Chris Noel ( Sandra Louise Noel, born July 2, 1941) is a retired American actress and entertainer.[ leatherneck.com, Miss Christmas][ News on 5, Chris Noel, Jun 30, 2008]
Model
Noel's picture appeared on the cover of
Good Housekeeping magazine when she was 16 years old, and she was painted as a
pin-up model by
Gil Elvgren. Won the Miss Palm Beach pageant. After moving to New York City, she became a
cheerleader for the New York Giants football team. Posters that showed her holding a
Kodak Brownie camera were displayed in camera stores. She also had her own modeling school in Lake Park, Florida.
Noel was the cover girl for a number of
and appeared in
advertising for
Ford Mustang and other products.
[ youtube.com Chris Noel at the beach. Classic cars 1967 '68]
Vietnam
In addition to her work on radio during the
Vietnam War, she toured the country eight times, including twice with
Bob Hope's
. Her interest in that war's military personnel began with her visit to a San Francisco VA hospital in 1965. At the VA hospital, she sang the song
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend and talk to the Vets.
[ afvnvets.net, A Date With Chris, show audio] She said, "That was the moment. I prayed to God to help me help young men in war." She was considered so valuable to American military morale, that the enemy placed a $10,000 bounty on her.
[ sixtiescinema.com Chris Noel, A Salute To Chris Noel & Other 60s Starlets Who Went To Vietnam, By Tom Lisanti November 11, 2017] Noel opened the show with the greeting "Hi, Love". Twice her chopper was downed by enemy fire while she was visiting American military personnel in Vietnam. Her radio show
A Date with Chris was recorded in California and South Vietnam between 1966 and 1971 for the Armed Forces Radio heard on 300 stations around the world.
[ youtube.com, A DATE WITH CHRIS - 1967 Chris Noel Radio Program] Noel was the
Disc jockey for her show and did interviews with artists including
Ray Charles,
Lawrence Welk,
Robert Mitchum,
Marvin Gaye,
Nancy Sinatra and others. Noel received the Distinguished Vietnam Veteran award in 1984 from the Veterans Network for her work during the war.
[ youtube.com, Chris in Vietnam] Her last visit to South Vietnam was in 1969. Noel first co-hosted an Armed Forces Radio show called
Small World, which was a hit and led to her own show. She was dating singer Jack Jones at the time. Noel sang, danced, read poetry, signed autographs, talk to, kissed and hugged the troops in South Vietnam from 1966 to 1970.
[ youtube.com, Chris Noel sings "Sunny" to troops in Vietnam][ Chris Noel signed autographs][ youtube.com, Chris Noel in Vietnam] She is the only woman to travel through South Vietnam to remote bases in helicopters, riding with the door open, next to the gunner.
[ youtube.com, Chris Noel singing grovy in Vietnam] She survived mortar and
assault rifle attacks in
Combat. Noel broadcast her radio show from
Saigon while in South Vietnam. She also made a number of visits troops at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, some with Betty Waldron and Bill Thrasher.
[ AFR, Date with Chris][ Ktroop, Chris Noel]
Singer
In the early 1970s, Noel was in New York and was working with Paul Colby, impresario and owner of the Greenwich Village club, The Bitter End. She was performing cover songs by
John Prine and needed a backup band, so Colby asked Dennis Lepri, who had worked with
Kenny Rogers and
Gunhill Road, to form a band for her and produce her sound. After auditioning many New York area musicians, the band "Quilt" was formed. After extensive rehearsals at the Bitter End, the band showcased for selected industry executives to mixed reviews. Sometime after, the band was dissolved and Noel pursued other interests. In 1999 she released the CD
Nashville Impact.
[ Billboard, May 11, 1968, Chris Noel, page 12]
Personal life
Following his proposal in a helicopter, Noel wed soldier Green Beret captain Ty Herrington, who she later found out was diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic
manic-depressive".
[ He killed himself in December 1969 after they had been married for 11 months. She went on to marry three more times, once to a Texan independent Oil production, another to a guy she met in church, and last to a lawyer. Noel also has written books, her latest book is about filming Cease Fire with Don Johnson. Another book is a 1987 book called Matter of Survival: The "War" Jane Never Saw and the 2011 book, Vietnam And Me her personal memoir of the war. In the 1960s her best friend was Eileen O’Neill and she dated Chad Everett.][Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema, by Tom Lisanti, Screen Stories, Movieland][The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool by Chris Strodder, page 239] Chris Noel was asked and attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC in 1982.[ Chris Noel — The Starlet Who Became a Soldier, by Donna Teresa, February 10, 2009][ youtube.com, Chris Noel interview on WFDU July, 2013] Noel and Captain Ty Herrington, (Clyde Berkley) born July 2, 1941, were married on January 11, 1969 in Miami.[ myheritage.com aptain Ty Herrington] Ty Herrington released a 45 RPM promo single, with the songs: A Gun Don't Make A Man written by Boudleaux & Felice Bryant, and When The Green Berets Come Home written by Boudleaux Bryant in 1968.[ discogs.com Ty Herrington][ youtube.com When The Green Berets Come Home--Capt Ty Herrington US Special Forces Green Berets-'68-Monument 1115]
“I didn't know how many people were going to remember me,” she said. “But everywhere I went veterans came up to me and thanked me. It felt like I was right back in Vietnam again.”
Noel founded the Women's Interactive Network in 1985 to help women with Post-traumatic stress disorder. In 1993, she opened a shelter in Boynton Beach, Florida, providing space for 10–12 drug-free veterans at a time. In 2019 she received Amvets Silver Helmet Award.[ usawarriorstories.org, Christ Noel]
In 2004 a DVD documentary of her life was released Blonde Bombshell: The Incredible True Story of Chris Noel.[Why the Beach Boys Matter,
By Tom Smucker, page 172]
In May 2022 Noel was Awarded the Heroes Honor Lifetime Award at the Heroes Honor Festival.[ heroeshonorfestival.com, Chris Noel]
Los Angeles Veterans Hospital
When a group of veterans went on a hunger strike in 1981 at the Los Angeles Veterans Hospital to get better treatment, the Reagan administration asked Noel to act as an intermediary with the veterans. Noel helped negotiate an end to the hunger strike.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Because of her lifelong work with troops and veterans, as well as for being shot at in an army helicopter twice over South Vietnam, which with surviving assault attacks in the war caused post-traumatic stress disorder, some groups and individuals have petitioned for Chris Noel to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[ Petition for Chris Noel to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom]
Film and TV
Noel began acting started in 1963 on stage in the Broadway theatre play Mister Roberts with Hugh O'Brian, her boyfriend at the time. Also in the Mister Roberts play was Will Hutchins, Vincent Gardenia, Tony Mordente, Alan Yorke, Vince O'Brien, Bill Fletcher, John J. Martin, directed by Billy Matthews. Noel acting in film started with a role in Soldier in the Rain, with Steve McQueen and included working with Elvis Presley in Girl Happy. She also was in Beach Ball with Edd Byrnes, and Cease Fire with Don Johnson.[ Petitioning President of the United States, Award The Presidential Medal of Freedom to Miss Chris Noel, From: Deanna Hopkins, Widow of a Vietnam Veteran.][Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969, page 402][ Elvis Women, Chris Noel]
Filmography
Film
|
| 1963 | Soldier in the Rain | Frances McCoy | With Steve McQueen [ youtube.com, Soldier in the Rain] |
| 1964 | Honeymoon Hotel | Nancy Penrose | With Robert Goulet |
| Looking for Love | Actress | Uncredited |
| Diary of a Bachelor | Bachelorette | With Mary Ann Mobley |
| Get Yourself a College Girl | Sue Ann Mobley | |
| 1965 | Girl Happy | Betsy | With Elvis Presley[ youtube.com Chris Noel and Elvis Presley] |
| Joy in the Morning | Mary Ellen Kincaid | With Richard Chamberlain |
| Beach Ball | Susan | With Edd Byrnes |
| 1966 | Wild Wild Winter | Susan | With Gary Clarke |
| Good Old Days | Pantha | Pilot about cavemen and women |
| 1967 | The Glory Stompers | Chris | With Dennis Hopper |
| 1968 | For Singles Only | Lily | With John Saxon |
| 1971 | The Tormentors | Eve | Theatrical movie[ imdb.com, The Tormentors] |
| 1980 | Detour to Terror | Peggy Cameron | TV movie |
| 1981 | Fly Away Home | Herself | TV movie, Special Thanks (based on her radio broadcasts in Vietnam) |
| 1985 | Cease Fire | Wendy | With Don Johnson |
| 1986 | Sin of Innocence | Wedding Guest #5 | TV movie |
Television
|
| "Try to Keep Alive Until Next Tuesday" |
| A 1963 TV Special |
| With Dorothy Lamour and Woody Allen |
"Between Music and Laughter"[ youtube.com The Lieutenant, Between Music and Laughter] |
| "Love Is Blind" |
| Teenage Idols, Part 2 |
| TV special |
2 episodes[ youtube.com Burke's Law] |
| "I Wouldn't Miss My Own Funeral for Anything" |
| "The Case of the Silent Six" |
"Marriage and Stuff"[ youtube.com My Three Sons, Marriage and Stuff] |
Interview Chris Noel[ youtube.com, American Bandstand] |
"Many Happy No-Returns"[ youtube.com My Mother the Car, "Many Happy No-Returns] |
TV show Pilot[ youtube.com Occasional Wife] |
| TV special, Bob Hope's 25th Anniversary show |
TV show Pilot, one episode[ imdb.com Pistols 'n' Petticoats] |
March 1967 with Roger Smith[ youtube.com, Password March 1967] |
| A 1967 TV Special |
February 25, 1967 TV show [ youtube.com The Hollywood Palace] |
Chris Noel, Feb 5, 1967 TV Show[ youtube.com, What's My Line? Chris Noel] |
| Fashion Hostess DJ Miss Chris Noel |
| Talk show |
| 2 Episode |
| Episode #7 |
| |
"Episode #1.1" TV Mini Series[ imdb.com, Wild Times] |
| "11–99: Officer Needs Help" |
| "Blues for Buder" |
"Vets"[ youtube.com, China Beach, Chris Noel] |
Documentary[ imdb.com The Definitive Elvis: The Hollywood Years-Part II: 1962–1969] |
Documentary, episode #3, Chris Noel in Vietnam[ youtube.com, episode #3, Chris Noel in Vietnam] |
Tour with Bhetty Waldron and Bill Thrasher, TV Documentary[ youtube.com, Miller Beer Far East Tour Vietnam War Uso Tour][ archive.org, Miller Beer Far East Tour] |
Books
Books by Chris Noel:
-
Matter of Survival: The "War" Jane Never Saw
-
Vietnam And Me, Noel's personal memoir of the war
-
Confessions Of A Pin-Up Girl: The Hollywood Sex Symbol Who Became A Vietnam Icon
-
Filming Cease Fire
-
Filming Happy Girls
-
Filming Soldier in the Rain
-
Filming The Glory Stompers
-
Filming Beach Ball
-
Filming College Girl
-
Filming For Singles Only
-
Filming Wild Times
-
Filming Joy in the Morning
-
Filming Bewitched Love Is Blind: Behind the Scenes with Liz Montgomery and Dick York
-
DVD documentary Blonde Bombshell: The Incredible True Story of Chris Noel
Broadway
-
1963, Mister Roberts, Directed by Billy Matthews, Hugh O'Brian leading role.
Music
-
Doll House B side: Mr. and Mrs. Smith - 1968 Single Promo
[ discogs.com, Doll House][ youtube.com, Doll House, Chris Noel]
-
Forgotten Man - 1982 Album - Dedicated to Vietnam Veterans
[ allmusic.com, Forgotten Man][ youtube.com, Forgotten Man, Chris Noel, Jul 7, 2008][ Forgotten Man, By Chris Noel]
-
Nashville Impact – 1999 Album
[ Chris Noel, By G M, February 10, 2009]
-
...Next Stop Is Vietnam, The War on Record: 1961-2008 Introduction To "A Date With Chris" - 2010 Album.
[ discogs.com, Next Stop Is Vietnam]
See also
External links
