Carol Sydes Tony Dow Hugh Beaumont Leave It to Beaver 1960

Cindy Carol (born Annette Carol Sydes, October 11, 1944, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) is an American actress. She was credited as Carol Sydes before her starring role as

Gidget Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenaged daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenaged girl and her surfing fri ...

in ''

Gidget Goes to Rome ''Gidget Goes to Rome'' is a 1963 Columbia Pictures Eastmancolor feature film starring Cindy Carol as the archetypal high school teen surfer girl originally portrayed by Sandra Dee in the 1959 film ''Gidget''. The film is the third of three Gidge ...

'' (

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

Personal

She was born to Thomas and Ruth Sydes, who had three other children:

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

, Jonathan, and Debbie, Her father was a high school English teacher, and she attended

North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is located in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, in ...

, where she was a cheerleader.

Career

Carol's first recorded role was as an uncredited schoolgirl in ''

Good Morning, Miss Dove ''Good Morning, Miss Dove'' is a 1955 DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope film that tells the sentimental story of a beloved schoolteacher who reflects back on her life and former students when she is hospitalized. It stars Jennifer Jones, Robert Stack ...

'' (1955). Under the name of Carol Sydes, she made a guest appearance in an episode of ''

Medic A medic is a person involved in medicine such as a medical doctor, medical student, paramedic or an emergency medical responder. Among physicians in the UK, the term "medic" indicates someone who has followed a "medical" career path in postgra ...

'' that same year. This was followed by guest appearances in seven episodes of '' Leave It to Beaver'' in the years 1957–60, four of them in the role of Alma Hanson, the other three (one uncredited) in various other roles. Following guest appearance on ''

My Three Sons ''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chroni ...

'' in 1961 and ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary ...

'' in 1962, she played the roles of Betty in the film '' Cape Fear'' and Binkie Massey in the 1962–63

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series ''

The New Loretta Young Show ''The Loretta Young Show'' (originally known as ''Letter to Loretta'') is an American anthology drama television series broadcast on Sunday nights from September 2, 1953, to June 4, 1961, on NBC for a total of 165 episodes. The series was hosted ...

'', which ran only for 26 weeks. In 1963, taking the new stage name of Cindy Carol, she starred as Gidget in the third and final

feature film, ''Gidget Goes to Rome''. The role had previously been played by

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingén ...

and

Deborah Walley Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941May 10, 2001) was an American actress noted for playing the title role in ''Gidget Goes Hawaiian'' (1961) and appearing in several beach party films. Early years Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Ice ...

. Carol subsequently made a single guest appearance in ''

Vacation Playhouse ''Vacation Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series that was broadcast during the summer months on CBS from July 22, 1963, to August 21, 1967. Premise ''Vacation Playhouse'' premiered on July 22, 1963, on CBS. The show aired as ...

'' in 1964. Then in 1965 she appeared as Susan in the television series ''

Never Too Young ''Never Too Young'' is an American daytime serial that aired on ABC from September 27, 1965 to June 24, 1966 and was the first soap opera geared towards a teen audience. The show premiered on ABC on the same day as '' The Nurses''. Synopsis The s ...

'',Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. .P. 750. and starred as Pandora Leaf in the James Stewart family comedy '' Dear Brigitte''.

References

External links

*
New York Times biography
American television actresses American stage actresses American film actresses 20th-century American actresses 1944 births Living people 21st-century American women {{US-screen-actor-1940s-stub