stuff I like

Today’s Friday Face is the adorably dotty Natalie Schafer, seen here in the role of her career as the fluffy millionaire’s wife Lovey Howell (real name: Eunice Wentworth Howell) on “Gilligan’s Island.” She played the role for three years (1964-67), and for an eternity in reruns.

Natalie was born November 5, 1900 to a Jewish family in Red Bank, New Jersey, a stone’s throw from Broadway… where she made her debut in 1927′s “Trigger,” directed by none other than George Cukor. She typically played a sophisticated woman, and would continue to do so in over 80 films, beginning in 1941 with her move to Los Angeles.

She had some terribly interesting romances, including a 9-year marriage to excellent character actor Louis Calhern (above), best remembered opposite Marilyn Monroe in “The Asphalt Jungle.” All four of his marriages (Nat was his 3rd) ended in divorce.

She was engaged to character actor Charles Butterworth (above) when he was killed in a one-car accident in 1946.

Natalie had a long romance during the late 1940s and early ’50s with brilliant playwright and humorist George S. Kaufman (above), who worked with the Marx Brothers, and wrote the divine “You Can’t Take It with You” (with Moss Hart, Kitty Carlisle’s husband).

Here she is in an episode of Lucy that I love… because Lucy and Ethel are in drag, and Ricky and Fred, too. Natalie runs the charm school.

Schafer shaved 10 years off her age, and even her best friends were unaware of her real age until her death of cancer at 90, when it was revealed. She died at her 7-bedroom home on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Her ashes were scattered in the sea near San Pedro, California.

Below, one of her last public appearances at the APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles) benefit in September of 1990. She died April 10, 1991.

By all accounts a witty and delightful woman, Natalie invested wisely in real estate, reportedly leaving the bulk of her estate to her poodle, and to co-star Dawn Wells (“Mary Ann”), who has never confirmed it.

Schafer left $2 million to the Motion Picture and Television Hospital, which named a wing for her.

For her glamour, sophistication, talent and style, Natalie Schafer is today’s Friday Face.

When you have time, here’s the 1947 film “Dishonored Lady” in which she appeared opposite the marvelous Hedy Lamarr (great scene at 48:48). She could wear a hat.

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