Barbara Nichols

Early life and career

Nichols was born as Barbara Marie Nickerauer to George and Julia Nickerauer, and raised in Queens, New York. She began modeling for pinup magazines in the late 1940s. In the mid-1950s, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing regularly in second leads in a number of films including Miracle in the Rain (1956), The King and Four Queens (1956), The Naked and the Dead (1958), The Pajama Game (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), That Kind of Woman (1958), Where the Boys Are (1960).

On Broadway, she appeared in the 1952 revival of Pal Joey (she also appeared in the 1957 film version) and in Let It Ride (1961).

Nichols was a popular model in cheesecake magazines of the era and was considered a minor rival to Marilyn Monroe. Unlike the others, she rarely starred in films, but had showy supporting roles in A-films starring such actors as Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Sophia Loren, and Doris Day. One of her few starring roles was in the 1965 science fiction film The Human Duplicators.

Nichols was also a frequent guest star on many television series including It's a Great Life, The Jack Benny Television Show, The Twilight Zone (in the episode "Twenty Two"), The Untouchables, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Going My Way, Batman (episodes 35 and 36), Hawaii Five-O, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies. Her final film was Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood in 1976.

Death

Nichols died on October 5, 1976, aged 47, from liver failure due to complications of a damaged spleen and liver reportedly sustained in an automobile accident many years earlier. She was survived by her parents. She is interred at Pinelawn Memorial Park in Farmingdale, New York.