Yvette Carmen Mimieux (born January 8, 1942) is a now-retired American movie and television actress. She was born in Los Angeles, California to a French father and Mexican mother, Carmen Montemayor. (Some sources say she was born in 1939 - .)
In 1960, Mimieux appeared in the hugely popular teen movie Where The Boys Are as well as George Pál's 1960 film version of H.G. Wells' classic 1895 novel, The Time Machine playing the character 'Weena', co-starring Rod Taylor. The Time Machine was followed by The Light in the Piazza (1962) with Olivia de Havilland. In 1963, Mimieux appeared in Diamond Head and Toys in the Attic.
At 5'4", 107 lbs, with 34"-21.5"-35" measurements (according to 1963's Movie Life Yearbook), Mimieux was widely regarded as a sex symbol during the 1960s. This perhaps affected her acting career, in which serious roles became increasingly elusive. Many of the films in which she appeared after 1963 were both critical and commercial failures. She later appeared in numerous television series and made-for-television movies.
Mimieux appeared in a 1964 episode of Dr. Kildare entitled "Tyger Tyger" that proved one of the most memorable of the series, and was one of the highest rated shows of the year. She played an epileptic surfer girl whom Dr. Kildare falls in love with. She is forced to choose between abandoning surfing or risking death by following her passion despite the risk of having a seizure in the ocean.
Mimieux staged a brief comeback in the 1976 film Jackson County Jail, as a falsely imprisoned woman victimized by a sadistic guard and featuring a graphic nude rape scene. The movie eventually became a minor cult hit which spawned many imitators in the "women in prison" genre.
In later life, Mimieux co-starred in the first PG-rated Walt Disney Productions feature, The Black Hole. In 1984, she starred in Obsessive Love, a television movie about a female stalker, which she co-wrote and co-produced. Her last film, in 1992, was Lady Boss.
Aside from her acting career, she is also an anthropologist and a real estate investor. She was married to film director Stanley Donen from 1972 to 1985, and is currently married to Howard Ruby (1986 - present), a founding partner and current Chairman of R & B Enterprises (now known as Oakwood Worldwide). She has no children.
Platinum High School, aka Young and Deadly (1960)
