I can’t help but to think of all the people here. It seems like so many everywhere I turn. And I live in a small community. But the bigger picture is astounding, as we see that 7.753 billion people are roaming this planet at this very moment. When we consider all those humans, we see so many lives we will never know.
And that is right now. Since the beginning of humans, it is estimated that about 117 billion people have been born unto this Earth. That’s a whole lot of lives.
The one I mention today is Yvette Vickers. Today is her birthday, August 26, 1936, from Kansas City, Missouri. She was many things, of course, but Yvette was best known as a Playboy playmate, appearing in the July 1959 issue. Born in the “Show Me State.,” apparently, she took this to another level.
Yvette was also an actress known for her role in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Her interest in acting started in college when she attended the University of California at Los Angeles. A journalism major by choice. But she took an acting class and found out she enjoyed it.
So this turn she took, right there and then, would shape the rest of her life. And so it goes with all of us. We never know what one little decision will yield in the long run.
Back to Yvette. She appeared in several commercials for White Rain, then went on to movies starting in 1950.
But her best-known role came in 1958 when she appeared as Honey Parker in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
I don’t remember ever seeing the film, but apparently, she plays the role of the town floozy who has an affair with Harry Archer. As if that were not big enough, the following year, she played the role of Liz Walker in Attack of the Giant Leeches.
And then there was the Playboy thing — 1959 Playmate of the Month in the July issue. Yvette also appeared in a lot of other men’s magazines.
Maybe it was because of this, or maybe not, but her film roles began to decrease around this time. A few bit parts here and there.
As for her personal life, it seems she had a lot of misses. She had three marriages and three divorces. Each of those relationships only lasted about two years. This all happened between 1953 and 1967. Along with this, she had a long-term relationship with actor Jim Hutton and a recurring relationship with actor Cary Grant.
She started out rolling with success. But then it just stopped.
Fast forward to 2010. That was the last time anyone saw her alive. Yvette had withdrawn from family, friends, and much of everything else.
Sadly, her mummified body was discovered by actress and neighbor Susan Savage on April 27, 2011, at her home in Beverly Hills. It was hard telling when she died, but forensic scientists concluded she was probably dead for as long as a year before her body was discovered. Most likely, she had a heart attack. And no one noticed.
For whatever reason, her half-brother Perry Palmer retained possession of her ashes.
I wonder, if she had stuck with journalism back then in college, how things might have gone for her down that path.
We can never know these things, though. So many people, so many decisions made. So many lives are turning this way and that.
And so we go. Today, may we all choose wisely. Yet. We will never know how it might have gone if we went the other way.
==========
“We are our choices.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre
============
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
============
“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.”
— William Morris
===========
