Production has begun on a documentary about Hollywood blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren.
“Mamie Exposed! The Life and Loves of the Last Blonde Bombshell,” currently shooting in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, will detail Van Doren’s rise in Hollywood in the 1950s after being discovered by Howard Hughes, as well as her personal life.
Van Doren is executive producing. Producers are Alan Eichler, Stephen Israel and Marc Saltarelli, who also directs – the same team behind the award-winning 2024 documentary “Studio One Forever.”
“I have been fiercely private my whole life, and at 94 I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and reveal intimacies, secrets, and never before shared moments from my incredible life as the last original Hollywood blonde bombshell,” Van Doren said in a statement. “Marc Saltarelli and his exceptional team are truly talented stewards of my documentary life story. Together we’re going to reveal and celebrate a provocative, entertaining and indelible life journey.”
Van Doren (née Joan Olander) was raised on a South Dakota farm without electricity or running water. She rose to the pinnacle of stardom in the Hollywood glamour era of the 1950s and 60s. Van Doren – one of the “Three M’s,” Mamie, Marilyn (Monroe) and (Jayne) Mansfield – rode the crest of the “blonde bombshell” craze, and is the only one to have survived to age 94. Originally sold as Universal’s answer to Monroe, she carved out a niche of her own, becoming the first woman to do rock-and-roll on screen in such teenage cult classics as “Running Wild” with Bill Haley, “High School Confidential” with Jerry Lee Lewis, “Untamed Youth” with Eddie Cochran, “Sex Kittens Go to College” and “Girls Town” with Paul Anka.
Van Doren is currently writing her third memoir. In 2024, she released a single, “I told ya I love ya, now get out! with orchestral band Pink Martini on Heinz Records.
Van Doren is repped by Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent Agency.
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