Why in the world did I write to Corinne Calvet?  I don’t think I had seen any of her movies.  I looked at my autograph log and I see that I wrote to her on August 12, 1983, and she responded a couple weeks later on September 2, 1983.  That was coincidentally the year that she released her biography; so maybe she had been in the press or autograph magazines.  I have the book now, but I can’t imagine in retrospect having paid full price for a biography when I was 18 years old. 

I guess I knew her name from Richard Lamparski’s “Whatever Became of” series, but most importantly, it was probably because I had a REALLY glamorous 8x10 of her, an original photo of her with Cagney from “What Price Glory?” and sheet music from “My Friend Irma Goes West”.  So basically, I wrote to her because she was pretty.  And boy, did I strike pay-dirt by writing to Corinne Calvet! 

She autographed and returned the photos I had sent her along with a beautiful vintage 8.5”x11” cardstock glamour photo and a handwritten letter – all signed in purple ink.  Additionally, the letter was perfume scented and included her home phone number!  I must have laid it on thick in my fan letter, because she wanted a copy of the book report that I had written on her, photos of the collage I had made of her and a copy of the video clips that I had from her movies.  I’m embarrassed to say that none of those things even existed.  They were part of my 18-year-old fan-boy overload – oh, the things I said to get an autograph. 

An additional envelope came from her a while later; a flyer promoting her book, a color printout of her book’s front and back cover (with her resume on the verso) along with latter day photos and a handwritten inquiry as to whether I got my original batch of photos back.  Although I had her phone number, I was too ashamed to perpetuate my lie further and give her a call since I had no book report, video clips OR photos of a collage.  Or perhaps I DID engage with her on a phone call and completely forgot all about it.  I was a “wake-and-bake” stoner at that age … so yeah. 

Well, here we are almost 40 years later, and Corinne Calvet has been a name on my DVR for the past few years.  I’ve seen her “On the French Riviera” (it’s more of a showcase for Danny Kaye, but she DOES hold her own, looks amazingly good, wears great gowns by Travilla - including one extraordinary pale green number of note (shown here) and has the amusing line of “Are you making love to me, Capitan?”).   

I’ve fast forwarded through “What Price Glory?” (nice enough barmaid singing scene, but I just couldn’t watch the rest), YouTubed a scene from “Irma Goes West” (all I can say is that she looks great while “singing”).   

It was “Rope of Sand” which I think was her best film; at the height of her beauty where she is fantastically lit and photographed (also from where a lot of the “French Rita Hayworth” comments derived).  And don’t pass up “Powder River” (1953) – it’s one of her most substantive acting roles and she has a good amount of screen time and an ample character along with her visual appeal in color and several ultra-flattering Western saloon-owner costume changes. 

BUT … I must admit that the DVR catching her appearances on TV shows has been a treat! A Madame who gives Angie Dickinson an assignation for the evening in “Policewoman”, another (kinda blowsy) Madame on “Starsky & Hutch” (with Batgirl Yvonne Craig!); side-kick to The Joker on “Batman”, a chef that Max has a crush on in “Hart to Hart” and best of all (sorry for the spoiler) the sexy killer in a fun “Burke’s Law” whodunnit, where she has nice chemistry with Gene Barry.   

Oh, and I DID end up reading her biography “Has Corinne Been a Good Girl?”.  It’s a bit of a hodge-podge and a definite indictment of the men in Hollywood pre- “MeToo”.  But mostly I remember her saying that she lost her virginity on/to a bicycle (?) and how tempestuous and lusty her relationships were with her husbands, including male eye-candy John Bromfield.  Ooh-la-la!  

You may want to check out this interesting 1992 interview with Corinne – some of his questions and her expressions/answers are truly laughable: