Ultra For Men - November 2005 - Free

ANGIE DICKINSON
M
any red-blooded
American males
carry, somewhere in
their twisted psyches,
the fantasy of being
arrested and interrogated
by a female officer of
the law. Call it the girlcop
fantasy. It goes like this: the hard as
nails beauty on the beat that puts you up
against the wall, frisks you friskily, slaps on
the cuffs, and takes you away. But from
where does the archetype come?
From Angie Dickinson, of course, the
world’s favorite female cop, thanks to “Police
Woman,” a hit 1970’s NBC television
drama, in which the blonde beauty portrayed
a bruising, but way hot police sergeant —
one as quick to strip down as she was to bust
knuckles. But in a career spanning almost half
a century, Dickinson has offered to the
American libido much more than the above
fantasy. (Hell, Britney Spears and a certain
men’s lifestyle magazine even copped
Dickinson’s classic magazine cover pose from
the ’60s). Dickinson is a true Ultra Classic.
Born in Kulm, North Dakota in 1931,
daughter to a newspaper publisher (The
Kulm Messenger), Angeline Brown was a
good student. She was the kind of kid who
would excel in educational contests based
on the “Bill of Rights,” but also become
addicted to the wild world of beauty pageants.
In North Dakota, and later in the Los
Angeles area, Brown competed in dozens
of beauty contests, including Miss America,
and showed well every time. By the time
Brown was 22 years old, she had parlayed
her pageant successes into television
variety show appearances and also married
semi-pro football star Gene Dickinson.
Shortly thereafter, her career took off, and
Angeline Brown fast became the Angie
Dickinson we’ve known and loved for
almost half a century.
Momentum from the world of television
quickly launched her to the silver screen, and
Dickinson made her big screen debut in the
86 ULTRA for MEN
A fatal beauty is the best way to describe Angie Dickinson. She could hang out with the boys,
throw down with them, and then seduce them with just a motion of her little finger. The sexiest female
cop in history is truly an Ultra Classic.
by Spalding White
1954 Cinemascope musical, Lucky Me.
Dickinson followed up with several more
motion pictures, as well as notable turns on
tv shows like “Gunsmoke,” “Perry Mason,”
“M Squad,” and “Have Gun – Will Travel.”
By 1960, Dickinson was divorced from
Dickinson, and also one of the hottest —
and hottest — leading ladies in the entertainment
industry. Her 35-23-36 measurements
and blonde good looks captivated
the American imagination in film pairings
with major movie stars like Marlon Brando,
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ronald Reagan,
Robert Redford and Frank Sinatra. Dickinson
became a major star playing unforgettable
roles in classic films like Rio Bravo, in which
she bedded The Duke, Point Blank in which
she beat the hell out of movie tough icon
Lee Marvin, as well as The Killers and Thief.
A star — breathlessly captivating, eminently
watchable, sexy as hell, and a little bit dangerous
— was born.
Though Dickinson (now commonly
referred to as one of the sexiest celebrities of
all-time) — married pop music mega-songwriter
Burt Bacharach in 1965. While the
tunesmith penned countless songs in adoration
of his wife, the buxom blonde allegedly
spent many a night tossing sheets with some
of the most successful and powerful men in
the world, including John F. Kennedy, Johnny
Carson, Larry King and Julio Iglesias.
Dickinson also reportedly enjoyed a tempestuous
10-year affair with Frank Sinatra,
whom she met on the set of the original
Ocean’s 11 (wherein she played the Julia
Roberts role). Dickinson, along with Shirley
McLaine, was dubbed an honorary member
of The Rat Pack, which entitled her to be
“one of the boys” — but always a sex kitten
— during power meetings and lost weekends
of carousing in Vegas.
Of Sinatra, Dickinson once said, “He has
a way, a magical way; it’s not just the blue
eyes and their very color, but the way they
look at you. You feel very, very comfortable.
And he doesn’t ignore you when he’s in the
company of others. A lot of men abandon
the woman they come to a party with, but
Frank stays connected to you.”
Not that Dickinson need fear abandonment.
Who among us could ever walk
away from her intoxicating wiles? Taking a
page from her Rat Pack compadres,
Dickinson, with her radiant smile and infectious
laugh, was smart, sexy, and toughminded.
She could seduce you, make you
laugh, make you feel like a million bucks,
but also gut you without blinking. These
qualities came to the fore of her career in
“Police Woman,” which ran for four hit seasons
on NBC. Dickinson portrayed sexy,
tough-as-nails Sergeant Pepper Anderson
and for her efforts earned three Emmy nominations.
Dickinson was a pin-up favorite
among her male fans who loved her nude
scene in the exploitation flick Big Bad
Mama, but also became a totem of sorts for
the women’s rights movement, mixing sensuality
with authority.
At almost 50, Dickinson further cemented
herself as a sex goddess in the nation’s collective
psyche, playing a sexually unsatisfied,
but perpetually fantasizing woman who
falls victim to a particularly warped murderer
in the sex and violence drenched Dressed To
Kill. Dickinson’s nude scene, and the twisty,
thrilling film itself, is a cult classic.
In the succeeding 25 years, the still-stunning
Dickinson has worked less and less,
holding out for the right roles to illuminate
her strength and sexuality. She turned down
the role of Crystal Carrington, which went to
Linda Evans instead, on television’s
“Dynasty.” “I’d like to play Sharon Stone’s
mother, or Al Pacino’s mother,” she said in a
recent interview. “I want to play really hot
and hip mothers. That’s what I want.”
Reflecting on her life and career, in which
Dickinson has become so indelibly a fixture
of America’s sexual imagination and fascination,
the actress says, “I look at the life I’ve
lived and I think most people would think,
‘Gee, I would like to have led her life.’”
Thanks to the movies, we can always imagine
ourselves living it right alongside her.◆