Her father was a traveling salesman. She attended community college for a year, then worked as a dancer and magician's assistant. After a brief marriage she had a small part in Easy to Love, did TV commercials and had a bit part on Broadway. She studied at Actors Studio and was married to director Jack Garfein (one daughter, Blanche Baker). Warner Brothers, sensing a future Marilyn Monroe, cast her in Giant, Baby Doll - Oscar nomination for her thumb-sucking role - The Carpetbaggers, and the title role in Harlow. Moving to Italy, she made films there, Spain, Germany, Mexico and England. After returning to American films, she married Donald Burton in 1982.
Her Harem (1967): $60,000 + 50% of U.S. gross
Harlow (1965): $200,000
Mother of Blanche Baker and Herschel Garfein. Though it may only be studio hype, in 1964 an African Masai chieftain was so fascinated by Baker that he offered 150 cows, 200 goats and sheep, and $750 for her while she was on location in Kenya for Mister Moses. Her trouble with Warner Bros. continued when she declined to act in a series of movies based on books by pulp writer Erskine Caldwell. This lead to her losing out on outside offers to do The Three Faces of Eve for 20th Century-Fox, and both Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Brothers Karamazov for MGM. When she refused to play a nymphomaniac in the trashy Too Much, Too Soon, Warner Bros. refused to loan her out to appear opposite Laurence Olivier, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in The Devil's Disciple. While in Hollywood to test for Giant, director Nicholas Ray met with her on James Dean's suggestion to discuss playing the Natalie Wood role in Rebel Without a Cause. Baker's new husband Jack Garfein insisted that she return to New York once the test was shot, and negotiations were broken off. Miss Florida Fruits & Vegetables of 1949 Measurements: 35B-24-35 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Polish-American To raise money for her tuition at the Actors Studio, she became a nightclub dancer. Ex-mother-in-law of 'Bruce van Dusen' .