Dorothy Provine, best-known for her appearance in Stanley Kramer’s 1963 all-star comedy blockbuster It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and for the TV series The Roaring ’20s, died of emphysema on Sunday morning, April 25, at the Hospice of Kitsap County in Bremerton, Wash. She was 75.
According to Provine’s widower, television director Robert Day, Provine "was very reserved," preferring long drives, watching movies, and reading books to socializing. The couple had been living on Washington State’s Bainbridge Island for about two decades.
Born on Jan. 20, 1935, in Deadwood, S.D., Dorothy Provine attended the University of Washington.
The pretty blonde was later featured in a number of Hollywood productions of the late 1950s and 1960s, among them The 30-Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959), in the title role, playing opposite Lou Costello; the Disney release That Darn Cat! (1965), with Hayley Mills; Blake Edwards‘ The Great Race (1965), starring Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis; and Who’s Minding the Mint? (1967), opposite Jim Hutton.
Provine’s last feature was Never a Dull Moment (1968), with Dick Van Dyke and Edward G. Robinson.
On television, Provine made her mark as Pinky Pinkham, the flapper in the period crime series The Roaring ’20s.
Dorothy Provine is one of the best actress in Hollywood. She is my favorite actress. And then she is more beautiful and leggy actor. i saw a movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World” it’s really wonderful movie. Dorothy acting is amazing. I really miss her.
Ever since I first saw “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” when I was seven, Dorothy Michelle Provine has always been one of my favorite actresses. She was one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. I will always miss her.