rms Riv Vu" as "6 Rms Riv Vue."
Groomed as a studio glamour girl who could substitute for the more famous but often unreliable Marilyn Monroe, North was later interviewed or cast in documentaries and shows about Monroe. Among them were the 1980 television movie "Marilyn: The Untold Story," in which she played Monroe's mother; and the documentaries "Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend" in 1987 and "Intimate Portrait: Marilyn Monroe" in 1996.
Hollywood insiders originally whispered that 20th Century Fox hired North only as a threat to the troublesome Monroe -- whom she did replace in the 1955 "How to Be Very, Very Popular," in which she outdanced and outshone the leggy Betty Grable. North not only shared Monroe's blond coiffure but almost exactly matched her height and measurements.
Unlike other studio-styled blonds such as Jayne Mansfield or Mamie Van Doren, North tried to change her bombshell image, allowing herself to age gracefully, work without makeup and segue into older character parts. She worked steadily, enjoying a half-century career on stage, television and in film. But she never quite shook the initial image as a beauty, which she blamed on studio-generated press coverage in the 1950s.
"Even today," she told The Times in 1983, lamenting that she had been rejected for several dramatic roles because of her looks, "there's still the same reaction when producers hear my name. They remember me as the blond who was to have taken over from Marilyn Monroe."
Born Dawn Bethel in Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 1933, North danced as a youngster with USO shows during World War II.
"I started dancing about the time I started to walk," she told The Times in 1953. She said she later sanded floors and parked cars to pay for ballet lessons.
Abandoning thoughts of becoming a ballerina, she opted for paying jobs in local nightclubs and the chorus line at the Greek Theatre.
She made her film debut in the 1951 "Excuse My Dust" starring Red Skelton. But despite her first few films, she became so discouraged about launching a show business career that she considered going to secretarial school.
