Thordis Brandt

[beutelwolf]

[beutelwolf]

Neue Revue, 1969 no 49

[Hertz]

[beutelwolf]

Neue Revue 1972 no 5
Mag reports her breakup from James Arness.

[johnbear]

[beutelwolf]

VEF find

[babybreese]

Vegas 1968 cover & 2 more pics.

[womwam]

From an agency brochure


Posing with Inga Neilsen for a Funny Girl shoot


In Like Flint


Nevada Smith


Debbie Reynolds Show


Gallery

[ManInMotion#33]

Originally Posted by maurice de saxe

The same for Octobre 1969

Daily Girl Sex-Revue 10/69

[Findcandor]

.

Just beautiful.

Days ago, I put this up on the "Model ID Request" thread:

Originally Posted by Findcandor

.
I had to dig up an episode of Mannix as material for a post, and was charmed by the "twirling girl" (who shows a panties peek) in the beginning title sequence.

You may see the blond actress they cast (to give a taste of how the show's detective character has a way with women, or course) was not just a TKO, but a haymaker of epic proportions. In a later "EDIT," I provided the probable identity of the "Twirling Girl." I finished by lamenting how I had a big pile of posts that I've collected materials for, and this revelation was a reminder of an actress I hadn't yet attended to.

When I next put up a VEF search to see where else Thordis Brandt may have been brought up, I ran into a post of mine on the "Report Problem Posts, Links, Etc Here" thread. (See, when I was researching Thordis at the time, I had run into a few misidentifications on this here thread of hers, and the indomitable PoloMintGuy handled the problems in his usual irresistible way. Really, that thread is worth perusing just to check out PMG's wonderful responses.) I see I had written, "Planning on making an addition to Thordis Brandt's thread." That was nine months ago (for God's sake).




You would think since the "Twirling Girl" was used in the opening credits (the more I look at the sequence, the more I am convinced the woman was indeed our gal; by the way, I just ran into this IMDb user's comment that pointed out what is seen are not panties, but "bloomers over the underwear. Similar to what cheerleaders wear under their short skirts"; I'd still like to think they were panties, because they are so much more intimate) for the first four out of eight seasons (yes, I actually spent the time to check, to make my following point; the last four seasons had substituted another blonde in the opening sequence to drive home what a sexy man was Mannix. Hmmm! Now I am wondering about this other mystery blonde, seen in the above photo)...


Secretary tells the hero a client is waiting in Mannix's office, but the client is not alone. Mannix
asks, "bodyguard?" Secretary says, "Body." Mannix opens the door and is delighted to see
the following view. Camera pans up from those fabulous legs, and whaddaya know. It's Thordis.

... So you would think that when they finally gave Thordis a chance to act (she was in "Pressure Point," S02E03, playing a secretary the client added as "inducement" for the private dick to take on the case), just out of gratitude or even sentiment's sake (for the girl so convincingly used as the reason why viewers got the idea that Mannix was God's gift to women), they would have credited her. It wasn't unusual for the movies and TV shows from this period to nix crediting actors with lesser roles, but it's upsetting how actors with substance, who were given character names and who had lines (as Thordis did in this episode), could be so casually bypassed.





I have to tell you that my heart has gone out to this lady, because she was struggling, and she kept getting dissed. Let's learn a little more about her (the following is from the "TV Graphic" section of Pittsburgh Press, December 29, 1968):



Thordis Stood There Like a Statue

WHEN Thordis Brandt gets a call to be on Dean Martin's show (Thursdays, 10 p. Channels 6, 7, 11). she doesn't have to worry about memorizing lines.
You see, Thordis (pronounced Thor-dis) happens, as the fellows say, to be blessed with a figure that won't stop. And the five-foot-eight, 130-pound Norwegian-German-Canadian blonde has the face to go with the figure.
She has made five appearances with Dean and has yet to utter one word. Her most recent "exposure" on Dean's NBC-TV hour was in a gag painting skit involving Dean and his golfing buddy, Phil Harris. Phil didn't need any hard-sell to get Dean to take up his hobby of finger-painting, especially when be brought in his "canvas"—Thordis.


Dean Martin at left; other is Phil Harris. Later noticed
Womwam put up first shot, in his Post #5 from 2012,
dated "12 Dec '68."

"I must have looked awful," exclaimed the statuesque charmer, who stood there in a bikini and worried how her face looked (as if anybody got that far). "I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing."
Unfortunately for viewers, not too much of that fun session was shown because of NBC censors.
The beautiful blonde from Vancouver has only been in show business a couple of years. As a teenager she modeled and joined a little theater group.
"There just wasn't that much going on in Canada for an actress," she recalled. "So, with mother's urging, I took a course in nursing."
Thordis hated the Canadian weather, which was as good an excuse as any for leaving. With a truckload of movie fan magazines scattered in her wake, Thordis came to Hollywood. But nobody "discovered" her.
So she had to go to work at UCLA's Medical Center, where her registered nurse quallficalions got her into the intensive care ward. Caring for private patients outside, many of them influential in the film business, led her to meeting an agent. (NOTE: IMDb bio adds, "One of her jobs in private duty was serving actress Patricia Neal. Ms. Neal recommended Thordis to other actors and actresses, thus Thordis became known as the 'actor's nurse.'")


As I quoted a beautiful actress: "Bruce
was the most incredible lover I've ever
been with. He was just so knowledgeable
about a woman's body... he... took me
to the moon and back." The implication
from the above photo is that Bruce's
dragon may have entered Brandt as well.
(I am so hating Bruce Lee.)

Some roles in "Girl From Uncle," "I Spy," "Mannix" and a couple of Elvis Presley movies followed, but nothing that would lead to stardom. She's now hopeful a yet unreleased movie, "The Witch Maker," will do something for her. Thordis did a lot for the film, like wearing a tight sweater, pink nightie, towel and getting branded.
"Working at being an actress is a 24-hour job, I guess," says Thordis. disenchanted with her progress, "Some of the glory hes worn off. My agent feels that I should go to more parties and be seen by the right people. But I'd rather get to bed by 10 so I can get up early. I love the outdoors. I go surfing whenever I can."
Well, that's not a bad life. Between surfing in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, her most recent trips,. Thordis can always pick up a few bucks by doing nothing on a Martin show. At least that beats being branded.

None of these Dean Martin appearances have been recorded on the actress' IMDb page. Bear in mind the points about her growing disenchantment with the business, as well as what she hoped would work as her show biz breakthrough, a rare (if not only) starring role in the horror movie, The Witchmaker (1969). The "couple of Elvis Presley" movies were Spinout (1966) and Live a Little, Love a Little (1968), where the IMDb has described her uncredited roles as (respectively) "Bit Girl" and "Blonde" (to add weight to the frustration of what she must have been feeling). In addition (I hope you're taking notes), another source (why, it's the first color nude photo below) had pegged her height at 5'7", one inch less than what has been reported above. (The mild importance of this point is coming up.)


We all know Thordis was smokin', but here she seems to have literally lit
one up, in a publicity photo for WHERE IT'S AT, a 1969 film with David
Janssen; she played a waitress. Later noticed Member "Hertz" had put
this up in 2016's Post #13, but I also found the accompanying promotional
description, identifying T. B. as "one of those ravishing beauties."

Naturally, we are all most interested in the times the women being explored on Vintage Erotica Forum have shed the most clothing. I wanted to give a round-up of the pitifully few times Thordis has consented to appear significantly naked.

...............
In 2014's Post #9, Beutelwolf also put up a nude view from 1971 seen last, where the goods were hidden; version here has been colorized.

The images above are from the thread (subsequently plastered throughout the web) and have all been reworked. The first is from Beutelwolf (Post #8, 2014, Escort magazine, Nov. 1967), where she was quoted as charmingly saying, "People just seem to notice me." (Her measurements have been cited as 36-23-35, although she doesn't seem that top-heavy to me; of course, cup size also plays a part.) The second image came again from the highly valuable Beutelwolf (Post #4, 2012, Girl illustrated magazine); it's got a little blurb (which you may read by clicking on that last link), ending with how she is not "madly ambitious for movie fame." (These are all clues toward what we're leading up to, Hercule Poirot.) The third image was taken from the post directly above, and we have ever-on-the-ball "ManInMotion#33" to thank for I.D.'ing one month's calendar girl, from a 2017 post by Member "Maurice de saxe," where many other pin-ups were offered from 1969's Daily Girl Sex-Revue, a French publication. Thordis must have done nude modeling years ago (either for extra income, or more probably to attract attention for help with a slow-moving career; notice how she has evidently never succumbed to doing the same for the screen, but naturally screen nudity was not that prevalent during her time, the 1960s), and there are probably more such photos beyond these three or four.




Thordis' very first role was in an episode of Hogan's Heroes called "Top Hat, White Tie and Bomb Sights," S01E10 (1965); she played "Elsa," a girl toy of that show's intimidating Nazi general (who kept threatening to send Col. Klink — as played by Werner Klemperer, pictured in the second and last photos — to the eastern front. The Austrian actor, Leon Askin, was always a delight). Our lady was given lines to speak, had a character's name, and was not credited.


As the print quality was excellent, this led to my post on the episode's leading lady (who became the future bride of "Hogan").

................................
.................................Member "Womwam" has put up an advertisement in 2011's Post #2 with the
..........................................caption, "Hatching a Plot" — Where the Germans "enlist the aid of pretty Thordis
........................................... Brandt to extract secret information from the prisoners." I did not watch the
...........................................entire episode, but her role was entirely passive.

Her third outing in an episode of Run for Your Life finally gave Ms. Brandt screen credit, and her following effort was a spy spoof called The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966), where the leading lady was Nancy Sinatra. Maybe this film, which has some laughs, didn't do well because the comedy team of Allen and Rossi was not too appealing (at least not to me). Thordis was given a character's name, and had lines (which were dubbed; see, the gag was that she was a secret agent working undercover who was really a man. Of course, Marty Allen fawned over him-slash-her.) The actress was not credited.


As "Fred Johnson" in THE LAST OF THE SECRET AGENTS?


1966 afforded two "big movie" breaks, one being her first Elvis Presley picture, and the other was Nevada Smith with Steve McQueen. As far as I could make out, her screen time lasted moments, as she played a "saloon girl" who is pulled into a room so that some dusty cowboy would have his way with her. In that same year, Thordis also had a small role in another Hollywood movie, Warning Shot, with David Janssen (playing a policeman who must solve a mystery so his career does not get ruined). One of the stops the cop makes is to question a sleazy TV host, played by Steve Allen; he gets massaged by our gal in the scene.

......
NEVADA SMITH. ........................................ WARNING SHOT.

Aside from the other Jannsen vehicle from 1969 that has already been mentioned, Thordis (as pictured in the photo below) would also find a role in David Jannsen's The Fugitive (which aired in mid-January of 1967; the episode featured Anne Francis and Charles Bronson), where she was at least credited — unlike the two other roles mentioned in the prior paragraph.


Thordis in "The One That Got Away."

I was excited to see Thordis had appeared in a favorite film of mine (The Split from 1968, which I love mainly for its spectacular cast), and since the IMDb had described her uncredited role as a "police clerk," I scoured the only scene in the film with a police station, to no avail; seems to be yet another IMDb error. Thordis, uncredited again, played the doomed victim of a serial killer in Dragnet 1966, a TV movie from 1969 (NBC apparently postponed the airing of what was completed in 1966 until 1969, because the film, which was finally shown as a pilot episode, inspired the series that followed; here's a nice page on the film):



Regarding the first image below, Johnbear has presented its photo portion in 2017's Post #15; the description informs how "Producer-director-star Jack Webb discusses some last-minute script changes with lovely Thordis Brandt." The scene has been put up on YouTube, where a commentator named "Flashkellam7395" wrote, "Excellent emoting by the actress as she is imperiled. Unquestionably, one of the greatest bondage scenes in the history of mainstream entertainment." The version I dug up had censored the scene. Other comments from the YouTube page claim local TV stations had cut the scene out in 1969, and so did the DVD company ("Shout Factory") around 2010, although a replacement disc was made available at the time (upon request).




Back in her busy year of 1966, Thordis finally landed a relatively meaty role for which she was credited, as the girlfriend of a villain (played by Victor Jory) in the "The Frog Is a Deadly Weapon" episode of The Green Hornet. (Possibly where she met Bruce Lee, who played Kato; of course, whether they got it on or not is conjecture... but someplace on the web claimed they were an item, and if it's in print, it must be true.) I didn't watch carefully while digging up these screen grabs, but was confused about why Thordis' character should have met an end. (After all, the boyfriend was old and ugly, and she was young and not just beautiful, but extremely beautiful. The rules say a woman as that cannot be disposed of.)











What prompted me to put up a Thordis post almost a year ago was a viewing of In Like Flint (1967); she played a primary henchwoman (one of eight "Amazons"; it was really another tall actress named E. Bruce whom I wanted to do a post for, but still have not), the second film in the poor man's Bond spy series. Here, the hero is up against an organization of women who plan on ruling the world.






In yet another uncredited role, Thordis Brandt was recruited by the two heroes of I Spy (Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, pictured in first photo below), in a 1967 episode called "Casanova from Canarsie," to distract a fired filing clerk from spilling nuclear secrets to a sexy foreign spy.





The nerdy character in this episode (close view of him in first photo below) was played by the appealing perennial underdog, Wally Cox. Cox re-teamed with our lady in Seduction of a Nerd (A.K.A. Up Your Teddy Bear), a 1970 film (Thordis' second-to-last screen venture) that starred Julie Newmar (and she looked truly divine in this film, as you may explore on Julie's thread, here and here). Haven't seen the film, but since Julie played the boss of a toy company who tries to recruit master toymaker Wally, and the way to do so was to get women to seduce him, it would appear Thordis behaved in similar fashion as her character from the I Spy episode. I found the second photo (below) from the feature film on the web, and realized it had been pilfered from DTravel's screenshots that he kindly posted in this thread's beginning post. What is below has been reworked.

......

These two articles came up in research (From Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY, July 26, 1970, and the second is from The Palm Beach Post, Florida, Oct. 3, 1971):

................

The forty-six-year-old big man (James Arness) and the not-so-little little lady were reportedly together for six years (second article claimed five). The first article erroneously gave Thordis' age as twenty-four (she was thirty at the time), while speculating the couple could be on the road to matrimony. It also states that Arness met Thordis on the Gunsmoke set, but since she was never on Arness' famed western TV series (at least not according to her IMDb filmography), the claim seems untrue (unless the actress was visiting). The second article from 1971 has this telling line: "Formerly an actress, she seems to have abandoned her career for Arness." In other words, as we have run into repeated signs of her discontentment with show business, and since she developed a sincere relationship with this millionaire actor, it's believable that she stopped. (Indeed, her last credits are from the prior year of 1970.) Now let's take a look at what Beutelwolf has put up from a German publication in his Post #12 from 2016, which I've imperfectly translated:

Originally Posted by beutelwolf

Neue Revue, 1969 no 49

America’s Television Sheriff Marries German Farmer’s Daughter

Marshal Matt Dillon from "Gunsmoke" is admired anew by ten million German television viewers every Sunday. The farmer's daughter Thordis Brandt from the Lüneburg Heath has now defeated him. During a visit to Germany, he asked Thordis' father for her hand in marriage. In a few weeks the television millionaire wants to marry the pretty German

Ten million Germans are there every Sunday afternoon when Marshal Matt Dillon from Dodge City uses guns and fists to neutralize the villains of the Wild West. A single, pretty, blond German has defeated the powerful television sheriff from "Gunsmoke" himself—with female weapons: In a few weeks, Matt Dillon (46) wants to marry the farmer's daughter Thordis Brandt (24) from the Lüneburg Heath.

"It was love at first sight," says the tree-length Dillon, alias James Arness, who voluntarily gave up his weapons for the blonde Thordis with the blue-green eyes and the long legs. "For me, she is the most wonderful girl in the world."

However, he proved that the taciturn television marshal is serious without fear or blame, not in the Hollywood dream factory, but in Velgen (Uehen district). He flew to Germany specifically to formally ask Thordis' father, the heath farmer Hans Brandt (70), for his daughter's hand in marriage..

The gray-haired heath farmer thought he was crying when he suddenly received a letter from Hollywood. And a few days later he found himself face to face with the tall American whom he had previously known from the Sunday television program: his future son-in-law James Arness. In love with James' arm: the pretty Thordis. She emigrated to America years ago, was discovered for the film as a certified nursing assistant in Los Angeles and has already earned hard dollars in two dozen film and television roles..

The reunion was more beautiful for the alien father Brandt than any film: for the first time in five years he was able to throw not only his pretty daughter into his arms, but also his famous future son-in-law.


Hearty handshake between father Brandt and
Matt Dillon at the airport: Bride Thordis' smile

A little later they were able to. Residents of Velgen experience that even a tough western hero can be moved. Above the door of Brandt's farmhouse, a sign decorated with garlands greeted him: "Welcome." "I never expected to be welcomed so warmly," said Arness quietly to his bride Thordis.

The TV sheriff was a guest on the farm in the heath for a week. Instead of whiskey, he drank good German coffee with cake in the family circle, Moselle wine and beer, instead of film-worthy shooting and horseback riding, he enjoyed long, amorous walks on the heath with his pretty bride. And then he proposed marriage, which not only German women envied the pretty Thordis.

"Our son-in-law is a man with character," says Thordis' stepmother Leni Brandt (64) to NEUE REVUE. "We are so proud of him and very happy that Thordis will be his wife. The two get along wonderfully. He is precisely the nice husband for her, very caring, very attentive." She is particularly proud of the letter that James Arness wrote from Hollywood after his return from his pre-marriage holiday tour through Germany and Europe: “I felt most comfortable with you. It was good for me to forget the hectic life in Hollywood for a few weeks."


"You are the greatest!" Thordis looks up
admiringly at Matt Dillon aka James Arness.
Their age and size difference definitely doesn't
stop the lovers from falling in love (And here's
why a minor point was made about Thordis'
height of either 5'7" or 5'8"; the taller-than-
average beauty would not have been as
uncomfortable about the "size difference.")

In fact, James Arness as Matt Dillon had to shoot and fight a tremendous amount in fifteen years and 450 episodes of “Gunsmoke” to earn the $30 million (120 million marks) that this series earned him in 48 countries. Today he is ready to enjoy his millions. He wants to do that soon together with his German wife Thordis. James Arness, who earned his first money as a surfer before becoming a millionaire as a marshal, still flies to Hawaii today to surf and sail his beach house. In the Sierra Nevada, the western hero owns a former gold mining lodge, from which he goes ski touring in the winter and hunting in the summer..

Only when he is filming in Hollywood does the tall millionaire live in his luxury villa on the Pacific, an hour away from the Hollywood studios, where his children from his first marriage, Craig (20), Jenny Lee (18) and Rolfe (16), also live. But the wedding will take place on James' ranch in San Fernando Valley, where he breeds cattle. And it should be a wedding that Hollywood is talking about.

The Brandts aren't worried about the age difference between James Arness and his wife Thordis. “James is basically a big, carefree boy, so happy and sporty. He jumps over every ditch," says Leni Brandt. "And Thordis gets along very well with James' children.

“After the divorce from my first wife, I really holed up. I only knew the work. “Since I met Thordis, life has started again,” enthuses James Arness.

In any case, Thordis' father knows his daughter is in good hands. And the residents of Velgen have been watching the television series with even more enthusiasm since the hero and his bride were their guests. Thordis' father, Hans Brandt, only has one big wish: he wants to fly to America for his wedding day. “I hope he stays healthy and cheerful,” says Mrs. Leni. “I hope with him that wish will come true."

Obviously, the German press was especially enthusiastic about this story, given how the subject concerned a daughter from Deutschland. The pappy sure sounded ecstatic. It's interesting how the story concluded the marriage was a done deal, and yet the two articles above from the U.S. press, dated one year and two years after the German article, were only speculating a wedding could be in store. We'll wind up with the epilogue to this tale.




In 1967, Thordis landed a credited role in the "The Prince of Darkness Affair: Part II" episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., featuring leading lady Carol Lynley and second leading lady Julie London. Thordis was the faithful assistant to the villain, played in his usual arrogant style by Bradford Dillman.





The last two years of Thordis' screen career were busy ones. They were marked by the exciting release of the actress' big starring role from the horror film already mentioned, from which captures will be presented below. In early 1970, Thordis had a role in the short-lived The Debbie Reynolds Show, where Debbie's friend enlists Debbie to see if the friend's husband (Tom Bosley) is cheating with his sexy secretary. Even though the secretary reads as a pivotal role, Thordis was still not getting credited at this later stage of her career. She also was not credited in her tiny role as a prostitute in the feature film, The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969).


Thordis was surely featured in publicity photos as the first one above for THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS,
as well as the second (which I now see Hertz had put up in Post #13). The last is my screen grab, and Thordis
was actually given a line (given the long shot, her voice could have been dubbed), where her character threw hero
Robert Mitchum a gift (maybe a garter belt) for being the nicest marshal these working girls had put up with.
Aside from this long shot of the train pulling away, Ms. Brandt did not seem to be anywhere else in the film.

Thordis' last screen role was in the infamous Myra Breckinridge (1970), where she was (fittingly; why break tradition, at the end?) uncredited, while playing a masseuse to John Huston's former cowboy star who runs an acting school; he asks if the "Swedish massage" whip will hurt, and she answers "You bet your ass." That was it for her scene, as you may also see from the clip that has been put up on YouTube by an admirer with the handle, "Thordisbrandtfan." Here are my screencaps:



She was naturally featured in publicity stills to exploit her reliable "sexy" element, as seen from the webfinds below. What's curious is that while the first was obviously promotional (note how her top was removed in the first, in a flagrant way to entice people to buy tickets), as well as probably the second, the last four seem to be screencaps. That implies footage was shot, but the whipping scene was excised from the film. (So where did the photos come from? Perhaps the cut scene was included as a DVD extra. The better question: why would they have done away with such a tasty scene?)







The Witchmaker movie that Thordis pinned her hopes on was the horror film which finally provided her with a starring role, as learned from the first article above. "Their Form Is Human But They Have Crossed Over ... Is There Sex After Death?" reads the tagline, and the film concerns a team of psychic researchers traveling to a swamp to investigate the deaths of eight young women, who (as one victim is shown in the opening sequence) have been ritualistically hung upside down from trees, and drained of blood.



In this regionally produced-in-Louisiana flick, the actor who plays the journalist was given first credit, and Thordis was granted the second. She (with supernatural ancestors and thus sought by the coven) is the heroine of the film, whom we see to the end. She is rescued by the hero... but is she? (I am reading the film was re-released in 1975 under a different title, The Naked Witch, with explicit footage added, surely none featuring Thordis.)


Anthony Eisley is the film's main star; when Thordis asks if she will be featured in his article, he replies she would be more
deserving of the cover, as that would "sell a million copies." Actress in red bikini is Robyn Millan.




Shown to remove her top, and the exposed bust is artfully concealed at every turn.












In the scuffle, her dress is completely torn away, yay!

There you have it; Thordis' probable only explicit screen nudity. One frame's worth (first shot below).

Originally Posted by beutelwolf

Neue Revue 1972 no 5
Mag reports her breakup from James Arness.

TV Sheriff Leaves His German Bride

Why Did Blond Fiancée of James Arness, Thordis Brandt, Despite Rival, Still Dream Of a Wedding

(First two of three captions above article; the third may be read underneath the first photo below):
1. Marriage proposal in Germany-separated today: television sheriff James Arness and bride Thordis when visiting the heath, on the right Stepmom Leni Brandt
2. Famous as Marshal Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke": The Millionaire James Arness

The great love between the television hero James Arness (49) from America and his German fiancée Thordis Brandt (29) broke in the damn 7th year.
The popular sheriff Matt Dillon from "Gunsmoke" left Thordis. And the gossips want to know the reason for the separation: The blond actress Claire Brennan.


Reason for separation after seven years of love:
the blonde Claire Brennan (left). Thordis Brandt
is now fighting for her TV sheriff James
(As lady on right looks like Amanda Blake, who
played "Miss Kitty," this photo may have come
from one of Claire's first two GUNSMOKE episodes.)

It is certain: Thordis Brandt has left the farm of the millionaire and lives in Canada with mother and sister. She is said to have said: "Of course I am injured when he is now with another. I still love Jim. I will get around him." Landlord Hans Brandt from Velgen in the Lüneburg Heath, father of the ex-nurse and actress who, after James Arness's official marriage proposal in 1972, expected a (non-religious) wedding. "Thordis still looks after James' children from his first marriage. The last word has not yet been spoken between the two. "


Here's more of the actress Arness left Thordis for, the first taken and reworked from a 2021 post by Wendigo in the "American Actresses ~ Vintage" thread, as Claire Brennen appeared in a 1972 episode of Banacek. The next two are my frame grabs of Claire from her 1974 Gunsmoke episode called "The Disciple." She was also in two episodes of a 1972 two-parter, for a total of three Gunsmoke episodes.



The reason why I sought out these Gunsmoke views was because it was hard to understand why this later lady love was afforded her two roles in Arness' TV show, and he didn't think about bestowing the same for Thordis. Didn't that suck? (Claire Brennen played the title character in 1967's She Freak, where she met this little guy named Felix Silla, who also played The Addams Family's Cousin Itt; it's said they had a relationship for nine years until close to her premature death from cancer in 1977, during which she bore him a son. As a point of interest, 1977 also marked the accidental-drug-overdose-death of Arness' first wife, actress Virginia Chapman, to whom he was wed for fifteen years, divorcing in 1963. In the mid-1950s, Virginia was granted acting jobs in Gunsmoke twice, by the way. One year after Claire died, Arness married and stayed married until his death thirty-three years later; here he is in old age, with the wife who won Matt Dillon. This implies Claire was with the little guy while seeing Arness.)



It must have been devastating for Thordis (who was awfully nice to keep taking care of Arness' kids, as the article's ending claimed) to have this relationship die after (as this article further claims) seven years of romance. (Which means she was with Arness since she began in the business in 1965.) Interestingly, she decided not to pick up the reins of her acting career, and is reported to have gone back to nursing. (To refresh your memory, the article from 1971 above had that telling line about how she "seems to have abandoned her career for Arness." It's possible she made a sacrifice for the big man, then got dispirited, said "screw it," and moved to Canada — as this article informed.) The lady got married herself in 1979, and bore a son four years later. Thordis Brandt used to maintain a personal site (here's the remnant), and is eighty-three-and-a-half today.













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