{"id":3877,"date":"2016-09-04T16:25:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T16:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sixtiescinema.com\/?p=3877"},"modified":"2016-09-04T16:25:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-04T16:25:50","slug":"happy-birthday-cynthia-pepper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomlisanti.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/04\/happy-birthday-cynthia-pepper\/","title":{"rendered":"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CYNTHIA PEPPER!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"acynthia\"<\/a>Pert, perky, and pleasant were some of the adjectives used to describe talented Cynthia Pepper. The daughter of a vaudevillian and his dancer wife, this green-eyed blonde was destined for show business. She co-starred on the sitcom My Three Sons<\/em> for a year before landing her own series Margie<\/em> in 1961. After the show was cancelled after only one season, Pepper played a coed in Take Her, She\u2019s Mine<\/em> (1963) starring James Stewart and Sandra Dee. But drive-in fans remember her for her turn as a WAVE who is romanced by a blond Elvis Presley in the hit film Kissin\u2019 Cousins<\/em> (1964).<\/p>\n

In 1963, Pepper along with most of Fox\u2019s contract players were let go due to the ornate movie Cleopatra<\/em>, which almost bankrupted the studio.\u00a0 \u201cI was kind of depressed after Fox dropped me,\u201d admits Cynthia.\u00a0 \u201cI was literally praying for a job.\u00a0 Things just weren\u2019t happening for me and all actors think that their last job is their last job<\/em>.\u201d In the sixties, lots of sitcom stars saw themselves typecast and couldn\u2019t get decent roles after their series ended.\u00a0 Though Margie<\/em> was not a huge hit, Pepper become very popular and may have been typed as a TV performer.\u00a0 But her luck was about to change.\u00a0 \u201cI was out one day and when I returned my housekeeper told me to call my agent.\u00a0 I asked what for and she said, \u2018If you can get over to MGM in forty-five minutes you have a part with Elvis Presley playing dual roles of a G.I. and his distant blonde hillbilly relative in Kissin\u2019 Cousins<\/em>.\u2019\u00a0 I ran over there\u2014this was on a Friday\u2014and had to report to wardrobe. Sam Katzman [the producer] must have seen a picture of me because he told my agent if I fit into the uniform the role was mine.\u00a0 Thankfully, I did.\u00a0 Monday we were off to Big Bear to shoot for a week.\u201d \u00a0Reportedly, Shelley Fabares dropped out of the movie at the last second and the producers were scrambling to recast. The role Pepper won without auditioning for was that of Midge an Air Force secretary who accompanies her boss to Smoky Mountain and falls for hillbilly Jody\u00a0while dark-haired G.I. Josh\u00a0\u00a0is romanced by Daisy Mae types Yvonne Craig and Pamela Austin.<\/p>\n

It was back to TV for Cynthia after this, but two pilots (including a sitcom version of Three Coins in the Fountain<\/em> with Yvonne Craig and Joanna Moore) failed to sell. More teenage films should have come Cynthia Pepper’s\u00a0way, but like most of her contemporaries her family\u00a0became her number one priority.<\/p>\n

You can read more of my interview with Cynthia in my book Drive-in Dream Girls<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n