Dolores Michaels

Dolores Michaels
Dolores Michaels in trailer for "The Fiend Who Walked The West" (1958)
Born	Dolores Rae Michaels (1933-01-30)January 30, 1933 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Died	September 25, 2001(2001-09-25) (aged 68) West Hollywood, California, U.S.
Other names	Sparky
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–1963
Spouse(s)	Maurice Martiné (1953-1959; divorced) Bernard Wolfe (1961-1969; divorced) 2 children
Children	Jordan & Miranda Wolfe (b. 1970)

Dolores Rae Michaels (January 30, 1933 – September 25, 2001) was an American actress.

Michaels was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Raymond Roscoe Michaels and his wife Esther Marie Holcomb.). Her father had been a professional baseball player who was a catcher with the Chicago Cubs. He then became a food broker.

Michaels had the same birthday as Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was born only five weeks before he was inaugurated President of the United States on March 4. Before her third birthday her father sent the president a birthday card informing him of the connection. Roosevelt replied sending Dolores his best wishes on her birthday.

She began studying ballet at age five, and went to New York City to study dance and drama before she graduated from Bishop Hogan High School . Her older sister, Gloria Michaels, had gone to New York City and joined the traveling cast of Brigadoon. When the musical came to Kansas City, 16-year-old Dolores was inited to join them.

Michaels moved to Laguna Beach, California after she married interior decorator Maurice Martiné in 1953. They separated in 1958. In January 1959, she filed for divorce. At the hearing she testified that Martiné had moved them into an expensive unfinished house, without heat or water, and that he expected her to bathe in the ocean, something she didn't want to do because she was constantly catching a cold. The divorce became final on September 29, 1959. During her separation and after the divorce, she dated actor John Duke.

Michaels was discovered when she was doing a scene in an acting class at 20th Century-Fox's talent school. A group of producers and directors were in the audience, and after the scenes were finished, the audience voted on who gave the best performance. She won and got a contract with 20th Century-Fox.

Joanne Woodward was supposed to have the part of "Mildred Pritchard" in The Wayward Bus (1957), but Woodward dropped out to star in The Three Faces of Eve, and the part went to Michaels at the last minute, her first acting role.United Press International said in a review of the film that Michaels' "torrid" scene, a seduction scene in a hayloft where she makes a pass at the bus driver (Rick Jason), "manages to steal the sexiest scene in the picture," over better known sirens as Jayne Mansfield and Joan Collins. And also said that Hollywood had not had a scene like this since Jane Russell in The Outlaw. Director Victor Vicas shot the scene twice, an "A" scene and a "B" scene because of the censors.