Sue Casey

Sue Casey

Birthdate
April 8, 1926 (98 years old)
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Date of Death
February 21, 2019
Known For
Acting

Details

Birthdate
April 8, 1926 (98 years old)
Place of Birth
Los Angeles, California, USA
Date of Death
February 21, 2019
Known For
Acting

Biography

While other actresses would have long given up a stalled career out of pure frustration after decades of mostly uncredited extra/bit parts and little reward, perennial starlet Sue Casey somehow found the stamina to maintain for six decades! In films from 1946, the voluptuous brunette, at most, became a campy vixen in a few 1960s "drive-in" bombs, yet has always held a remarkably appreciative outlook as to how things turned out.

Successfully establishing herself as a wholesome commercial actress, she pitched everything from cereal to automobiles in over 200 assignments. Light TV guest parts also came her way in episodes of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957), The Baileys of Balboa (1964), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), The Farmer's Daughter (1963), The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) and Family Affair (1966), among others. As for the big screen, nothing changed. Obscure bit/extra parts continued with Bells Are Ringing (1960), The Ladies Man (1961), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), A New Kind of Love (1963) and The Carpetbaggers (1964).

Finally, after nearly two decades of pursuing her dream in Hollywood, Casey nabbed a leading role! As bad girl "Vicky Lindsay" in what is arguably one of film's biggest "turkeys" of all time, The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965), she attained a notoriety that led to minor cult status. The film had a non-existent budget and was received poorly in every way, shape and form upon its initial release. Casey even had to do her own hair and makeup and was forced to pick out her vixen character's clothes from her own closet. The actors were never paid until the movie was sold years later to TV (retitled as "Monster from the Surf") and that was a mere pittance. Over the years, however, the movie has reportedly gained a cult following. Two other easily dismissed co-starring roles in unmemorable campy films followed. She played a hillbilly mom in the fugitive drama Swamp Country (1966) (which starred pearly-toothed pre-Carol Burnett hunk Lyle Waggoner) and a manipulative mom and art forger in Catalina Caper (1967) (which starred former Disney star Tommy Kirk after his fall from studio grace, and (again) Lyle Waggoner).

In later years, she developed a successful real estate business. She found acting work (often without an agent) intermittently on film and TV. Featured in a couple of higher-scaled movie musicals -- as a lady attendant to Vanessa Redgrave's Queen Guinevere in Camelot (1967) and as one of John Mitchum's two wives in Paint Your Wagon (1969) -- her final film resume would add such films as The Main Event (1979), Evilspeak (1981), Whitesnake: Live... in the Still of the Night (2005) and A Very Brady Sequel (1996). In American Beauty (1999), an Oscar winner for "Best Picture" and "Best Actor", lead actress Annette Bening (a Best Actress nominee for the role), plays a desperate realtor trying to sell Casey's well-to-do character a house.

Sue Casey's LGBTQ+ Titles

American Beauty
American Beauty
Sale House Woman #2

Acting (36)

1999
American Beauty as Sale House Woman #2
1996
A Very Brady Sequel as Art Patron #1
1993
Diagnosis: Murder as Mrs. Davis (1 episode)
1982
Hysterical as Bookstore Society Lady #2
1981
Evilspeak as Mrs. Caldwell
1979
The Main Event as Brenda
1971
Terror in the Sky as Sherry
1969
Paint Your Wagon as Sarah Woodling
1967
Catalina Caper as Anne Duval
1967
Camelot as Lady Sybil
1966
Swamp Country as Mrs. Cox
1965
The Beach Girls and the Monster as Vicky Lindsay
1963
A New Kind of Love as Woman (uncredited)
1962
The Lucy Show as Miss Holloway (1 episode)
1962
The Beverly Hillbillies as Roberta Graham (1 episode)
1961
Breakfast at Tiffany's as Party Guest in Blue and Green Dress (uncredited)
1961
The Dick Van Dyke Show as Clarisse Calvada (1 episode)
1961
The Ladies Man as Woman (uncredited)
1957
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour as Miss Leg Girl #1 (uncredited) (1 episode)
1954
Rear Window as Sunbather (uncredited)
1952
Eight Iron Men
1952
Cattle Town
1952
The Merry Widow as Girl at Maxim's (uncredited)
1952
We're Not Married! as Girl in Hector's Daydream (uncredited)
1952
The Las Vegas Story
1951
An American in Paris as Dancer (uncredited)
1951
Secrets of Monte Carlo as Wife of Rajah
1951
The Scarf as Miss Dean, Receptionist
1950
For Heaven's Sake
1950
The Flame and the Arrow as Angela (uncredited)
1949
It's a Great Feeling as Model (uncredited)
1949
The Great Sinner as Pretty Girl (uncredited)
1949
Blondie's Big Deal
1948
Words and Music
1947
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
1946
Holiday in Mexico