Before she became an Oscar winning actress, director and producer, she was just Goldie -- no last name needed -- "Laugh In's" most popular go-go dancer.
Noted for her bikini and painted body, Goldie captured our hearts with her bubbly, vivacious personality and stereotypical blonde act. And it was quite an act! Behind that ditzy persona was a great comedic actress and businesswoman who later became a major Hollywood player in the film industry.
In the late 1960s "Laugh In" exploded on the American TV landscape as a pop culture phenomenon. It was a hip show that touched on the issues of the time: Vietnam, the Pill, hippies, drugs, race.
Dan: "Hey, Goldie, would you ever go on a hunger strike?"
Goldie: "No, I couldn't. I'm on a diet."
Dan: "Goldie, are you concerned about the high cost of living?"
Goldie: "It doesn't bother me. I live on a ground floor apartment."
Goldie later called her "Laugh In" persona "a deeply joyful blonde. I never thought of her as dumb."
Goldie was secure enough with her body to become the first woman to appear on prime time TV in a bikini.
She wore slogans such as "Sock it to Me!" and "Go Nixon" painted on her flesh. "I'm not afraid of my sexuality," she later said.
Askmen.com said of Goldie: "Her natural charm and apparent ease with her body made her even sexier in an era when America was starting to become a bit less uptight about what could be shown on television."
Laugh In's producers spotted her dancing on an Andy Griffith TV special in 1967 and brought her in to dance on the show. When the 22-year-old auditioned by introducing hosts Rowan and Dick Martin, she was so nervous she flubbed the lines.
Creator-producer George Schlatter, however, was captivated with Goldie's blunder. As the show progressed Schlatter often provoked Goldie into bloopers and botched jokes so he could film her giggling.
People wrongly assumed that "Goldie" was a nickname because of her blonde mane; in fact, she was named after her late great aunt.
No. 7
Classic TV Beauties 1960s Countdown
GOLDIE HAWN as Herself in "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In"
Born in Washington, D.C. as the daughter of a band musician father and dance-school owner mother, Goldie is a direct descendant of Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She was raised in Takoma Park, Maryland and became a dancer at a young age and was running a ballet school while still a teen-ager.
She dropped out of American University, where she was studying drama in 1964, to dance in a production of Can-Can at the New York World's Fair.
She appeared as a radio DJ's dumb blonde girlfriend on the short-lived sitcom "Good Morning, World" in 1967-68, before she was hired on "Laugh In."
Legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder saw her on "Laugh In" and convinced the producers of "Catcus Flower" to cast her as Walter Matthau's daffy mistress because he believed that Goldie was going to be a star. That movie was her film debut and she won an Academy Award for Best Suporting Actress.
She proceeded to star in and produce films such as "The Sugarland Express," "Shampoo," "Private Benjamin," and "Wildcats," among others, and was nominated for another Oscar.
Most of the scenes lasted less than a minute as characters delivered rat-a-tat jokes and punch lines at warp speed, and Goldie was one of numerous cast members who became future stars.
Co-host and straight man Dan Rowan often set up Goldie with dumb-blonde jokes:
