"Mummified Remains of Actress Yvette Vickers Found Nearly a Year After Death" - May 3rd, 2011 

Damn! I was shocked when I just now found this out while researching and writing about my Yvette Vickers autograph.  

I met Yvette Vickers at the Hollywood Collector show in Burbank on November 19, 2000.  I only knew her from being the good-time girl in "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman". AND her entry from the book “Scream Queens”, which I had stolen from the public library when I was a teenager. Shame. But rest assured, as an adult I went to that library and made a large in-person donation and fessed up.  Really. 

Because Yvette was just on the periphery of my starlet knowledge base, I didn't have anything specific for her to sign, and I didn't really have any questions.  Basically, my recall of my meeting with her was that it was simply transactional and pleasant. As you can see from the picture of her sitting at the table, I purchased the picture that is in the mid-left.  And I did so just because I thought it was the most glamorous shot with a nice white area for a signature.  Here's a lovely tribute to Yvette with a mix of clips:

Now knowing that she chose to become a recluse and isolated herself is really not much of a shocker. There are quite a few female celebrities that come to mind who pretty much barricaded themselves away from prying eyes - especially if their career was predicated mainly on their appearance.  Marlene Dietrich and Hedy Lamarr are prime examples of those who preferred to be seen less and less as they got older.  But these women all had children, caregivers and/or money.  Yvette didn’t have any of those things. 

Because Yvette never had children and chose to become less responsive to friends and fans, even on the phone or through the mail, she truly did die alone. Can you imagine not having a single person that would check on you for over a year?!?!  

"Reform School Girl", "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches" are campy and cult, but her death got more coverage than her biggest film roles. 

The obituary headline may be very macabre, but perhaps Yvette really wanted to fade away, figuratively and literally, on her own terms. No audience needed for that because she will always radiate on celluloid.   

Like Blondie said:  

The beam becomes my dream 

My dream is on the screen 

Fade away and radiate 

P.S. Take a look at the beach photo of leggy Yvette.  Do you see a little Christina Ricci resemblance? 

An interesting side-not about Yvette is that she had an on-and-off relationship with actor Jim Hutton from 1964 until his death in 1979.  According to one article about her life, by a gentleman who knew her, she was living with Jim Hutton at the time of his death.  Whether living with him or not, she undoubtedly had to cross paths with Jim’s son, Timothy Hutton.  Timothy had moved in with his dad in 1976.  I’m not sure how well, or how much, Timothy would have interacted with Yvette, but I thought it an interesting connection. 

Tim won an Oscar for “Ordinary People”, but I actually walked out of the theater of that film.  It was too intense and “boring” for my 15-year-old self.  I liked him in “Taps” and was aware of him and Debra Winger as a couple in fan magazines. But I didn’t really appreciate him until he played Hugh Crain in “The Haunting of Hill House”.  (See the directory for my autographs from “Fall of the House of Usher” – I love Mike Flanagan’s work!) 

Shown here are two versions of Timothy Hutton’s autograph.  The black and white photo with the hat matches Timothy’s in-person signatures from the 80’s and 90’s (where his T’s look more like J’s) and I’m confident that it’s authentic.  The color photo has a signature that matches the characteristics of Tim’s more recent TTM and in-person autographs, but I’m dubious.