Barbara Marie Nickerauer (December 10, 1928 – October 5, 1976), known professionally as Barbara Nichols, was an American actress who often played brassy or comic roles in films in the 1950s and 1960s.

Early life and career

Nichols was born Barbara Marie Nickerauer to George and Julia Nickerauer and was raised in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. Early in her career, Nichols was a showgirl when a club owner offered her a much higher salary to perform striptease. She declined the offer, keeping her focus on becoming an actress. She began modeling for cheesecake magazines in the late 1940s and eventually was considered a minor rival to

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

. On Broadway, she appeared in the 1952 revival of '' Pal Joey'' (she also appeared in the 1957 film version) and in '' Let It Ride'' (1961). In the mid-1950s, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing in showy supporting roles in A-films, such as '' Miracle in the Rain'' (1956), '' The King and Four Queens'' (1956), '' The Naked and the Dead'' (1958), '' The Pajama Game'' (1957), '' Sweet Smell of Success'' (1957), '' That Kind of Woman'' (1958), and '' Where the Boys Are'' (1960), with high-profile actors, including

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, Sophia Loren, and

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

. One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science-fiction film '' The Human Duplicators''. Her final film was '' Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' in 1976. Nichols was a frequent guest star on many television series, including '' It's a Great Life'', '' The Jack Benny Television Show'', '' The Twilight Zone'' (in the episode " Twenty Two" S2 E17 1961), '' The Untouchables'', '' The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters'', '' Going My Way'', ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' (episodes 35 and 36), '' Hawaii Five-O'', '' Green Acres'' and '' The Beverly Hillbillies''.

Death

Nichols died on October 5, 1976, at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

from liver failure due to complications of a damaged

spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...

and

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

reportedly sustained in separate automobile accidents many years earlier. She is interred at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Barbara 1928 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American actresses American female models American film actresses American musical theatre actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Deaths from liver failure Actresses from Queens, New York 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers American people of German descent