Police Woman

Background:

“When I started shooting “Police Woman” (1974), someone asked me if I had ever played a sleuth before. I said, “Yes, many times.” I thought they were asking me if I had ever played a slut. I didn't know what a sleuth was.” Angie Dickinson

Golden Globe Award winning American actress hailed from North Dakota Angie Dickinson, born Angeline Brown, is celebrated to television audiences as Sgt. 'Pepper' Anderson in the successful crime series “Police Woman,” which ran on NBC from 1974 to 1978. The role brought the titillating beauty her Golden Globe Award, a TP de Oro Award and several nominations at the Emmy and TV Land Awards. Specialized in portraying sharp, sexy, tough-minded women, Dickinson is also known for starring in such movies as “Rio Bravo” (1959), “Ocean's Eleven” (1960), “The Killer” (1964), “Point Blank” (1967), “Big Bad Mama” (1974) and its sequel, “Big Bad Mama II” (1987), and “Dressed to Kill” (1980), where she took home a Saturn Award for her role of Kate Miller. Her more recent film credits include “The Maddening” (1995), “Sabrina” (1995), “The Last Producer” (2000), “Duets” (2000), “Pay It Forward” (2000), the 2001 remake “Ocean's Eleven” and “Elvis Has Left the Building” (2004). Dickinson's other TV appearances have included stints in “Dial M for Murder” (1981), “Cassie and Company” (1982), “Hollywood Wives” (1985), “Wild Palms” (1993) and “Mending Fences” (2009).

In entertainment business since 1954, Dickinson received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her TV work in 1987. She was handed the Golden Boot Award in 1989.

Dickinson has been married twice. She married ex college football star Gene Dickinson from 1952 to 1960. She had one daughter with composer Burt Bacharach (together from 1965 to 1980) named Nikki, who committed suicide in 2007 at age 40. One of Playboy Magazines' “100 Sexiest Stars of the Century” (1999) and one of TV Guide's “50 Sexiest TV Stars of All Time” (2002), Dickinson had an on and off relationship with Frank Sinatra for ten years. She also was once romantically involved with actor David Janssen.

Winner of Bill of Rights

Childhood and Family:

Daughter of Frederica and Leo H. Brown, Angeline Brown, who would later be popular as Angie Dickinson, was born on September 30, 1931, in Kulm, North Dakota. Her family owned and ran the local newspaper offices The Kulm Messenger and, then, the Edgeley Mail in the 1930s. When Angie was 11 years old, the Brown family relocated to Burbank, California, where she would graduate from the Bellamarine Jefferson High School in 1997 at the age of 15. In her senior year, she won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest. Angie continued to attend Glendale Community College in Glendale, California and graduated from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, California with a degree in business in 1954. After college, she worked as a secretary for a Burbank airplane parts factory for several years.

Influenced by her publishing father, young Angie originally wanted to become a writer. However, after her success in the beauty contest circuits, she gave up her childhood dreams and began pursuing a career in showbiz.

On June 2, 1952, Angie was married to Gene Dickinson, a former football player, but they later divorced in 1960. She tried to build a new family by marrying pianist/composer Burt Bacharach (born on May 12, 1928) on May 16, 1965. The coupled welcomed a daughter, Lea Nikki Bacharach, in 1966 and divorced fourteen years later in 1980.

Born three months prematurely, Nikki had chronic health problems, including visual deterioration, and she was later suffered from Asperger's Disorder, a form of autism. Angie rejected numerous roles to focus on her daughter before she and her husband decided to put Nikki at Minnesota's Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents. The girl stayed there for nine years.

Once a geology major at California Lutheran University, Nikki died on January 4, 2007 of suicide in her apartment in Ventura County, California. She was 40.

Dressed to Kill

Career:

An aspiring writer who found work as a secretary after college, Angie Dickinson entered the local beauty contest Jack Roarke's Beauty Parade in 1952 at age 20 with the purpose of winning a watch, but she ended up with glory when she eventually became the winner of the competition. She quickly forgot her dreams of becoming a writer and went on to participate in the local Miss America contest in 1953 and took the second place in the competition. Later that same year, she had another victory in her hand by becoming one of five winners in a beauty contest sponsored by NBC. She immediately branched out to acting.

In 1954, Dickinson made her first feature film appearance as a party guest in “Lucky Me,”a Warner Bros. musical starring Doris Day and Robert Cummings and directed by Jack Donohue. She debuted on TV also in that same year appearing as commercial model in an episode of the Emmy Award winning series “The Colgate Comedy Hour.” A string of guest spots soon followed, including work in “Death Valley Days” (2 episodes, 1954), “Buffalo Bill Jr.” (1955), “Matinee Theatre” (7 episodes, 1955), “It's a Great Life” (2 episodes, 1955-1956), “General Electric Theater” (1956), “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” (1956), “Broken Arrow” (1956), “The Lineup” (3 episodes, 1956-1957), “Gunsmoke” (1957), “Meet McGraw” (2 episodes, 1957), “The People's Choice” (2 episodes, 1958), “Mike Hammer” (2 episodes, 1958), “Wagon Train” (1959), “Men Into Space” (1959) and “The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor” (1959).

Throughout the 1950s, Dickinson was also busy establishing her film career. She landed small roles in such productions as the Western “Tennessee's Partner” (1955, starred Ronald Reagen and John Payne), “The Return of Jack Slade” (1955), “Man with the Gun” (1955, starred Robert Mitchum), “Hidden Guns” (1956), “Down Liberty Road” (1956), “Tension at Table Rock” (1956), “Gun the Man Down” (1956), “The Black Whip” (1956), “Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend” (1957, starred Randolph Scott), Samuel Fuller's “China Gate” (1957, played a Eurasian smuggler named Lucky Legs), “Calypso Joe” (1957), “I Married a Woman” (1958, starred George Gobel and Diana Dors) and “Cry Terror!” (1958). Thanks to Howard Hawks' classic western “Rio Bravo” (1959), in which she was cast in her breakout role as a mysterious woman who becomes romantically involved with Sheriff John T. Chance (played by John Wayne) named Feathers, Dickinson eventually reached the status of Hollywood A-lister. Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, John Russell and Harry Carey, Jr. also acted with her in the film. Still in 1959, Dickinson was nominated for a Golden Laurel for Top Female New Personality.

One of the more outstanding leading ladies of the 1960s, Dickinson opened the decade with works along side Ray Collins and John Bryant in the William F. Claxton-helmed drama “I'll Give My Life” (1960), Richard Burton and Jack Carson in Daniel Petrie's “The Bramble Bush” (1960) and five Rat Pack members Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford in Lewis Milestone's heist film, “Ocean's Eleven” (1960, as Beatrice Ocean). Still in 1960, she was handed a Golden Globe Award in the category of Most Promising Female Newcomer. The next years, Dickinson could be seen staring in “A Fever in the Blood” (1961, with Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), the based on novel “The Sins of Rachel Cade” (1961, with Peter Finch and Roger Moore), “Rome Adventure” (1962, with Troy Donahue), Jean Negulesco's “Jessica” (1962, with Maurice Chevalier) and “Captain Newman, M.D.” (1963, with Gregory Peck). In the crime film “The Killer” (1964), the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story of the same name, the naturally brunette haired actress offered a memorable portrayal of the mistress of gangster Jack Browning (played by Ronald Reagen). The film is notable for being the last film of Reagen before his entrance to politics and finally attaining the presidency.

Starting in the mid 1960s, Dickinson found herself alternating between second leads and leading roles. Her subsequent feature film credits included the comedy “The Art of Love” (1965, played the lovers of both James Garner and Dick Van Dyke), Arthur Penn's drama “The Chase” (1966, starred Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda), “Cast a Giant Shadow” (1966, with Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra and John Wayne), based on Ted Berkman's biography of Colonel Mickey Marcus, “The Poppy Is Also a Flower” (1966, opposite Stephen Boyd and Senta Berger), “The Last Challenge” (1967, starred with Glenn Ford), “Sam Whiskey” (1969, starred Burt Reynold) and “Young Billy Young” (1969, with Robert Mitchum). In 1967, Dickinson gave a strong performance as Chris, Lee Marvin's sister-in-law, in John Boorman's cult classic “Point Blank,” adapted from the classic pulp novel “The Hunter” by Donald E. Westlake.

Despite her hectic film schedule, Dickinson managed to keep her small screen present during the 1960s with appearances in TV shows such as “ Lock Up,” “The Dick Powell Show,” “This Is the Life,”

“The Fugitive,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” and “Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre.” She had a recurring role in “Dr. Kildare” (1965), playing Carol Tredman.

After starring with Lloyd Bridges in the ABC made for TV film “The Love War” (1970), Dickinson was cast as a sexy high school teacher, Betty Smith, in the dark comedy “Pretty Maids All in a Row” (1971), helmed by Roger Vadim, and penned and produced by Gene Roddenberry based on the novel by Francis Pollini, played Jackie Kovacs in the French thriller “The Outside Man” (1972) for director Jacques Deray, and starred as the tatty widow Wilma McClatchie in “Big Bad Mama” (1974), Dickinson's last film before departing the cinematic industry in the next five years to focus on her growing TV career.

In March 974, Dickinson made a guest appearance in the critically acclaimed hit anthology series “Police Story,” playing Lisa Beaumont. Lured by the popularity of her performance, the North Dakota native was offered by NBC to star in her own television show. Premiered on September 13, 1974, “Police Woman” was an immediate hit and later became the first successful primetime drama series to feature a woman in the title role. It ran for four seasons until March 29, 1978. For her bright acting as Sgt. Suzanne 'Pepper' Anderson, an undercover agent working for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the LAPD, she was nominated for three Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and four Golden Globes for Best TV Actress – Drama, which she won one in 1975. The role also brought her Spain's TP de Oro for Best Foreign Actress (Mejor Actriz Extranjera) and three TV Land Award nominations in the categories of Favorite Crimestopper in a Drama (twice) and Favorite Lady Gumshoe.

After demise of the show, Dickinson recreated her coveted role of Pepper Andersen in the TV special “Ringo” (1978), opposite Ringo Starr and John Ritter. She then played Midge Forrest in the TV miniseries “Pearl” (also 1978), but did not resume her film career until the following year by starring with Lino Ventura in Claude Pinoteau's “The Angry Man” (1979). After the adventure “Klondike Fever” (1980), chronicling Jack London's epic journey from San Francisco to the Klondike gold fields in 1898, she was cast a sexually frustrated housewife and mother in Brian De Palma's “Dressed to Kill” (1980) and picked up a Saturn for Best Actress for her performance.

Dickinson starred as Margot Wendice, opposite Christopher Plummer as Tony Wendice, in the Emmy nominated telepic “Dial M for Murder” (1981), adapted from a play by Frederick Knott, played Dragon Queen in the comedy/mystery film “Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen” (1981, opposite Peter Ustinov) and were reunited with Lee Marvin in the action film “Death Hunt” (1981), starring Charles Bronson, before returning to series TV as a regular in the short lived detective series “Cassie and Company” (1982), starring as Cassie Holland. She continued to make a number of TV films throughout the 1980s, including “One Shoe Makes It Murder” (1982), “Jealousy” (1984), “A Touch of Scandal” (1984), “Stillwatch” (1987),”'Police Story: The Freeway Killings” (1987), “Once Upon a Texas Train” (1988), “Fire and Rain” (1989) and “Prime Target” (1989), and portrayed Sadie LaSalle in the TV miniseries “Hollywood Wives” (1985), adapted from a novel by Jackie Collins. In 1987, she made a comeback to the big screen in the sequel “Big Bad Mama II” (1987), reprising her role of Wilma McClatchie. It was her first film performance in six years. Also in that same year, she hosted the December 12, 1987 “Saturday Night Live.”

In 1993, Dickinson landed the attention getting supporting role of Josie Ito, the sadistic, war-ridden sister of Senator Tony Kruetze, in the ABC miniseries “Wild Palms.” Costars in the show included James Belushi, Dana Delany, Robert Loggia and Kim Cattrall. Later that same year, she could be seen on the wide screen playing Miss Adrian in Gus Van Sant's disappointing drama, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” her first film since 1987. She followed it up with roles in the films “The Maddening” (1995, as the wife of Burt Reynolds), Sydney Pollack's critically acclaimed romantic comedy “Sabrina” (1995, played Mrs. Ingrid Tyson) and “The Sun, the Moon and the Stars” (1996, starred as Abbie McGee). Meanwhile, on TV, she got roles in the TV films “Remembrance” (1996), “Deep Family Secrets” (1997), “The Don's Analyst” (1997) and “Sealed with a Kiss” (1999), and made guest appearances in such shows as “Daddy Dearest” (1993), “Diagnosis Murder,” “Ellen” and “George & Leo” (all 1997).

Entering the new millennium, Dickinson was featured as a poker player in “The Last Producer” (2000), a drama helmed by two time costar Burt Reynold, was cast as the grandmother of Gwyneth Paltrow in “Duets” (2000), a road trip movie helmed by Gwyneth 's dad, Bruce Paltrow, before his death in 2002, and played an alcoholic, dispossessed mother to Helen Hunt in “the Mimi Leder-directed drama “Pay It Forward” (2000), adapted from Catherine Ryan Hyde's book of the same name. She next portrayed Mrs. Barlow in “Big Bad Love” (2001), an indie drama directed and starred by Arliss Howard, made an appearance as boxing spectator in the remake “Ocean's Eleven” (2001), directed by Steven Soderbergh, and played the small role of Bobette in Joel Zwick's comedy, “Elvis Has Left the Building” (2004), which marks her last film appearance to date.

After appearing in an episode of “Judging Amy” (2004), Dickinson revisited the TV film after a decade hiatus in “Mending Fences “ (2009), playing Ruth Hanson. The Hallmark Channel drama was directed by Stephen Bridgewater and starred Laura Leighton, Peter Jason and David Lee Smith.

Awards:

• Golden Boot: 1989

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Saturn, Best Actress, “Dressed to Kill,” 1981

• TP de Oro (Spain): Best Foreign Actress (Mejor Actriz Extranjera), “Police Woman,” 1978

• Golden Globe: Best TV Actress – Drama, “Police Woman,” 1975

• Golden Globe: Most Promising Newcomer – Female, 1960