Dolores Fuller, 88, muse of '50s director Ed Wood
NEW YORK — Dolores Fuller, the muse, girlfriend, leading lady, and reluctant costumer of Ed Wood Jr., the cross-dressing writer and director of films so awful they have a stupefying, apocalyptic beauty, died Monday at her home in Las Vegas. She was 88.
The cause was complications of a stroke, said her stepdaughter, Susan Chamberlin.
It was Ms. Fuller, or more precisely her sweater, that launched one of Wood’s most memorable movies, “Glen or Glenda’’ (1953). The plot centers on a man (played by Wood) who informs his fiancee (Ms. Fuller) that he likes to wear women’s clothing.
Ms. Fuller was played by Sarah Jessica Parker in the 1994 film “Ed Wood,’’ directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Wood. That movie also starred Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, who acted in “Glen or Glenda’’ and other Wood pictures.
After her relationship with Wood ended in the mid-1950s, Ms. Fuller worked as a songwriter. Her credits include many numbers for Elvis Presley films, among them “Rock-a-Hula Baby’’ (with Benjamin Weisman and Fred Wise), from “Blue Hawaii,’’ and “Do the Clam’’ (with Weisman and Sid Wayne), from “Girl Happy.’’
Dolores Agnes Eble was born in South Bend, Ind., and moved with her family to California as a child. Her first, accidental film appearance was as an extra in Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night’’ (1934), which was shooting at the motel in which her family stayed upon arriving.
As a young woman, Ms. Fuller found work in television. She was Dinah Shore’s stand-in on “The Dinah Shore Chevy Show’’ and a regular model on “Queen for a Day,’’ where she demonstrated the soft pleasures of Gustinette slippers. She also made a few uncredited appearances in big-screen films.
Then, one fateful day in the early ’50s, she answered a casting call from Wood and became, in a manner of speaking, a star.
“I guess he interviewed a lot of young actresses, but I came in with an angora sweater, and he loved angora,’’ Ms. Fuller recalled in a video interview posted on YouTube. During their romance, she later said, she became accustomed to his wearing the sweater for relaxation. She never imagined, though, that its inexorable hold over Wood would eventually be disclosed to the moviegoing public.
In the best-known scene of “Glen or Glenda,’’ which endures as a monument to high camp, Wood confesses his sartorial longings to Ms. Fuller, prompting her to peel off the sweater and cede it to him with a look of resigned disgust.
He next gave her a leading role in “Jail Bait’’ (1954), a tale of crime, plastic surgery, and other things that featured the bodybuilder Steve Reeves. She later played a smaller part in his “Bride of the Monster’’ (1955).
Ms. Fuller was married and divorced several times. Besides her stepdaughter, she leaves her husband, Philip Chamberlin; a son, Don Fuller; and three grandchildren. Another son, Darrel Fuller, died in 2004.
Wood died in 1978. Ms. Fuller’s films for other directors include “The Ironbound Vampire’’ (1997) and “The Corpse Grinders 2’’ (2000).
She also appeared in the 1994 documentary “Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora.’’