Sandra Dee: Gidget and A Summer Place Star Dies at 62

Sandra Dee was an American actress who became a teen idol in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942, in Bayonne, New Jersey, she worked as a child model.

Dee starred in Gidget (1959), A Summer Place (1959), Imitation of Life (1959) and Tammy Tell Me True (1961). She won a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year. She was mentioned in the song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" from Grease.

Dee married singer Bobby Darin in 1960, and they had a son, Dodd. They divorced in 1967. She struggled with anorexia and alcoholism for years and withdrew from public life. She died of complications of kidney disease in Thousand Oaks, California, on February 20, 2005, at age 62.

Achievements: Golden Globe Award, star of Gidget and A Summer Place.

Birth: April 23, 1942 - Bayonne, New Jersey.

Profession: Actress.

Interesting Facts: Her son, Dodd Darin, wrote a biography of his father that inspired the film Beyond the Sea.