Life story

Usually I reserve full-entry obits for major figures in our little genre.

But when I did a faux tweet on the recently deceased actress Beverly Bentley, a model on several 1950s game shows, I started googling a little deeper. (Deep googling sounds creepy, I know.) For some obscure reason I recalled Beverly as one of the many wives of brawling novelist Norman Mailer. She wasn't the wife he stabbed, but her relationship with him was almost as contentious. They married in 1963 and finally divorced - on less than amiable terms - in 1980.

Beverly's acting career wasn't a huge success, but she did have a sort of star moment as a screaming banshee in Mailer's goofball 1971 movie Maidstone. See the screenshot for a typical glimpse. This review describes her part in the film's infamous fight scene.

Beverly's time in game shows was a lot more dignified. She even made the July 26, 1958 issue of TV Guide for her work as a model on The Price is Right. I used TV Guide's formal photo of her in the faux tweet about her death. Odd note: one of the other ladies in the picture went on to a well-known sitcom, as the linked article relates.

Beverly Bentley was hardly an important figure in game shows, but her life was an intriguing mix of high drama and low melodrama. R.I.P.

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