Sheree North, a platinum blond bombshell of 1950s musicals who is remembered by younger audiences for her continuing television roles as Lou Grant’s sultry girlfriend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Kramer’s mother Babs on Seinfeld, has died. She was 72.
Ms. North, who had been in good health, died Friday at a Los Angeles hospital of complications following surgery, said her daughter, Dawn Bessire of Santa Monica.
Groomed as a studio glamour girl who could substitute for the more famous but often unreliable Marilyn Monroe, Ms. North was later interviewed or cast in documentaries and shows about Monroe. Among them were the 1980 television movie, Marilyn: The Untold Story, in which she played Monroe’s mother; and the documentaries Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend in 1987 and Intimate Portrait: Marilyn Monroe in 1996.
Hollywood insiders originally whispered that 20th Century Fox hired Ms. North only as a threat to the troublesome Monroe, whom she did replace in the 1955 How to Be Very, Very Popular, in which she outdanced and outshone the leggy Betty Grable. Ms. North not only shared Monroe’s blond coiffure but almost exactly matched her height and measurements.
Unlike other studio-styled blondes such as Jayne Mansfield or Mamie Van Doren, Ms. North tried to change her bombshell image, allowing herself to age gracefully, work without makeup and segue into older character parts. But she never quite shook the initial image as a beauty, which she blamed on studio-generated press coverage in the 1950s.
Born Dawn Bethel in Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 1933, Ms. North danced as a youngster with USO shows during World War II and made her film debut in 1951 in Excuse My Dust, starring Red Skelton. Her movies included The Outfit with Robert Duvall in 1973, The Shootist starring John Wayne in 1976 and the 1991 thriller Defenseless with Barbara Hershey and Sam Shepard.
The actress had guest roles in such top series as The Virginian, The Fugitive, Cannon, McMillan and Wife, Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, Fantasy Island and The Golden Girls. She earned Emmy nominations for appearances on Marcus Welby, M.D. and Archie Bunker’s Place.
In 1974, on the 100th episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Ed Asner’s character Lou Grant fell for her as Charlene Maguire, a saloon singer with a past.
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