{"id":8771,"date":"2016-09-30T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T13:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8771"},"modified":"2017-06-20T13:31:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T13:31:07","slug":"angie-dickinson-was-tvs-first-top-female-cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8771","title":{"rendered":"Angie Dickinson was TV’s first top female cop"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 Angie Dickinson, who turns 85 today, claimed many a young man\u2019s heart in 1959 when, as a woman named Feathers, she squared off in only corset and tights against John Wayne in the great Howard Hawks western, \u201cRio Bravo\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"16-angie-dickinson-x325\"<\/a>We didn\u2019t notice or care that the Duke was old enough to be her father, it was her blazing eyes and fighting spirit and, oh yes, those legs.<\/p>\n

Some of us had spotted her already on Fifties TV westerns such as \u201cThe Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp\u201d, \u201cCheyenne\u201d and \u201cHave Gun – Will Travel\u201d. Also in a couple of movies, a Randolph Scott oater titled \u201cShoot-Out at Medicine Bend\u201d (1957) , with\u00a0James Garner, her future co-star in Norman Jewison\u2019s \u201cThe Art of Love\u201d (1965), and an Andrew L. Stone thrilled called \u201cCry Terror!\u201d (1958) opposite James Mason and Rod Steiger.<\/p>\n

It was \u201cRio Bravo\u201d that made Angie Dickinson a star and her allure and feisty self-confidence made her the inevitable feminine foil for the Rat Pack caper in the original \u201cOcean\u2019s 11\u201d (1960) with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (below), and soapy dramas such as \u201cThe Bramble Bush\u201d (1960) with Richard Burton, \u201cA Fever in the Blood\u201d (1961) with Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and \u201cThe Sins of Rachel Cade\u201d (1961) with Peter Finch and Roger Moore.\"20-angie-dickinson-dean-martin-x325\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The North Dakota native makes a great impression opposite Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis in David Miller\u2019s offbeat medical drama \u201cCaptain Newman M.D.\u201d (1963) and Arthur Penn\u2019s torrid Deep South tale \u201cThe Chase\u201d (1966) with Marlon Brando, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda (and a terrific John Barry score).<\/p>\n

She has fun in such western frolics as \u201cSam Whiskey\u201d (1969) with Burt Reynolds and \u201cYoung Billy Young\u201d (1969) with Robert Mitchum, Roger Vadim\u2019s crime comedy \u201cPretty Maids All in a Row\u201d (1971) with Rock Hudson, and in the title role of Steve Carver\u2019s bootlegging romp \u201cBig Bad Mama\u201d (1974, below) with William Shatner and Tom Skerritt.<\/p>\n

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Besides \u201cRio Bravo\u201d, her most striking film roles are in three notable thrillers, two of them with Lee Marvin: Don Siegel\u2019s taut remake of Ernest Hemingway\u2019s \u201cThe Killers\u201d (1964), \"angie-dickinson-ronald-reagan-x325\"<\/a>co-starring John Cassavetes and Ronald Reagan (his last film and only appearance as a villain, pictured left), and John Boorman\u2019s masterpiece, \u201cPoint Blank\u201d (1967, below right). The other is Brian De Palma\u2019s mordant \u201cDressed to Kill\u201d (1980) with Michael Caine and Nancy Allen.<\/p>\n

Dickinson made lots of TV and she is best remembered for her groundbreaking hit \u201cPolice Woman\u201d, which ran for 91 episodes on NBC from 1974-78. She played Sergeant Pepper Anderson in the first U.S. cop show to have a female lead. Barbara \"26-angie-dickinson-lee-marvin-x325\"<\/a>Eden (\u201cI Dream of Jeannie\u201d) had wanted to play a female police officer back then but she told me, \u201cThey said no policewoman would have blonde hair or fit her uniform, \u2018absolutely not, it would not be believable\u2019. Then Angie Dickinson came along on NBC (\u201cPolice Woman\u201d) and proved them wrong. I guess NBC had more courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice Woman\u201d paved the way for all the female cops that followed and Dickinson tried again in 1982 with another NBC series, \u201cCassie & Co.\u201d in which she essentially played a Pepper Anderson who has left the force and become a private eye.<\/p>\n

\"angie-dickinson-nc-x325\"<\/a>I was set to interview the actress in connection with that show but it aired first as a mid-season replacement and failed to gain traction. It lasted 13 episodes.<\/p>\n

I did, however, get to meet her and see her at work. It was a location shoot on the pier at Paradise Cove in Malibu. She and co-star A Martinez did some scenes on a sailboat and I watched along with another co-star, the veteran Canadian John Ireland, and \u201cSands of the Kalahari\u201d star Stuart Whitman, who was visiting the set. He and Dickinson later appeared in a Burt Kennedy TV western titled \u201cOnce Upon a Texas Train\u201d (1988) along with Willie Nelson and Richard Widmark.<\/p>\n

Dickinson had lunch with the crew in the open air, chatting and laughing and when she was done she took her own tray and cleaned it. Then 51, she looked not much different from the svelte beauty in \u201cRio Bravo\u201d and she could still take a fellow\u2019s breath away.<\/p>\n

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By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 Angie Dickinson, who turns 85 today, claimed many a young man\u2019s heart in 1959 when, as a woman named Feathers, she squared off in only corset and tights against John Wayne in the great Howard … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1263,15],"tags":[4468,4469,4466,4467,4465,4471,3029,4470],"class_list":["post-8771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-memory-lane","category-television","tag-cassie-co","tag-point-blank","tag-police-woman","tag-rio-bravo","tag-angie-dickinson","tag-john-boorman","tag-john-wayne","tag-lee-marvin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8771"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9102,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8771\/revisions\/9102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}