Yvette Mimieux, the striking and private actress who broke out in 1960′s “The Time Machine,” died Tuesday. She was 80.
Mimieux, who had just celebrated her birthday Jan. 8, died in her sleep of natural causes, Deadline reported.
Mimieux rose to stardom as the vulnerable Weena in “The Time Machine,” and was compelling enough for MGM to lock her into a long-term contract and sign her up for several more films.
She went on to star in “Where the Boys Are,” “Light in the Piazza,” and “Toys in the Attic,” among many other films throughout the 1960s, consistently cast in more wounded, emotional roles. She’s believed to be the first actress to show her navel on American TV, in 1964′s “Dr. Kildare.”
“I suppose I had a soulful quality,” Mimieux told the Washington Post in 1979. “I was often cast as a wounded person, the ‘sensitive’ role.”
After she tired of playing abused spring breakers and child brides, she wrote and starred in her own film, 1974′s made-for-TV “Hit Lady.” She broke type as a merciless assassin.
“The character I wrote is like an onion, layers upon layers, multifaceted, interesting, desirable, manipulative,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
Mimieux continued her transformation in 1976′s “Jackson County Jail,” which started with Mimieux’s character being beaten, jailed and abused until a dramatic mid-film turn in which she goes on the run alongside a young Tommy Lee Jones. At that point in their respective careers, Mimieux got top billing.
Though Mimieux was a bona fide star, she opted for a rather private personal life.
“I decided I didn’t want to have a totally public life,” she told the Washington Post. “When the fan magazines started wanting to take pictures of me making sandwiches for my husband, I said no,” adding that a life in front of the camera “takes something away from your relationships.”
Mimieux continued acting through the 1980s, appearing in several TV movies and a few series, including two episodes of “The Love Boat.” Her last credit was 1992′s “Lady Boss.”
Mimieux is survived by her husband, Howard Ruby.
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