Sheree North, a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades who started her career as a studio glamour girl but outlived her blonde bombshell image to enjoy a half-century career on stage, television and in film, died on November 5. She was 72. Born Dawn Bethel on January 17, 1933 in Los Angeles, North danced with the USO shows during World War II. Recalling that she started dancing at the time she started to walk, North said that she sanded floors and parked cars to pay for ballet lessons. Eventually North let go her dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and began working in local nightclubs and the chorus line at the Greek Theatre. Her breakout role on Broadway’a wild dance number in the musical “Hazel Flagg”‘earned her a Theatre World award and a chance to repeat her self-styled jitterbug in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis musical-comedy film version of the stage show. After her appearance on the initial episode of “The Bing Crosby Show,” on television in 1954, she received praise from critics for her comedic flair and for holding her own with Bing and Jack Benny. Her film credits quickly rose to leading-lady status, and she also appeared on stage in a number of popular musicals, such as “Can-Can,” “Irma La Douce” and “Bye Bye Birdie.” She also directed and produced several shows in small theaters, and in 2000 portrayed the Southern belle Amanda in a production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” at the Laguna Playhouse. In 1962, she also appeared in Barbra Streisand’s first musical,”I Can Get It For You Wholesale,” of which she was quite proud. North had originally been groomed to substitute for the more famous but often unreliable Marilyn Monroe, whom she did replace in the 1955 film “How to Be Very, Very Popular,” in which she outdanced and outshone the leggy Betty Grable. The actress gained her widest recognition on television, beginning in the early 1950s variety shows including Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.” “She really became the Queen of the Movies of the Week,” said her daughter Dawn Bessire, of Santa Monica. “These were innovative movies that tried to convey new thoughts that were progressive and noteworthy.” North earned Emmy nominations for appearances on “Marcus Welby, M.D., and “Archie Bunker’s Place.” In 1974, she became a part of television history on the100th episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” when Ed Asner’s character Lou Grant fell for her as Charlene Maguire, a saloon singer with a past. Former Times television columnist Cecil Smith called North “a superb performer who gave Charlene the kind of acerbic sophisticated wit the series has not seen since the abdication of Rhoda [Valerie Harper] to her own show.” “She worked with all of the greats and was respected by her peers and all directors and producers,” Bessire said. “All that coming from being the blonde bombshell. Most of them never were able to make the transition.” In addition to Bessire, North is survived by her husband Phillip Norman of the Palisades Highlands; daughter Erica Torablas and grandson Dylan of Connecticut; stepdaughter Jessica Youd of Los Angeles and her three sons. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to the Actors Fund of America Retirement and Nursing Home, 23388 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, CA 93164. Phone: (818) 876-1888.
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