There’s something so heart-wrenchingly real about the story of Sandra Dee. Picture this: Sandra walks into The Polo Lounge at the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, smiling as if nothing in the world could bring her down. Former Hollywood Reporter columnist Sue Cameron recalls the moment vividly in Closer. “We were seated at a table in the back, and she looked absolutely stunning,” Cameron says. “But then, when I ordered an iced tea, she went straight for the martini—and then another one.”
An Early Rise to Stardom
Sandra Dee wasn’t always the troubled figure we see in hindsight. Back in the late '50s, she was a beacon of youthful charm and wholesomeness. A showbiz trade publication crowned her the "No. 1 Star of Tomorrow," and it wasn’t hard to see why. Her roles as spirited young women in movies like the surfer-girl comedy Gidget and the romantic drama A Summer Place made her a household name. In 1959 alone, she starred in two of the biggest hits of the year. But beneath the surface of this sunny persona lay a much darker reality, one that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
By the time Sandra met Sue Cameron in the '70s, she had already been through a whirlwind of life experiences. She had married and divorced singer Bobby Darin, the father of her son, Dodd. Universal Studios, which had signed her as a teenager, had also let her go. “Sometimes I feel like a has-been that never was,” Sandra admitted in 1967, encapsulating the weight of her struggles.
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The Pain Beneath the Persona
It wasn’t until years later, in 1991, that Sandra opened up about the full extent of her personal turmoil. Born Alexandra Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sandra revealed that her biological father was an alcoholic who eventually disappeared from her life. Left in the care of her overprotective mother, Mary, Sandra’s childhood was anything but idyllic. Her mother dressed her like a doll and even spoon-fed her until she was six years old. But the worst part? The silence surrounding the abuse she endured from her much older stepfather, Eugene Douvan, whom her mother married in 1950. “By the time I was 11, I knew it wasn’t right,” Sandra admitted. “But what could I do? Tell my mother? I figured she knew.”
Like so many victims of trauma, Sandra turned to an eating disorder as a way to regain control over her life. “My mother would try to get me to eat, and we’d end up in screaming matches,” she remembered. Days after her stepfather passed away during heart surgery in 1956, Sandra auditioned for the producer who would bring her to Hollywood. Acting became her escape, her only moment of true freedom. “When she was in front of the camera, that’s when Sandra felt free,” Cameron noted.
A Complicated Marriage and Legacy
Ironically, it was Sandra’s mother who pushed her into her first date with Bobby Darin, her co-star in the 1961 film Come September. “She didn’t expect me to have any fun without her,” Sandra joked, though she initially found the New York-born singer too arrogant. Their relationship blossomed quickly, and within months, they were engaged. Despite Mary’s protests, the couple tied the knot in December 1960. However, Sandra’s mother soon found her way back into her daughter’s life, creating tension that ultimately contributed to their 1967 divorce. Yet, their love never faded. “They both wanted to get back together,” Cameron shared. “They were even looking at houses to buy after they remarried.”
Tragically, fate intervened. Bobby, whose heart had been weakened by rheumatic fever as a child, underwent a double valve replacement in 1972. After neglecting to take antibiotics before a dental procedure, he developed blood poisoning. “It was deliberate,” Cameron believes. “He could tell his heart was failing, and he didn’t want to live like that anymore.” Bobby passed away after his second open-heart surgery at the young age of 37, leaving Sandra emotionally shattered. “A lot of her died the day he died,” their son Dodd said.
Even opportunities for renewal were thwarted by her mother’s influence. When Cameron, who had remained friends with Sandra, offered her a role in a soap opera, Mary intervened. “Her mother killed the deal,” Cameron lamented. “I could see that Sandra needed the money, but she couldn’t act without her mother’s approval.”
