Sunday, January 15, 2012

Stalker-esses

by David J. Schow

Many bios for Nina and/or Carol Wayne mistakenly assume they were the same person.  The sisters were born about a year apart — some sources cite 1941 or 1942 for Carol, 1943 for Nina. They posed together for a Playboy pictorial in 1984.

Sis Carol perished under dire circumstances in 1985 after appearing in Heartbreakers with Peter Coyote and Nick Mancuso (a Bobby Roth movie STILL not available on DVD); see:

http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/w/Carolwayne/CarolWayne.htm
 
Carol Wayne

Carol Wayne
Carol was also “Art Fern”’s Matinee Lady for the many Tea-Time Movie skits on The Tonight Show.



Nina Wayne had a slightly harsher “look” than her sister, and apparently The Night Strangler was her final credited appearance, although she is still living.

Nina Wayne
Nina Wayne
Nina Wayne
Nina Wayne
Both also worked the Folies Bergere in Vegas during the mid-60s.



Who cares whether Jo Ann Pflug had a belly dancing double for a couple of fleeting long shots?  The most interesting thing to me about those club scenes comes when Charisma Beauty is introduced, and the music riles up … and it is the smokiest, sleaziest, downright COOLEST “fake belly-dancing music” ever – I don’t know whether Robert Cobert composed it, or it was a library cue, or what … but I’d love to have a whole album of it.

Jo Ann Pflug
Jo Ann Pflug


Anne Randall, the spunky “Shiela” of The Night Strangler, was also a Playboy Playmate you may recall glimpsing in Westworld, as well.

Anne Randall

Elaine Giftos

Joyce Jillson


Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley was the go-to TV Movie woman of the 1970s, sort of a TV version of Lee Remick, with a slightly arctic, aloof look.  She’s the “ice” to Pflug’s “fire” in the Night Stalker pantheon.  The loss of Carl Kolchak’s sex life is probably the largest deficit in the series iteration of the character — one quickly gets the impression that Carl only eats chili and spends the rest of his time chasing one improbable monster after another.  In The Night Stalker, he drinks (from the first scene!) and is obviously involved in a relationship with a lady of the evening.  In Strangler, he seems to be on the wagon (although he is first glimpsed in a bar), and is equally obliquely involved with Louise Harper (he’s protective of her and she decamps Seattle with him); then, in the series — no girlfriends.

Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley

(I once included a bird-feeder hat-tip to Carl in a screenplay [which went nowhere] featuring Carl’s illegitimate daughter Annie Kolascheck as a character, also a reporter.  She may yet appear to tell us more about her wayward dad.)

We invite our adult clientele to venture behind the curtain into Omar's Tent.


David J. Schow (DJS) is the author of numerous short stories, novels, screenplays, and critical commentary all worthy of your attention. His latest novels include the critically acclaimed thriller Internecine and the forthcoming Upgunned. He was an integral part of both A Thriller A Day (ATAD) and We Are Controlling Transmission (WACT), and we do our best to drag him along wherever we go. As for the photo to the right, here's what DJS had to say: "Coincidence?  You be the judge ... photo taken at Maila Nurmi's funeral (and digitally massaged by Pete Von Sholly).  Maila just happened to be buried cater-corner to McGavin."

7 comments:

  1. Great collection of beauties, David. Thank you for assembling them for us. I'm a little upset though, as there is one glaring omission. Where in the name of all things sexy is Virginia Peters, the actress who portrayed Charisma Beauty's love interest, "Wilma Krankheimer"?Certainly she must have a Playboy spread hidden deep in her closet, no???

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  2. Yes, you should provide equal coverage for the homely and less lovely Stalker-esses. I don't think I can take anymore of the nude, pretty types. My tongue almost got stuck to the computer screen.

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  3. Yeah, where's Alice Ghostly in a thong?

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  4. Carol Wayne stands out the most in my mind. I remember her primarily for her many appearances on The Tonight Show, where she would play the typical dumb blonde and Johnny would make joke after joke about her big boobs. That pictorial she did in Playboy was rather shocking; unlike most celebrity pics in the mag where it's more tease and cheesecake that don't really reveal anything her photos were surprisingly graphic and hid none of her statuesque physique. Early in her career she auditioned for the role of Billie in Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat Kill Kill but despite having in her bra what Meyer appreciated most in his actresses lost it to Lori Williams because of her high-pitched and squeaky cartoon voice.

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  5. At this point it behooves me to point out that this habitual cheap-shot, lowbrow, go-for-the-skin approach is typical of the emotions roused by every blog JS & PE do. It all started with THRILLER. Who could imagine a pinup gallery for THRILLER? Well, we did, and it was amazing.

    Equal-time mandates caused us to erect (!) a gallery of hot males, so as not to alienate or belittle our most-important female demographic.

    Let's start with McGavin. He took his shirt off in A LOT of movies.

    Due diligence also requires us to provide the following link:

    http://www.darrenmcgavin.net/

    Want to read THE NIGHT KILLERS? It's here:

    http://www.darrenmcgavin.net/unproduced_ns_scripts.htm

    Updyke's web page! See:

    http://home1.gte.net/cpq175yy/index.htm

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    Replies
    1. Just links? Where's my pinup page? Sigh. Well, it's the thought that counts. Thanks for that, DJS. I'll send John the necessary links to the beefcake photos that we ladies rightly deserve to see around here.

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