Person Biography:
Mickey Koren, a renowned beauty and actress, was born with auburn hair in the East Bronx. She began her career as a juvenile model and later moved to California with her family during her teenage years. Koren attended the Ben Bard Drama academy in Hollywood, where she adopted the stage name Barbara White after marrying trumpet player and magician Larry White.
Koren's early career in motion pictures was marked by small roles in second features and TV anthology dramas. She often played the role of "saloon girls" in westerns, but despite the typecasting, she cherished the experience. Her breakthrough role came in the musical comedy Calypso Joe (1957),which led her to change her hair color to blond and adopt the stage name Laurie.
Laurie's transformation catapulted her to cult favorite status, and she began to appear in low-budget sci-fi films. Her notable roles include Attack of the Puppet People (1958),Queen of Outer Space (1958),and Missile to the Moon (1958). She also made appearances in the Billy Wilder classic Some Like It Hot (1959) and the Cary Grant-Doris Day rom-com That Touch of Mink (1962).
Laurie retired from acting in 1971 and divorced her husband Larry White in 1976. She married a medical salesman and re-emerged from obscurity after being "rediscovered" by fans.
