Angie Dickinson

Angie Dickinson attained a kind of hipster-chick primacy in the rarified cloister of swinging, swanky showbiz royalty. A former beauty queen, Dickinson began with early forays on television prior to her breakout performance as a feisty gambler opposite John Wayne in John Ford's influential western "Rio Bravo" (1959). Having fallen in with Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack crowd, she later played his wife in the crime romp "Ocean's 11" (1960). More roles as tough but sexy women followed in features like director John Boorman's "Point Blank" (1967) opposite Lee Marvin. She enjoyed her greatest success in her forties as the first female lead of a TV drama series on "Police Woman" (NBC, 1974-78), followed by roles in Roger Corman's gangster B-movie "Big Bad Mama" (1974) and Brian De Palma's thriller "Dressed to Kill" (1980). Although her professional output tapered off considerably near the end of the millennium, the actress occasionally reappeared with impactful performances in such films as the societal drama "Pay it Forward" (2000). Rather than attempt to shed her sex symbol status, Dickinson instead used it to her advantage, both defying and exceeding expectations time and again.