Dolores Rosedale, a mannequin referred to as Roxanne whose burst of fame within the early Fifties because the hostess of the wacky sport present “Beat the Clock” led to the creation of a doll in her picture and to appearances on the covers of magazines like Life and TV Information, died on Might 2 in Spring Park, Minn., close to Minneapolis. She was 95.
Her daughter Ann Roddy confirmed the demise, at an assisted dwelling facility.
Roxanne joined “Beat the Clock” in 1950 when it made its transition to tv from radio. Bud Collyer, the host, presided over the weekly program, through which contestants raced to complete stunts in opposition to deadlines.
Roxanne’s position didn’t require her to say a lot at first. She posed with the prizes and took footage of contestants as they carried out their stunts. She later gave introductions of the contestants.
However her poise and glamour — and, maybe, the polka-dot ballet costume she typically wore — helped her escape.
In 1951, she donned a dressing up for a Life journal cowl story about refrain women. Inside, {a photograph} that recognized her because the present’s “stunt mistress” confirmed her guiding a blindfolded Boy Scout as he tried to establish an elephant.
She was on no less than two Look journal covers, considered one of which confirmed her posing on Jones Seashore, on Lengthy Island, N.Y.; two TV Information covers, together with one with Mr. Collyer; and one cowl of Tempo, a star journal, with the headline: “Secrets and techniques of Roxanne — TV Sensation.”
Commenting on her reputation, The Bangor Every day Information in Maine declared that she was “batting 1.000 within the pinup league.”
She reached a popular culture pinnacle of types in 1952 with the looks of the 18-inch Roxanne doll. It was manufactured from “lifelike latex with vinyl head, sleeping eyes and washable ‘platinum’ Saran hair,” in accordance with a newspaper advert for the Abraham & Straus division retailer in Brooklyn.
“Have your image taken with TV’s beauteous blonde!” the advert stated, selling Roxanne’s look with the doll at A & S Toyland in November 1952. A tiny digital camera hung across the doll’s neck.
An advert from Valentine, the doll’s producer, printed in a enterprise commerce journal, crowed: “Revenue from the affect of Roxanne’s following! Now on extra TV stations than ever earlier than.”
Dolores Evelyn Rosedale was born on March 20, 1929, in Minneapolis. Her father, Kenneth, was a civil engineer. Her mom, Thyra, was accountable for receiving and processing proof at an area courthouse.
As a youngster, she labored as a dental assistant, took programs in vogue design on the Minnesota Faculty of Advantageous Arts and was a prime contender within the Miss Minnesota pageant in 1947.
She left for New York Metropolis in late 1949, signed with the Conover modeling company and shortly discovered work.
By then, she had adopted the only title Roxanne, and ultimately made the change authorized. Ms. Roddy, her daughter, stated in a telephone interview that her mom disliked her authentic title: “She’d say, ‘How may anybody give somebody such an unsightly title?’”
In 1954, Roxanne married Thomas Roddy and gave beginning to Ann the following yr, when her time on “Beat the Clock” had expired. That yr, she had a small position in Billy Wilder’s comedy “The Seven 12 months Itch,” starring Marilyn Monroe. Within the movie, Roxanne and Tom Ewell parodied the well-known romantic seaside scene in “From Right here to Eternity” with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.
Two years later, she had one other small half in a drama, “The Younger Don’t Cry,” with Sal Mineo and James Whitmore.
She additionally studied performing with the influential trainer Sanford Meisner.
She appeared as soon as on Broadway, in 1956, as a prostitute in “A Hatful of Rain,” a drama a couple of man with a drug dependancy. She advised The Every day Information of New York that it was the “most enjoyable expertise up to now” in her profession.
She felt that it was essential to advance her profession as an actress. As she advised The Every day Information, she questioned if engaged on a sport present had given viewers “the impression that I used to be simply one other dumb blonde as a result of I used to be given so little to say.”
In 1957, she starred in a summer time inventory manufacturing of George Axelrod’s comedy “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” She performed the identical position, a bombshell actress named Rita Marlowe, that Jayne Mansfield did on Broadway in 1955 and within the movie adaptation two years later.
However as Roxanne’s household grew — she would have 5 kids — she shifted from performing. She continued to mannequin; commented on vogue exhibits; designed clothes; operated a vogue boutique; and offered furs in Minneapolis.
She and Mr. Roddy divorced in 1979. She married Stanley Shanedling in 1981; he died in 1997. She was at numerous occasions referred to as Roxanne Roddy and Roxanne Shanedling.
Along with her daughter Ann, she is survived by one other daughter, Elizabeth Roddy; her sons, Thomas, David and Michael; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Kitty Torrentore.
Roxanne encountered Ms. Monroe nicely earlier than showing together with her in “The Seven 12 months Itch.”
“It was my first week in New York,” she advised Earl Wilson, the syndicated gossip columnist, in 1953. “I’d gone to a wholesale home to mannequin attire. This woman walked in and began taking off her garments. She was sporting only a gown, stockings and garter belt, and that’s ALL! I stated, ‘Oh, this woman doesn’t know what underwear is.’”
