The Biggest Movies and TV Coming in September

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

The enticing, voluptuous European beauty Greta Thyssen filled out the pages of movie magazines everywhere during the 1950s. Born on March 30, 1927, she was a freshly-scrubbed brunette when she was crowned Miss Denmark in 1952. The subsequent attention had her packing her bags for Hollywood. At that time, Marilyn Monroe had become an international sex symbol and Hollywood hopefuls were falling all over themselves to be just like her. Enter Greta, in a major, major transformation, as a statuesque, peroxide-blonde bombshell -- competing against the whistle-blowing likes of Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. With mouth-dropping measurements reported at 40-24-36, this pin-up favorite became the best piece of Danish pastry in town. She also had her eyes out for films.

Like Ms. Mansfield and Ms. Van Doren, Greta's movie career was a bust -- literally. She bordered slightly on the seamy side and was offered such roles. However, she proved a trooper and was qualified enough to handle a scattered amount of low-grade crime dramas, adventures and horror stories -- a few having since reached "cult turkey" status. Greta actually started off in the quality movie Bus Stop (1956), unbilled as a "cover girl". She also served as Ms. Monroe's double in the movie. Another small film role in Accused of Murder (1956) led to a regular role as a busty "Pirate Girl" model on the quiz show Treasure Hunt (1956) starring wolfish host Jan Murray. She momentarily took a few male minds off the horrific The Beast of Budapest (1958) and did her scream queen schtick in Terror Is a Man (1959), in which she played vulnerable to a mad scientist-turned-panther-like creature à la "The Island of Dr. Moreau".

Greta added the requisite hard-boiled touch to the noirish detective film Three Blondes in His Life (1961) opposite Jock Mahoney and showed up in Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962) as well, which was another John Agar sci-fi cheapie. On television, she played a fetching foil in some of The Three Stooges shorts (Joe Besser was the third Stooge at the time) and appeared on television series, mostly crime stories, including Dragnet (1951) and Perry Mason (1957). Her film career ended dismally with the inane comedy Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967), which pretty much says this all. Toward the end, she appeared in a couple of wink-wink stage comedies such as "Pajama Tops" until the early 1970s. She then retired from acting and moved to New York City where she found success as a painter, combining representational nude figures and surrealistic allegory. Generally, Greta took advantage of the equipment she had, made this work for her, and got her "fifteen minutes".

Greta Thyssen passed away at age 90 of complications from pneumonia on January 6, 2018 at her Manhattan home.

[on when she first came to Hollywood] I got, I think it was, a six-month contract with MGM, even though it was the end of their moneymaking days. So they didn&#39;t really do anything with me, and allowed me to work outside. I got offers for certain things, and I did them.

[on learning scripts in English] It has nothing to do with accents. It has to do with what memory you have. When I began to do summer stock, often people would say, &quot;You don&#39;t have an accent when you speak the lines.&quot; It would go away many times. But of course, I&#39;ve never gotten rid of it. I never even tried to get rid of it, which I should have done.

Quotes

Greta Thyssen

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed