'Where the Boys Are' Actress Yvette Mimieux Dies at 80

Actress Yvette Mimieux, remembered for '60s movies like "Where the Boys Are," died just over a week after celebrating her 80th birthday.

Deadline confirmed her death with a family rep, who said she had died Tuesday in her sleep of natural causes.

Mimieux was born in L.A. on January 8, 1942, first appearing on TV in the series "Yancy Derringer" (1959) and "One Step Beyond" (1960).

Her first movie, "The Time Machine" (1960), was a lavish hit directed by George Pal and co-starring Rod Taylor and Alan Young. It was released after her second film, "Platinum High School" (1960), a Mickey Rooney comedy.

Signed to a long-term contract by MGM, Mimieux never again hit it as big as with "The Time Machine," but did appear in the iconic "Where the Boys Are" (1960) and received raves for a starring role in "Light in the Piazza" (1962), which established her as an actress noted for emotional sensitivity and fragility.

She also became, in 1964, the first woman to show her navel on American TV, doing so in the two-part "Dr. Kildare" episode "Tyger, Tyger" as an epileptic surfer.

"Most people's favorite ['Dr. Kildare' episode] was one I did with Yvette Mimieux. She was so gorgeous!" co-star Richard Chamberlain recalled in a 2011 interview. "She actually died in the film, having a seizure as she was surfing a wave. I had to run into the water and carry her out."

Other films included "Toys in the Attic" (1963), "Joy in the Morning" (1965), "The Picasso Summer" (1969), "The Delta Factor" (1970), "Skyjacked" (1972), "Journey Into Fear" (1975), "Jackson County Jail" (1976), the Disney epic "The Black Hole" (1979), and her final film, "The Fascination" (1985).

Mimieux made quite a few TV appearances, including as the star of Aaron Spelling's "The Most Deadly Game" (1970-1971) and as a regular on "Berrenger's" (1985), and in such TV movies as "Death Takes a Holiday" (1971), "Snowbeast" (1977), "Forbidden Love" (1982), and "Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception" (1990).

After an appearance on the 1992 series "Lady Boss," she retired, fed up with the limited roles coming her way.

Mimieux, who was married for 13 years to director Stanley Donen, is survived by her third husband, Howard F. Ruby, to whom she had been wed since 1986.