Vikki Dougan: Career, Relationships, Where Is She Today?

Can the world ever forget Vikki Dougan? We don’t think so. You, for one, still harass search engines about her. Vikki was a provocateur who turned heads during her prime, and many decades later, people who saw her in her acts and people who only heard about her still talk about the influence the model wielded through her famous backless dress.

Here are the must-know facts about Vikki Dougan.

Vikki Dougan started her modeling career at age 11

Vikki Dougan was born Edith Tooker in the New York City borough of Brooklyn to father Wilber and Mary Tooker, (nee Dougan) in 1929. There are no lengthy details about her early childhood, siblings, friends, or high school she attended. She was just like a flower that blossomed when the time was right.

At 11, she has developed a physique that is convincing enough to be addressed as a model and at age 16, she became a “Miss Rheingold” finalist but was disqualified for being underage. Vikki emerged at a time when promoters were looking for what sells most at social events and parties and in 1953, Milton Weiss who was famously known as an experienced publicity man convinced Vikki that a backless dress will make her cynosure of attention in parties and Weiss was not wrong.

Vikki Dougan became widely known as a model who wears backless dresses, a sharp contrast from other models who relied on their big bosom for attention. But there was a problem for Vikki, while her style of modeling was unique, the backless dress was too down that it risked revealing the cleft of her bum.

But she was never bothered even though she was once sent out from one of the events she attended with her backless dress.

See Justin Berfield

Living young, wild, and free, soon Vikki Dougan became the cover model of Life Magazine after photographer Ralph Crane captured her. Playboy Magazine couldn’t allow this opportunity to pass them so with Vikki’s approval, she graced their magazine too, first in June 1957 and December 1963 under the category “Playboy’s Other Girlfriends”.

Vikki wielded fame that was too powerful and the band “The Limelitters” made a song about her backless dress in their album “The Slightly Fabulous Limeliters”.

She married her first husband at the age of 16

Vikki Dougan grew up too fast and at age sixteen she has already found love and married, something that will be frowned at if it happened at this age and time. Who was Vikki Dougan’s first husband? His name is William Symons. William Symons owned a photo studio where Vikki normally comes for photoshoots.

Perhaps love happened or maybe he took advantage of her being that she was still very young we don’t know but the duo got married in 1946 and after three years, Vikki traveled to Mexico to get her divorce bringing the marriage to an end.

At 24, she married 25-year-old James R. Sweeney at the Modernistic Wayfarers’ Chapel in Palos Verde Estates, California on September 3, 1960. Two and half years later, she appeared in a court in Los Angeles to divorce Sweeney.

She dated Frank Sinatra

Vikki dated some who’s who in Hollywood during the early ’90 and one of them who couldn’t escape her charm was Frank Sinatra. Frank Sinatra was a multi-talented artiste who was so famous during his time. Wiki reports that he sold more than 150 million records. Unfortunately, he died in 1998.

Frank Sinatra dated Vikki but the relationship never lasted and Vikki being the sassy Vikki stated in a gossip column in 1958 “The men you go with want to get married… The trouble is, they never say when.” Perhaps she wanted something more from Frank Sinatra and Frank was busy with his music and TV productions.

Vikki Dougan made some film appearances and sued people

Aside from the modeling career that caught people’s attention with the backless dress gimmick, Vikki can be described as the Kim Kardashian of her days with her ability to have no talent and yet make something out of her. If it was during this era of Instagram and Tumblr that Vikki emerged, she would have owned brands and maybe another Kanye West walk her down the aisle.

Not to discredit the enormous power she had, she was pretty decent and focused even though at a time she began to regret why she chose the backless dress as a modeling trick.

She made her movie debut in “Back From Eternity”. She appeared in nine movies but then she is mostly known as a model and a provocateur. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Vikki Dougan once sued Cavalier Magazine for featuring her 12 nude photos

Cavalier Magazines featured 12 hot nude photos of Vikki Dougan (sorry we don’t post nudes) in their magazine but unlike Life Magazine and Playboy that got Vikki’s consent, Cavalier failed to do so and a lawsuit followed. It was however reported that Cavalier magazine paid her $75,000 to settle the suit.

Where is Vikki today?

In 2021, the New York Times did a story on her, reminding this generation what a sensation she used to be, drawing a comparison with Marilyn Monroe at a point. “Maybe I’m having a resurgence,” she said to them.

She went on to tell them she was offered a contract by Paramount but declined because it was not enough money. “They offered me for a week what I was making in an hour as a model.” Instead, she signed with Batjac, a move she came to regret. “I should have just signed with Paramount because at least they were making movies.”

Vikky now lives in a rent-controlled apartment building for older adults in Beverly Hills, California.

Before you go see: Markie Post Facts

Image Source: Reddit