*Please be aware that I will be sharing disturbing details in this post to do with death, the aftermath of death, decomposition and mental health issues. I will, as always try to be as sensitive with the details without taking away from the facts of the story. Please contact me via email if you have any questions or queries: jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
In April 2011, a report was going around social media that an old school Hollywood actress had been found deceased in her house in the prestigious Westwanda Drive in Beverly Hills. The death of an elderly Hollywood icon is always sad and it feels like the end of an era, the lady in question was Yvette Vickers, best known for the cult classic movie 'The Attack of The 50ft Woman'. But as the tributes began to pour in and the tweets were being typed out by lovers of classic Hollywood all over the world, heartbreaking details of Yvette's life and death began to emerge.
Recently we have lost the incredible actor, Gene Hackman at the age of 95 after decades of being out of the spotlight and everyone was heartbroken, but again a similar situation happened where more details about his death began to pour through. We found that it wasn't just a case of an elderly retired actor who had passed away peacefully at home, we found out that Gene, his beloved wife of 35 years, Betsy and one of their three dogs had passed away. With limited details, the internet went wild with rumours, conspiracies, accusations, theories, conclusions. One minute it was speculated that it was a robbery that had gone wrong, then it was a murder committed by the illuminati, then it was a suicide pact because certain conspiracy theorists came up with the idea (without any evidence) that Gene was connected to the late and disgraced Jeffrey Epstein. I thought about Yvette the minute I heard about what happened with Gene and his wife, the way the minute details of their deaths was played out detail by detail to the world.
Now, don't get me wrong, I can understand the flurry of crazy ideas and conclusions, as humans it's what we do, we like to get to the bottom of things and we like answers. The circumstances in which Gene, Betsy and their Dog were found, left many scratching their heads, especially as two dogs were outside alive and the front door appeared to be open. The circumstances were strange and it was the topic of non-stop conversation for days on end until a press conference addressed to the public, shared the full details surrounding the deaths. It turned out that Betsy had sadly passed away suddenly from a horrific infection known as 'Hantavirus'. Most of us have never heard of such a thing but it is caught from rats. When investigators searched the property they were able to determine that the home had signs of rat infestation. It is believed that Betsy must have touched something or an area where the rats had previously been and caught the virus from them.
Betsy had spent days thinking that she had a bad case of the flu, she was a devoted wife and full time carer to Gene, who it emerged (as well as other health issues) was in advanced staged of Alzheimer's disease. Evidence of flu medication was found in the property and when the bodies were discovered, Betsy had been in the bathroom but Gene was in another room in the house which caused confusion and speculation to the public. It turned out that Betsy had died suddenly in the bathroom and one of the dogs was in a cage in the bathroom. Even more heartbreaking was that it is believed that Gene had been alive for about a week after his wife's death. With the advanced Alzheimer's, it's unknown if he was fully aware of what had happened or was in a state of confusion in his final days. It was all so sad and he was found to have died of natural causes but not of the Hantavirus. The dog was believed to have passed away due to the heat, hunger and dehydration. The whole story and circumstances was heartbreaking especially as Gene was such a respected and private man. He previously spoke of how he enjoyed being an actor but he wasn't built for the fame, it was never the fame that he was interested in. He said he wanted to be remembered for being a good actor, well he was all that and so much more. It's just a shame that someone who had gone to great lengths to keep his life out of the spotlight, who was very private, should have such a public death.
Now that everyone knows the circumstances in which Gene, Betsy and their dog died, the conversation has quietened down, thank goodness and the focus has returned fully to Gene's career. Gene was a genius on the screen and watching him in action is amazing. From The Firm to Mississippi Burning, everyone has a favourite role and there may be a moment in the future where the first thought will be the tragic circumstances of his death, Betsy and their dog but that will be brief and people will remember him most for all the incredible work he gave us. Everybody loved Gene, people of all ages thought he was awesome and we are so lucky to have this incredible man's performances on film to enjoy again and again.
So, I went down a road of talking about the late, great Gene Hackman but the reason for this will become clearer as you go through this post. Yvette didn't have the glittering career and amazing catalogue of films that Gene had but she was still beloved by many. When she was discovered dead at her secluded home and more details emerged, a dark, very sad and tragic picture began to be painted. It became clear that Yvette, who once lit up the screen with her beautiful looks, glowing smile, witty sense of humour and talent, had died alone and worst still, her body had remained undiscovered for approx 6-9 months. The exact length of time that she remained undiscovered is often badgered about because the truth is, nobody knows for sure but what we do know, from her Autopsy report (as well as the conditions in which she was found) she was mummified and in very advanced decomposition to the point that (and forgive me for the details here) she had no eyes, no brain, no internal organs and it appeared that she had either fallen or slid off of the sofa and just began to disintegrate on to the floor, maggots were present and there was not much of her left except for this gunge like substance, parts of skeleton with some soft tissue and on first discovery, it couldn't be determined if the remains on the floor belonged to a man or a woman but after some thorough investigation, they were able to establish that this was indeed, Yvette Vickers through her dental records.
Yvette was 82 years old at the time of her death and because it is undetermined the exact date of death it is officially listed as the 27th of April 2011. On her autopsy report they believe her to have been deceased for approximately 6 months, other reports have said 1 year but what is clear is that nobody knows for sure. There was no evidence of foul play and the manner of death was determined to be down to cardiovascular disease.
The only reason Yvette was found was because a neighbour had noticed cobwebs had formed on her mail box and became concerned. The neighbour, known as Susan Savage, managed to get into Yvette's home, which was no easy feat because Yvette had basically barricaded herself into that house. The house was up a mountain and the area was very quiet, very rarely would you hear cars go past but apparently Yvette was convinced that she was being stalked so she had bells on her gate so that if anyone tried to come to her house the bells would alert her. It was a really sad situation because as Susan looked around Yvette's home she could see the uninhabital conditions Yvette had been living in, the walls were filthy, sticky tape patched up broken windows, there was rat droppings and black mould was everywhere, there was cobwebs hanging from the ceiling and weeds growing through cracks in the walls. Susan shouted out to Yvette and got no response, she did eventually find Yvette on the second floor of the property and that must have been a truly traumatic sight for Susan to have seen.
As well as the horrific sight of Yvette's remains on the floor, Susan noticed Brandy bottles strewn about the place, the phone was off the hook and another shocking fact is that the electricity and heating was still on. Susan turned them off and called 911 straight away who were able to be on the scene in an impressive 5 minutes.
The reason for Yvette's neighbours to have been oblivious to the fact that Yvette was not out and about was because she was notorious for keeping herself to herself. With neighbours, they were lucky to have gotten a quick hello from her. It's not that Yvette was rude, she could be quite a charming and engaging person but for some reason she just didn't want to be too close to her neighbours so they didn't bother her. The reason her electricity was still on was because she had a direct debit set up that just ran on automatically. Susan and investigators noticed the piles of fan letters that were on the floor, Yvette had previously arranged for her mail to be held at the post office when she did go out of town. It is thought that she had planned to go somewhere and had set up her arrangement with the post office but as the months went on and a huge sack full of letters came for Yvette, the post office had no choice but to deliver them to her house.
From what I have read of Yvette, she seemed to live a double life, one was of a hermit and the other was a bit of a socialite. She would only leave her house if she had do do something very important and would go out of town for various lengths of time. With retro fans of today, Yvette had quite a following and the movie 'Attack of The 50ft Woman' as well as 'Attack of The Giant Leeches' have gone down in cinema history as cult classics although they were considered B movies and flops. Yvette was very proud of both films and proud of all of the movies she did. She had been in the industry from the age of 15 and due to her stunning looks and charm, she often played very seductive roles. Yvette loved to dance and keep fit, she'd been born in Kansas on the 26th of August 1928, her full name was Yvette Lola Vedder and both of her parents were musicians. Her father was a jazz, saxophone player and her mother was a pianist. Yvette was a naturally talented singer and she first ended up in LA after her mother brought her out to visit her sister and fell in love with the place so decided to stay. Her father ended up coming along too and the family settled in LA whilst Yvette continued to show an artistic flare.
As well as being a talented singer and dancer she was very focused on her education with dreams and plans of becoming a writer. She quickly changed her mind and decided to study Theatre Arts to which she graduated. She got her first job on a shampoo commercial which proved to be quite a popular advert. Someone spotted her in the commercial and soon Hollywood lights beckoned and she tried to make a career as an actress. She appeared in a few things here and there, as an extra in Sunset Boulevard amongst other things, she did a lot of performances in the theatre which she was very passionate about. The two B movies she starred in were deemed to be box office failure but Yvette didn't see it like that because she starred in those movies and she was proud of that. She'd done various roles, mostly sexy and seductive but she did admit that the public would be confused by her especially those who enjoyed her theatrical performances only to see her take part in a movie that was having her play an unsavory woman. Yvette wanted to be taken seriously as an actress but she also loved the attention that she had gotten when she wore short skirts or appeared in these types of cheesy and seductive films.
In 1990, Yvette took part in an interview with the late comedian and actor Skip E. Lowe, where she had spoken very honestly and open about her life and career. She also talked about her love life and had mentioned some of the leading men in Hollywood that she had been in relationships with. She also spoke of the icy reception she would often receive from fellow actresses and she talked about her fondness for actress Natalie Wood (who I have previously written about. Natalie died in mysterious circumstances, you can find the post here). Natalie was described as a sweet person who was very friendly with Yvette but the majority of the time she did have to suffer a lot of hostility from women. Yvette was a beautiful woman with striking features, it wasn't a surprise when she posed for Playboy. She enjoyed photoshoots and loved the attention but this further caused confusion about her career and continuing jealousy from certain other women.
According to her interview in 1990, she had only been married once and that union was short -lived because she was young and naive at the time.
Other romances followed and she did have fun. She spoke of these men she had previously had relationships with and she had such great respect for them. The love of her life as she claimed, was the late American actor, Jim Hutton who sadly passed away from lung cancer at the age of just 45 in 1979. Jim's story is also one of heartbreak for he passed away just a month after finding out that he had cancer and his death came just two days after his 45th birthday. Yvette was devastated and although so many years had gone by since his death, it was clear that she had never gotten over the loss of Jim.
Despite critics trying to be all doom and gloom about her career and the roles she had played, Yvette was very proud of all that she had achieved. Her attitude was that the two movies she had starred in, 'Attack of The 50ft Woman' and 'Attack of The Giant Leeches' may have been considered 'B movies' but she still starred in them. She was offered a role in a Paul Newman movie which she was very excited about although she was a bit disappointed to have only been offered a few small scenes, further disappointment came when it was decided that her scenes would be cut from the movie altogether. The harsh reality of Hollywood and how hard it could be. Yvette was a workaholic and was very passionate about her career and wanting to be taken seriously as actress but admitted that some of the roles she had taken in the past as well as the Playboy modelling may not have done her any favours back then. In those days to pose for Playboy and to be a woman who was very confident with her sexuality and her body would sometimes make people uncomfortable. I spoke about something similar in my Bobby Driscoll post about Hollywood expecting it's stars to be squeaky clean and any slight perceived flaw or certain type of behaviour was frowned upon.
The very movies that were classed as 'flops' by harsh critics were the very films that endeared Yvette to her legions of fans. Many people have fond memories of watching late-night re-runs of her films and TV shows and by then, in the 1970s, they were considered classics. The popularity of those films just grew and grew to the point that Yvette's character 'Honey Parker' was seen as an icon, young girls and women would dress up as her for Halloween and the posters for her movies were still popular and considered important pieces of cinema and old Hollywood history.
In 1990, a horror movie which Yvette appeared in, called 'Evil Spirits' was released and again this was deemed to be a flop (I actually managed to find this movie on Youtube if you're interested in watching it. You can find it here!) but Yvette enjoyed filming the movie with another actress she deeply admired, the legendary Karen Black.
Yvette was asked if she would have done anything different in regards to her career and she said she wouldn't have, she admitted that she may have made mistakes sometimes but that she didn't regret anything. She was happy and excited about where her life and career was at that time in the 1990 interview. She was well aware of her popularity with the horror community and fans of old Hollywood. Even shortly before her death she was a regular guest at conventions where she would pose for photographs and meet fans of her movies. As mentioned previously, she had letters from fans being sent to her to the point that the post office couldn't find any space to put them all.
When I think about the last months and days of Yvette, it's very sad and to think that she had locked herself up in this house that was once her dream home. That house was where she had done so many of her iconic photoshoots and where many memories were made. She lived there in the 1950s all the way to her death in 2010 (she is believed to have died in 2010 but her death is listed on her Autopsy report as the 27th of April 2011 - which was the day she was found). Things had gotten quiet for her career-wise but she was still thought of highly and did attend fan conventions here and there but towards the end her mental health suffered greatly. Barricading herself in, putting bells on the gate outside just in case someone tried to come to the house, keeping herself away from the neighbours, it was all so sad for such an iconic and talented person.
She never had any children and had no pets living with her so she was completely and utterly alone. For reasons unknown she had no contact with her family. There was a brother that she wasn't particularly close with who ended up taking charge of her remains after her cremation but that was it. There's no memorial stone or anything for Yvette just this sad story.
The house was eventually sold but it was on the market for a long time as you can imagine. The address itself had a black mark against and despite the location being beautiful. Once the house was purchased it was demolished and to be honest I think that was for the best. How could anyone live in such a place, it was falling apart but also the heartbreaking memories that it was where Yvette had suffered alone for so long. The land on which the property once stood on seems to be having issues with finding a buyer at the time of writing this post (March 2025). I found the land on various sites and the address remains the same 10021 Westwanda Drive, Beverly Hills 90210. The land has been on sale now for over 7 months, nobody seems to be in a rush to buy it despite the price being $625,000. You can imagine the amount of people who would drive up there, even though the house is gone just to have a look or selfies taken.
Shortly before the house was demolished, the infamous founder of 'Find A Death.Com' and 'Dearly Departed Tours', Scott Michaels, decided to visit the property with two colleagues. The video is on Youtube and I will include it below because I did watch it and it was through Scott's video I was able to find out missing pieces of my research. The response to the video is mixed because some people believe it to be in poor taste that they went to the house, took pictures and filmed inside. Even more eyebrows were raised when Scott actually took various items that belonged to Yvette, it was deemed disrespectful and I can understand where they are coming from. When it comes to this type of situation, Scott Michaels is someone who is very passionate and fascinated by death and the deaths of famous people, I don't think it comes from a malicious place, he just wants to learn like we all do. The items that he had taken from Yvette's home (which no doubt were going to be thrown in the trash) were given pride of place in the Find A Death museum and the bells that Yvette hung on her gate were placed on the office door of Dearly Departed tours.
It all sounds a bit morbid and disrespectful and I understand that but this is there way of paying tribute to Yvette and including her in their museum along with other iconic figures. Yvette deserves to be remembered and counted alongside the classic Hollywood starlets from back in the day. Her death was heartbreaking and was one of the worst things you could imagine happening to someone, even yourself. Through talking about these tragic events we are able to look back over the glory days of Yvette's career, the times when she was happiest and her unique beauty shining out of every photoshoot she had done. There's so many beautiful pictures of Yvette out there and in many ways, the sad ending of this story has brought her many new fans and people who may not have known about her before but want to find out what movies and shows she appeared in.
Whatever the case, none of us will ever forget Yvette and the important part she played in Hollywood history. Some people may say she was a failed actress or that she was forgotten about but I don't agree. The fact that people are still interested and talking about 'Attack of The 50ft Woman' after decades is incredible and it has nothing to do with the way Yvette died, the movie was a cult classic before she died. Her short career in movies, if you want to call it that, was actually so iconic that she spent the last years of her life making money off of it because so many people wanted to meet her at conventions, people who hadn't even been born when that movie was first out. She gained a lot of younger fans over the years and I don't know if she responded to any of the letters she received but I'm glad that she got fan letters and knew that she was loved by people all over the world.
On another note, Yvette was apparently working on her autobiography before her death. It would be wonderful if this was true or if anyone had the transcripts but maybe one day we will know? She led a fascinating life and had many stories to tell. When asked about the infamous casting couch, Yvette would say that she did her best to avoid that type of situation, not that there wasn't offers but she was serious about her career and wanted to be accepted, known and liked for her work.
Yvette was a fierce animal lover and was a member of PETA and other Animal charities. She was also involved with a homeless charity.
She seemed to be such a charming, charismatic person and even as she got older, she was still very beautiful. RIP Yvette, you will never be forgotten.
I thank you, as always for checking out my latest post, I hope that you found it an interesting read as heartbreaking as the story is and also how disturbing it has been in parts. I know a lot of people focus on Yvette's death but in this post I have also talked about her remarkable life and hope that you have come away from this with a bit more knowledge about Yvette Vickers and will continue to check out her movies etc. I have included links below which you may find interesting if you fancy going down a Yvette Vickers rabbit hole.
Further Reading & Sources:
- Yvette Vickers: Article | NY Times
- Mummification | Science Direct
- The Attack of The 50ft Woman | Wikipedia
- Attack of The Giant Leeches | Imdb
- Scott Michaels | Find A Death
- Yvette Vickers | Find A Grave
- The Hollywood Book of Death by James Robert Parish
- World's Greatest Hollywood Scandals
- My friend, Yvette Vickers, In Her Own Words by John O'Dowd
- Yvette Vickers: Article | Huffington Post
- Yvette Vickers: Article | Los Angeles Daily News
- Yvette Vickers: House & Autopsy Details | Scott Michaels
- Yvette Vickers: 1990 TV Interview | Youtube
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Stay safe and I hope you will join me in my next post x
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