Greta Thyssen

Active - 1956 - 1967  |   Born - Mar 30, 1933   |   Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Biography by AllMovie

Buxom (reportedly 39-24-35), blonde, and statuesque, Greta Thyssen (born Thygesen) is perhaps best remembered for her leg art -- nude and otherwise -- than for any film roles. Miss Denmark of 1952, Thyssen arrived in Hollywood in 1955 as one of several blondes to appear in the wake of Marilyn Monroe's increasing popularity. Thyssen actually doubled Monroe in Bus Stop before signing a stock contract with Columbia Pictures. However, she didn't become another Monroe -- or even a Jayne Mansfield -- for Harry Cohn but instead supported the Three Stooges in their final, and sadly inferior, two-reel comedies, in effect functioning as sort of a bustier, more flamboyant version of Christine McIntyre. Thyssen's association with the team proved longer lasting than anyone would have thought, the last of their shorts did not find a release until June 4, 1959. Elsewhere, Thyssen replaced June Wilkinson in the hit Broadway show Pajama Shorts and earned additional recognition for her, at the time, red-hot romance with Cary Grant. Onscreen, however, "Enticin' Thyssen" toiled in low-budget affairs such as the European-helmed "red scare" thriller The Beast of Budapest and the atrocious sci-fi melodrama Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962), the latter of which was partially filmed in the actress' hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark. She also appeared briefly as a bar girl in John Cassavetes' experimental Shadows (1960) and remained proud of the association, but the high-brow exposure led nowhere. Although Thyssen is still fondly remembered by connoisseurs of pin-up art, her screen career eventually fizzled out with such alarming titles as The Double-Barrelled Detective Story (1965) and Cottonpickin' Cotton Pickers (1967).

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