Date with Death

A fascinating life came to an end last month as Liz Renay died at the age of 80 of internal bleeding. The child of religious fanatics, she ran away from home to win a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest. Joe DiMaggio certainly thought she was a dead ringer, as he was one of her conquests, along with Regis Philbin and Cary Grant. She became LA mobster Mickey Cohen’s girlfriend and did two years in prison for lying for him in court. After she got out, she became a stripper, touring along with her daughter, and she is probably the first grandmother to streak down Hollywood Boulevard. Such a life had to include a visit to John Waters cinematic world, and he cast her in Desperate Living. Other films included Blackenstein, The Corpse Grinders 2 and Mark of the Astro-Zombies.