Barbara Nichols

Born Barbara Nickerauer in New York on December 30, 1928, Barbara Nichols started in show business as a model and burlesque dancer in the late 1940s and gained notoriety as a dancer in the Latin Quarter. In the early 1950s, she appeared on Broadway in Pal Joey and would eventually reprise her role in the film version, released in 1957. In 1954 Nichols began doing guest spots on popular TV anthology series, such as The United States Steel Hour and Center Stage.
Getting good notices, Nichols was cast in a small role in her first film, The Wild Party (1956; with Carol Ohmart). Throughout the remainder of the 1950s, Nichols acted in a string of A and B pictures, such as Pal Joey (1957; with Frank Sinatra) and The Naked and the Dead (1958; with Aldo Ray). In 1958, she landed her only television series, the short-lived Love that Jill with Anne Jeffreys. She also starred in the pilot for The Untouchables with Robert Stack, which aired on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse in 1958.
Two separate car accidents, one in July 1957 and another in the 1960s, took a toll on Barbara Nichols' health. The 1957 wreck required the removal of her spleen, but she bounced back quickly given the severity of her injuries. The 1960s accident damaged her liver. Nichols' film career began to run out of steam by the mid 1960s; taking on roles in low-budget films, she acted in such films as House of Women (1962; with Constance Ford and Jeanne Cooper) and The Human Duplicators (1965; with George Nader and Hugh Beaumont). However, Nichols kept working, making occasional films and numerous television appearances through 1976 when, as a result of her previous car accidents, her failing liver ravaged her health. After spending two months in a coma, Nichols passed away on October 5, 1976, at the age of 47. She was survived by her father and mother.