Noir City X: Q&A With Angie Dickinson

EM: So how was it that you broke into the business? Was it intentional? Did you set out to be an actress or was it one of those accidental things?
AD: It was accidental and I was a secretary — and a damn good one — and I had done a semester at Immaculate Heart College and a semester at Glenndale college and then I got a job. While I was at the job there was beauty contest not far away and I thought, “Well, why not.” Then I was one of the winners and they asked me to be on their show that they were sponsoring. I said, “Wow, I don’t know. What does it pay?” They told me and I said, “Oh, that’s nice.” So that was my first job without any experience and it was with Frank Sinatra. It was the Colgate Comedy Hour.

EM: This is right out of the gate? This is your first gig?
AD: My first thought even.

EM: And Frank Sinatra is there?
AD: He was the guest star on the show that I was asked to be on. He was rehearing a song with Jimmy Durrante as I walked into my rehearsal time. It was right after his breakup with Ava.

EM: What exactly are you inferring?
AD: That he was nice.

Angie Dickinson as “Feathers” in Rio Bravo

EM: What was it like to work with Dean Martin and John Wayne and Ricky Nelson [on Rio Bravo] and Howard Hawks is like Hollywood Royalty.
AD: Absolutely. How in the hell do you think it felt? It felt fantastic. It was just amazing. I don’t know how I was lucky enough to get that part except that Howard Hawks was a wonderful movie maker. He made one of the funniest movies ever made — Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday. He was also, I don’t want to say surly, but I don’t know another word for it.

EM: Taciturn perhaps?
AD: I don’t know what that means. Well, I’m not sure what it means. I was trying to say he was a grouch.

EM: I think that’s the word.
AD: I think that was because he was never treated with the royalty that some of his peers were. He told me that he had chosen me because he was not going to work any more with famous stars. I was hardly a star, but Marilyn Monroe was. And Marilyn Monroe had just done How To Marry A Millionaire. And he didn’t want to work with any more stars. Certainly not female stars. She must have given him a bad time. She had her uniqueness and he had his uniqueness. So he chose to be as far away from Marilyn Monroe as you can get.

2 Responses

  1. Julyssa says:

    What an interesting woman! I find myself intrigues to see some of her work. What would you recommend?

  2. Thanks for recording and posting this interview!

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