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Those
of the newspapers...
"A new Apollo for the women..." wrote the Life magazine
in 59. You can imagine that such a figure would inevidently brighten his
natural charm of seduction. Gardner knew that very well. He loved the
presence of women and was not hidding it, even if he did'nt talk much
about them. However he was often picture taken with many of them.
In spite of himself, girls were "knocked down dead" by his sex-appeal!
His bachelor status gave good feeding to the US. tabloids, who "married"
him with all the new stars of the moment. In fact, only in the 60's, 19
were counted by the press... of which randomly (but many are missing of
course!):
-
Suzy
Parker (photo),
Chanel Top model, who was so well photographed by Richard Verdon,
-
Françoise
Saint-Laurent,
-
Agnès Laurent, a french starlet with whom who he liked go hunting
in the Palm Spings desert,
-
Ziva
Rodann (photo),
an Israeli actress,
-
Tuesday
Weld (photo),
who played in the episode Velvet Trap,
-
Ann
Margaret (photo right), with whom he played in The Pleasure
Seekers
-
-
-
Dorothy
Provine (photo),
flashy bouncy blonde who played in the TV series The Alaskans
and The Roaring 20s.
-
Marsha
Krell,
-
Nancy
Harmon,
-
Joan
Collins, who became famous in the TV series Dynasty
-
-
-
Soraya,
who became the Shah of Persia's wife.
-
Loretta
Swit. Gardner met her in the 1960's when they starred in a play
together in a small town in New Hampshire (USA). She later played
"Any Wednesday" with him in 1967. Gardner appreciated to
work with her on stage, but that was it. She wanted to date him, but
they had incompatible charactors. Unfortunately, their friendship
broke up when she once asked to come to his Berverly Hills house and
have a photo taken with his cheetah in a magazine for her private
collection. The photo was later printed in "The National Enquirer"
with a caption saying that they were an item and were engaged. Gardner
felt cheated and refused to speak to her for the ten following years...**
She later became famous for her role as "Hotlips Houlihan"
in the long running TV show, "M.A.S.H."
Those
of his heart, probably...
- Kay.
She was 15 and a cute little blonde. He was 16 (1948) and madly in
love. His first love ... at Darien (Connecticut)*,
Greta
Chi, a lovely eurasian girl (photo
with Gard -see also many others in "Gallery"page).
They stayed together for a long time.
- Julie
Newmar (her
photo with McKay), a tall and independent actress. When talking
of her height (5'10"), she used to say: "It doesn't bother
me, one see me better. Furthermore, when seeing a mountain, most of
men wants to conquer it!". She is most known for her leading
part in the TV series "Cat Woman".
Barbara
Bouchet, known as "Didi" or "Heidi",
born on 15th august 1943 at Reichenberg in Sudete Rép.(ex-Tchecoslovakia,
invaded by the Nazis), This beautiful blue-eyed blond was only a model
when she met GMK in Paris in 63. He travelled with her in Egypt in
63-64. According to the press, she was to get married to him, but
Gardner never proposed to her. Barbara was later seen as an actress,
first in TV series such as: The Man from UNCLE(64), Star
Trek (66), then took the part of "Moneypenny" in the
James Bond movie Casino Royale (67),
and finally will become, just like Barbara Steele, a pin-up actress
in italian fantastic movies (1969-82).Her last movie was Scorcese's
Gangs of New York...,
Dolorès
Hawkins, a top model from New-York (Ford Modeling Agency). They
dated for at least five years in the 60's. When he was working in
Hollywood, he would fly to New York over the weekend just to visit
her for a few hours. She spent time with him in California and Acapulco
also, and they made some cigarette commercials together. They had
also been on modeling assignments together when he lived in New York
(*). The press stated, in spring 62, that McKay wanted to marry her,
which was immediately denied.
Laila
Nyborg. At the age of 19 (1961) she moved from Sweden to
Paris and became a successful model. Laila stayed in Paris for five
years and met Gardner McKay during her time there. After her time
in Paris she moved to Mexico City and after a couple of small parts
in Mexican movies Laila landed the lead in "Vanessa" (1970)
- Photo with
Gardner.
(Thanks to a swedish friend for these details).
Gardner had finally many girls in his arms, either on screen or in
real life, but he always said that he would never get married, or
ask a woman to marry him unless he was sure that it was going to be
forever. He was true to his word.
*Thanks to Ashley for these infos.
** Corrections made by Mrs Madeleine McKay (Feb 2005)
See gallery page with Gardner and
all the girls.
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