Barbara Nichols

She was the archetypal brassy, bosomy, Brooklynesque bimbo with a highly distinctive scratchy voice. Barbara Nichols started life as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New York on December 10, 1928, and grew up on Long Island. Graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, the dame with the shapely frame changed her reddish-brown hair to platinum blonde and drew whistles as a post-war model and burlesque dancer. As a beauty contestant, she won the "Miss Long Island" title as well as the dubious crowns of "Miss Dill Pickle", "Miss Mink of 1953" and "Miss Welder of 1953", and also became a GI pin-up favorite. She began to draw early attention on stage (particularly in the musical "Pal Joey") and in television drama. Hardly leading lady material, Barbara found herself stealing focus in small, wisecracking roles, managing at times to draw both humor and pathos out of her cheesy, dim-witted characters -- sometimes simultaneously. She seemed consigned for the long haul to playing strippers, g