Gallery
I hope you’ll forgive the provocative photo I’ve selected to depict Barbara Nichols (Barbara Nickerauer, 1928-1976). Ones that aren’t as sexy don’t seem to exist. And of course, many of you won’t mind that at all. The brassy, dye-blonde bombshell specialized in playing gun molls and burlesque dancers in film and television for 20 years, and even if you think you don’t know her, you know her.
Born 1928 as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New York, American actress Barbara Nichols began modeling for cheesecake magazines in the late 1940s, and eventually was considered a minor rival to Marilyn Monroe.
In the mid-1950s, Nichols moved to Hollywood and began appearing in showy supporting roles in A-films such films as (1956), (1956), (1957), (1957), (1958), and (1960). One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science-fiction film .
Nichols was also a frequent guest star on many television series including , (in the episode “Twenty Two”), , , , (episodes 35 and 36), , and . Her final film was in 1976.
Nichols in 1976, aged 47, from liver failure due to complications of a damaged spleen and liver reportedly sustained in an automobile accident many years earlier.
Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of Barbara Nichols in the 1940s and 1950s.
Barbara Nichols (December 30, 1929 – October 5, 1976) was an American actress who often played brassy comic roles in a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s.
Nichols was born as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New York. She began modeling for pinup magazines in the early-1950s and for a period worked as a stripper.
Barbara Nichols died October 5, 1976 of a liver ailment at the age of 46.
