The body of what coroners believe is that of July 1959 Playboy Playmate of the Month Yvette Vickers was found in her home by a neighbor after she noticed cobwebs in Vickers’ mailbox.
Neighbor Susan Savage contacted authorities after she entered Vickers’ home and discovered her remains. “The letters seemed untouched and were starting to yellow,” Savage said. “I just had a bad feeling.”
Savage told police that when she entered the home in Benedict Canyon, she moved through stacks of clutter before discovering Vickers’ body upstairs in a room with a small space heater still on.
Los Angeles County coroners believe that the mummified remains of the 75-year-old Vickers had been dead for several months and possibly as much as one year.
Vickers wasn’t as well known for her Playboy layout as she was for her B-Movie roles in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Attack of the Giant Leeches.
Vickers began her career in the ’50s starring in commercials for White Rain shampoo. She later moved to Hollywood where she first starred in James Cagney’s directorial debut, Short Cut To Hell in 1957.
After starring in dozens of cult flicks, Vickers moved on to television in the ’70s. She allegedly had a long-running affair with Jim Hutton, the father of actor Timothy Hutton.
“To the end she still got cards and letters from all over the world requesting photos and still wanting to be her friend,” Savage said of Vickers.
Here’s Yvette Vickers Playmate of the Month photo layout from the July 1959 issue of Playboy magazine.
