The 5-feet 4-inch actress gorgeous blonde actress Yvette Mimieux ruled the 60’s with her brilliant acting and gorgeous looks. She died at the age of 80 of natural causes while sleeping. Her legacy will be remembered by Hollywood and anyone inspiring to be a movie actor. 

Acting in films such as The Time Machine and Where the Boys Are, the actress was a pinup icon and was regarded as a staple in her domain. Along with the above film, she has a versatile career acting in many films of different categories, which earned her three nominations for the Golden Globe Awards. 

Early Life

Yvette Mimieux was a Los Angeles native and was born on January 8, 1942. Her mother was Maria Montemayor, a French, and Rene Mimieux, a Mexican. Her first appearance on TV was on the television show Yancy Derringer and One Step Beyond in the year 1959.

Contrary to what the majority of people believe, her first film was not The Time Machine but was Platinum High School in the year 1960, which was released sixty days before The Time Machine and was produced for MGM by Albert Zugsmith.

Breakout and Movie Career

Yvette appeared in H. G. Well’s sci-fi novel The Time Machine which was released in the year 1895. The film was adapted by George Pal and was released in the year 1960. The film starred Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux starred as the character Weena. The film was also produced for MGM. 

The critical and commercial success of the film earned her a long-term contract with MGM. She landed then in the role of several leads in the popular teen comedy film Where the Boys Are. 

The film was also released in the same year as The Time Machine in the year 1960 and earned her success, although her role was contrasting to the tone of the film as her character is sexually assaulted in the film.

She was then after a couple of years cast in Light in the Piazza, which was a 1962 film. The film starred Olivia de Havilland and George Hamilton. The character of Yvette was of a mentally disabled girl, which she portrayed brilliantly. The film lost revenue but was a critical success.

Commenting upon her casted roles, Yvette Mimieux commented to the Washington Post in 1979, “I suppose I have a soulful quality. I was often cast as a wounded person, the ‘sensitive’ role.”

Making Her Mark 

The blonde sensation also made her mark on TV too. She featured in Dr. Kildare as a guest, which was a Richard Chamberlain series. On this show, she made history on-screen by becoming the first person on American screens to display her belly button.

The show earned her second Golden Globe nomination.

She also appeared in The Most Deadly Game. It was around this year that Yvette was also involved in selling Haitian products and was also studying archeology. This made her travel several months of each year for her tenure.

But soon by the early ’70s, Yvette sounded her displeasure regarding screen roles offered to women. She commented, “The women they write are all one-dimensional. They have no complexity in their lives. It’s all surface. There’s nothing to play. They’re either sex objects or vanilla pudding.”

Engaging in Journalism And Short Stories

Yvette Mimieux was also engaged in writing stories and was engaged in journalism. There is also an idea of her film theme which she made eventually, which went around like this:

“…the study of a woman, the difference between what she appears to be and what she is: appearance vs reality… [the more I thought about the character] the more I wanted to play her. Here was the kind of nifty, multifaceted part I’d been looking for. So instead of a short story, I wrote it as a film.”

The ABC television film, which was aired on TV as Hit Lady in the year 1974 was also written by Yvette Mimieux. The film was a thriller and was produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg.

Personal Life

Yvette Mimieux married three times in her life, which unfortunately resulted in divorces. She had no children. She married Evan Harland Engber in the year 1959 and then married the at-the-time on the top of his career Stanley Donen in the year 1972. Stanley Donen was behind Charade and Singin’ In The Rain. 

This marriage didn’t last, and they divorced in 1985. One year later, she married Howard F. Ruby. She eventually settled with him and their union has been ongoing for 36 years, right until her death.

She has siblings Edouard Mimieux and Gloria Montemayor, who are alive as well as stepchildren Steven Ruby, Donna Hill, Michael Ruby, Mark, and Josh Donen. 

She had just turned 80 on January 8, 2022, and met her demise a mere 10 days after turning 80.

A Life Well Lived

Yvette Mimieux had already made six movies well before she turned the age of 21. Although she gained the reputation of playing sensitive roles, later she expressed her displeasure with the portrayal of women in cinemas. Not only did she voice her concerns but she also did something about them.

She was known to be a private person despite her illustrious career. She is an advocate of privacy, and back in 1979, she said, “I decided I didn’t want to have a totally public life,” continued. 

Adding on, she further commented, “When the fan magazines started wanting to take pictures of me making sandwiches for my husband, I said ‘no.’ You know there are tribes in Africa who believe that a camera steals a little part of your soul, and in a way I think that’s true about living your private life in public. It takes something away from your relationships, it cheapens them.”

Even after her death, no service is planned for the icon, according to sources. 

Her retirement from acting came in 1992 when she came on screen after her final television film, “Lady Boss.”