Mamie Van Doren (; born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931) is an American actress, singer, model, and sex symbol who rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. A blonde bombshell, she is known as one of the "Three M's" along with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, who were friends and contemporaries. In 1953, Van Doren, then named Joan Lucille Olander, signed a seven-year contract with Universal, which hoped that she would be their version of Marilyn Monroe. During her time at Universal, she starred in teen dramas, exploitation film, musical, and comedy films among other genres. She married five times, but notably had intimate affairs with many other Hollywood actors. She was ultimately one of the leading sex symbols of her time.
Van Doren was born and raised in Rowena, South Dakota, but her parents moved to Sioux City, Iowa and eventually to Los Angeles, California in 1942 before she married Jack Newman. In 1949, at the age of eighteen, she won Miss Palm Springs and Miss Eight Ball. As Miss Eight Ball, she was discovered by film producer Howard Hughes, who put her in the RKO films His Kind of Woman (1951), Jet Pilot (1957), and Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) with minor roles. In 1950, she was dating heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey in New York City and was engaged with him. However, she left him to go to back to Los Angeles. On January 20, 1953, Van Doren signed a contract with Universal, who wanted Van Doren to be their equivalent of Marilyn Monroe. While at Universal, she changed her name to Mamie Van Doren, with the "Van Doren" part coming from Universal telling her she was more Dutch than Swedish, and the "Mamie" part coming from then First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.
During her time at Universal, Van Doren starred in movies such as The Second Greatest Sex (1955), Running Wild (1955), and The All American (1953) for Universal. Outside of Universal, she starred in Untamed Youth (1957), Sex Kittens Go To College (1960), Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959) Teacher's Pet (1958), High School Confidential (1958), Vice Raid (1959), College Confidential (1960), The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960), Born Reckless (1958) and The Beat Generation (1959). She starred on television shows such as What's My Line?, The Jack Benny Program and The Bob Cummings Show. After Universal decided not to renew her contract in 1959, Van Doren struggled to find work as a free agent. She starred in many B movies, such as Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), The Las Vegas Hillbillys (1966) with Jayne Mansfield, and, most notably, 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt with Tommy Noonan. Van Doren had previously denied Noonan's offer to star in Promises! Promises! (1963), and was replaced. However, she starred as Saxie Symbol in 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964), which, according to Van Doren, was inspired by the success of Promises! Promises! (1963), and notably filmed a nude beer bath scene. This film challenged the Hays Code, and the same year, she appeared in the June 1964 Playboy magazine with nude photos of her on the shoot of the film. She additionally appeared in many other magazines nude.
Van Doren went to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to entertain troops in the 1970s. Partially due to the deaths of Van Doren's friends Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe, Van Doren decided to retire from acting. She struggled to find work as the blonde bombshell image was, in her view, embarrassing. In 1987, Van Doren released her autobiography, Playing the Field, which brought some attention back to her. On February 1, 1994, Van Doren received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998, Van Doren created her website describing herself as “the first authentic kitten on Cyberspace". On her website, she posed nude in photos and videos, told stories, and wrote many updates on her life. She continued her website until it shut down in the 2010s. In 2022, Van Doren released her second book, China & Me, and has recently started writing a third autobiography, Secrets of the Goddess.