Actress Sandra Dee Dies

The star of several teen movies as well as the former wife of Bobby Darin dies in a Californian hospital.

Feb 21 2005

Actress Sandra Dee, star of countless teen movies including 'Gidget' and 'The Reluctant Debutante', passed away in a Californian hospital yesterday.

Dee, who was 62, died of complications from kidney disease having been on dialysis for the last four years.

Born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey, the pretty blonde found work as a child model before becoming America's sweetheart in big screen teen comedies like 'The Restless Years', 'Tammy Tell Me True', 'Take Her She's Mine' and her most famous starring role, as the surfer-loving 'Gidget' in the movie of the same name.

She also had smaller roles in 'Romanoff and Juliet', 'A Portrait in Black' and Douglas Sirk's classic 'Imitation of Life'.

As well as her film career, Dee also hit the headlines when she married singer Bobby Darin in 1960 following a whirlwind, month-long romance. The couple had one son, Dodd, but divorced five years later.

Although the film roles then slowly started to dry up, the actress was given a new lease of life in the late 1970s when the movie 'Grease' poked fun at her goody-two-shoes image with the song 'Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee'.

And she was back in the news last year when Kevin Spacey made the Bobby Darin biopic 'Beyond the Sea' about the singer's eventful career as well as his turbulent marriage to the young actress. Dee, who was played by Kate Bosworth in the film, reportedly loved Spacey's account of their life together.