Yvette Vickers

Vickers was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the daughter of jazz musician Charles Vedder. During her youth, she traveled with her parents to their various performances. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied journalism. While at UCLA, she took a class in acting and discovered that she enjoyed it, so she changed her major to drama. She began making television commercials. She later moved to New York City to model for White Rain shampoo advertisements, but she eventually returned to California to pursue an acting career. Her first movie appearance is listed under the name Yvette Vedder in Sunset Boulevard (1950), although she was not listed in the production credits. She made her first movie appearance under the Vickers name in Short Cut to Hell (1957), which was directed by James Cagney. In the same year, she starred in American International Pictures' Reform School Girl. Her image was used for the movie's theatrical poster, and it depicted her and Gloria Castillo fighting each other. The poster has subsequently become a collector's item.

In 1958, she appeared in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman as Honey Parker, town floozy who has an affair with Harry Archer (William Hudson), who is married to heiress and title character Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes). The following year she played the role of Liz Walker in Attack of the Giant Leeches. During the same period, she made a number of appearances on TV shows, including an episode of One Step Beyond titled "The Aerialist", aired on April 28, 1959, and an episode of Bat Masterson titled "Double Trouble in Trinidad," aired January 7, 1959 as "Jessie Simmons."

She appeared as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in the July 1959 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Russ Meyer. She also appeared in several other men's magazines. Her film roles began to decrease around this time. She did play some small parts in films from 1962 onward, including a small role in Hud (1963). Her last role was in Evil Spirits, a 1991 horror film.

Vickers was also a singer. In the 1990s, she released a jazz tribute to her parents on CD titled A Tribute to Charlie and Maria. In 2005, she visited Canada for the first time to appear at the Toronto Classic Movie Festival. She appeared with interviewer Tom Weaver on the audio commentary track of the 2007 DVD release of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. She had been writing her autobiography before her death.