Introducing The Lesser-Known History Of The Big Bad Mama Herself, Angie Dickinson

Dec 02, 2021 by apost team

Angie Dickinson has been a role model for women everywhere since she first skyrocketed to fame during the 1950s. Her career has spanned six decades, where she continued to make her mark on the world of entertainment. Gracing both the big and small screens, Dickinson’s astonishing career as an actress came with plenty of fame, success, and recognition.

Born on Sept. 30, 1931, in Kulm, North Dakota, Dickinson grew up with a love for movies. Along with his job as a publisher, her father also worked as a projectionist at a local movie theater, and it was clear that Dickinson resonated with the art that unfolded on the screen. At the age of 10, Dickinson and the rest of her family moved to Burbank, California, where she excelled at school. Dickinson was on the right track to become a writer, following a similar career path to her father, but ultimately found success in another artistic way.

Dickinson went on to find fame and success as a working actress, starring in several films and TV series, including “Big Bad Mama” and “Police Woman.” She went on to receive plenty of awards and accolades for her work and even inspired women to become police officers because of her famous role.

Nowadays, Dickinson is 90 years old and has a lot to be thankful for. She’s been able to look back on her outstanding career and marvel at just how much she’s accomplished and how many people she’s impacted. Read on to find out more about this iconic actress and her life story.

Growing up with a love for films and TV shows, Dickinson began her career on the small screen, appearing in several series during the 1950s. It wasn’t long before she landed her breakthrough role in the 1956 Western film “Gun the Man Down,” which earned her the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.

Shortly after, Dickinson’s career escalated, and she went on to appear in more than 50 films, including “Ocean’s 11” with Frank Sinatra, “The Killers” with Ronald Reagan, and “Big Bad Mama.” The latter went on to be one of Dickinson’s most recognized roles in her catalogue. Starring alongside William Shatner and Tom Skerritt, Dickinson played the role of a mother named Wilma, who goes on a crime spree with her two daughters and later falls in love with a bank robber. The movie became a cult hit and even inspired a sequel.

From 1974 until 1978, Dickinson starred on a TV series called “Police Woman,” where her character worked as an undercover police officer named Pepper. The show became quite popular and had a long list of special guest stars. Dickinson also received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama for her role.

The role of Pepper was not only impactful on her career but on the career of many other women. According to Inforum, the biggest increase in the percentage of women in the United States becoming police officers occurred during the 1970s. While only 1.4% of police officers were women in 1970, that number jumped to an astonishing 5% by 1980.

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Throughout her career as an actress, Dickinson played a variety of roles that relied heavily on seduction and showing off her feminine side. It’s clear that her stunning looks and charming personality resonated just as much off the screen as they did on the screen based on her dating history. 

She was first married to a football player named Gene Dickinson from 1952 until 1960. In 1965, she married a music composer and record producer by the name of Burt Bacharach, and the two stayed together for 15 years. The pair had a daughter named Nikki, who died at the age of 40. Speaking with CBS in 2019, Dickinson recalled time spent with her daughter, calling her a “wonderful, wonderful gift.” She added, “She was very smart and funny and wonderful. Yeah, so all my memories of her are my best memories.”

She had also been linked to Glenn Ford, Larry King, and even John F. Kennedy, although Dickinson denied any romantic relationship with the latter. She explained, “There was no reason or no grounds for thinking that I was seeing him, and I wasn’t.” However, she admitted that she dated Sinatra, and the pair were “very close to getting married in 1964.”

Now, at the age of 90, Dickinson seems to be enjoying a more relaxing life. Her last appearance in either a movie or TV show was in 2009 in the Hallmark Channel film called “Mending Fences.” Since then, Dickinson has taken the time to look back on her career and called herself “lucky” for being so successful.

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