Sandra Sue Wirth, also known as Sandy Wirth, wasn’t one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses. She was certainly just as hardworking though. Her smile, poise, and femininity gave her the girl-next-door quality that producers sought. It was evident that she was a career-driven person, as headlines often said that she preferred the label of star rather than starlet. As a child, she competed -and lost- her first pageants Queen of the Venetian's Festival and Mal Mal Marshall Model. It was because of this that her mother realized she was gonna need a gimmick to stand out among the crowd, so she enrolled Sandra in baton twirling.
It was a popular sport that is now a lost art, but she excelled at it nonetheless. She traveled the country competing -and often winning- various baton twirling competitions. As a teenager, she taught it at the Coral Gables Youth Center and used her earnings to study ballet. She graduated from Coral Gables High School, and studied at the University of Miami. She was crowned Junior Orange Bowl Queen, Miss Coral Gables, Miss Outdoors, and Miss Light, before being crowned Miss Florida of 1955. That coupled with a win in the talent competition in Miss America set her career in motion. She studied drama for a year in New York City before being cast in A Face in the Crowd (1957), which was her onscreen debut.
While in Hollywood, she put her skills as a baton twirler to use on Super Circus, County Fair, Captain Kangaroo, Telephone Time, The Red Skelton Hour, and Sing Along with Mitch. As the years progressed, she was given more substantial roles in films like Forty Guns (1957), Rockabilly Baby (1957), and Missile to the Moon (1958). She wasn’t a bad actress, but she had a pitch in her voice which made it difficult but not impossible to cast her. Although she didn’t do a lot of films, she was one of television’s most familiar faces with plum roles ranging from dramatic to comedic on Burke’s Law, My Three Sons, Family Affair, Father Knows Best, and State Trooper. She took a hiatus from television in 1960 to do regional theater, starring in Hollywood 5-3166 and Chips Off the Old Block at The Hollywood Studio Club where she was living.
While doing a commercial in New York City, a former classmate named Richard Main recognized Sandra. He dialed the network and left his contact information in the hopes of reconnecting with her. After several dates, they married on November 4, 1961
in Florida and had a son named Miles. According to Richard, his mother-in-law was the reason for their breakup. She had hoped that her daughter would wed somebody who could help her in the industry, so she caused a lot of grief in their marriage. They divorced, remarried, and divorced again while remaining friends until Sandra’s death. He still thinks fondly of her to this day.
After a failed marriage and a decade of retirement, Sandra decided to give acting another try. She signed with Harold Chiles’ agency, and he helped her get the role of a lifetime. The 40 year-old actress became a recurring character on the sitcom Laverne & Shirley as Lucille Lockwash. She was a great fit as the wealthy widow who takes an interest in Carmine. She got some commercials and print advertisements before deciding that she wouldn’t achieve the stardom her mother wanted for her. She didn’t wanna quit Hollywood entirely, so she combined her love of animals with the relationships that she developed with studios by founding The Animal Connection. It was through this organization that she trained animals to appear in films. She’d later found College Fur Cats with Cookie Routman, which helped train cats to obey on command. This coupled with her commitment to Christian Science and her dogs Kimo and Wolf kept her occupied. She never thought about being a star again. She was content with who she was.
She was plagued with poor health during the 2000s. Her years of extreme dieting and bad eating habits contributed to her developing kidney disease. She died on August 26, 2007 of complications after dialysis. Her son Miles died years later after being struck by a car while riding his skateboard. Although they are gone, their legacy continues through her granddaughter Ashlynn Wirth. Ashlynn is a popular model and poet who is represented by Peak Models. She remembers her grandmother as being a very old-fashioned woman, teaching Ashlynn to speak only when spoken to, say “may I” as opposed to “can I”, and to avoid showing cleavage whenever possible. Sandra was certainly a product of that era, being a traditional woman who always walked into a room with class and a smile.
50s
