Random Non-Louise Photo: Martha Vickers publicity portrait by Bert Six for Warner Brothers’ “The Big Sleep,” 1946. (Thread)

Detail. After modeling and couple false starts in films, Martha made her major screen debut in “The Big Sleep” when director Howard Hawks asked cover artist Tom Kelley if he knew of any girls who might be right for the role of Lauren Bacall’s wild child sister Carmen. He did.

Another photo of 20-year-old Martha. While shooting her scenes as the vamping, drugged out nymph, word came back that the young actress was showing up Lauren — the film’s big co-star — and WB execs supposedly told Hawks he needed to edit out some of Martha’s more alluring shots.

The famous scene from “The Big Sleep” (1946) when Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe meets Martha’s Carmen Sternwood:

A classic Hollywood tale is when Howard Hawks told Martha he wanted her to simulate an orgasm for a scene in “The Big Sleep” — with amusing results. From https://www.aenigma-images.com/2017/06/martha-vickers-starlet/

Another classic photo. Martha worked with limited success for Warner Brothers through the mid-to-late 1940’s. She became the third of Mickey Rooney’s eight wives in 1949 but his heavy drinking helped end their marriage two years later. She died of cancer in 1971 at just 46.