Marlene Schmidt

Fled East in 1960 to live in Stuttgart and work as an electronics engineer. Soon after, she entered a beauty contest on a whim and ended up winning the title of Miss . That led to being crowned Miss Universe in 1961. She married actor Ty Hardin in 1962, but the marriage only lasted 3 years. In 1969, she married Iraqi-born filmmaker Howard Avedis.

Their partnership resulted in numerous drive-in hits and cult classics, including The Stepmother (1972), The Teacher (1974) and Mortuary (1983). Marlene always produced, sometimes wrote and usually appeared in ing roles in these productions.