Mummified body of Playboy model Yvette Vickers found

Yvette Vickers, a `Playboy`pin-up of the 50`s, has been identified as the mummified corpse in a Beverly Hills house.

Los Angeles: Yvette Vickers, a `Playboy`pin-up of the 50`s who dated Hollywood biggies like Cary Grant and Lee Marvin, has been identified as the mummified corpse which was found in a Beverly Hills house recently. She was 82.

The model-actress who had starred in sci-fi hits like `Attack of the 50-Foot Woman` and `Attack of the Leaches` had lain dead for up to a year in her apartment, reported a website. It was neighbour Susan Savage who finally made the grim discovery last week after noticing that letters stuck in Vickers` mail box were yellowing around the edges and that cobwebs had gathered in the doorway. Savage had to push her way through a mountain of uncollected fanmail and boxes to find the body, a small heater was still been running next to it."She kept to herself, had friends and seemed like a very independent spirit. To the end she still got cards and letter from all over the world requesting photos and still wanting to be her friend. We`ve all been crying about this. Nobody should be left alone like that," said Savage. The official cause of death is being investigated by the Los Angeles county coroner`s office, but police are not treating the death as suspicious. Vickers was born Yvette Vedder in Kansas City,Missouri, to jazz musicians Charles Vedder and his wife Iola. Her first film role was an uncredited cameo in Billy Wilder`s 1950 film noir classic `Sunset Boulevard`, but didn`t make her big screen debut under her own name until, in 1957,she appeared in `Short Cut to Hell`. She was `spotted` and picked for the part by Jimmy Cagney and later was given a role in the acclaimed Paul Newman film `Hud`, only to have most of her scenes cut when Newman`s wife Joanne Woodward objected to the onscreen chemistry between Yvette and her husband. Her screen career never exceeded those heights and though she enjoyed some success as a stage actress, in the 1970s she began working as an estate agent to supplement her income. In 1989, as a tribute to her late parents, she self-released her debut album Yvette Vickers Sings! and performed on the LA cabaret circuit. Her last feature role was in a 1990 horror called Evil Spirits where she played a `neighbour`. PTI