How Many Kids Does Mamie Van Doren Have? 1 Son

The Short Answer: One Son

Mamie Van Doren has one child: her son, Perry Ray Anthony, born in 1956. He is her only child, from her second marriage to bandleader and actor Ray Anthony, whom she married in 1955 and divorced in 1961. She had no children with her other four husbands.

Perry, now 69, has lived his entire life outside the entertainment industry spotlight. Unlike the children of many Golden Age stars, he never pursued acting or publicity, and Van Doren, protective of the one truly private thing in her famously public life, has rarely discussed him in interviews.

As of October 2026, Van Doren is 95, the last surviving member of the Three M's (Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren), the trio of blonde bombshells who defined 1950s screen sexuality. Her son is her closest living family and the keeper, presumably, of one of Hollywood's great untold family archives.

Perry Ray Anthony: The Son Born in 1956

Perry Ray Anthony was born in 1956, during the height of his mother's fame. Van Doren was starring in a string of Universal teen dramas, exploitation films, and rock-and-roll pictures, the studio's designated Monroe alternative, when she became a mother at 25.

Little is publicly known about Perry's life, and that appears to be exactly how both mother and son want it. He did not follow his parents into show business; his father, Ray Anthony, was a successful bandleader and occasional actor, but Perry chose privacy over the family business.

Now 69, Perry is presumably Van Doren's primary family connection as she navigates her mid-nineties. The woman who spent seven decades as a public sex symbol has kept her son as her private anchor, a boundary she's maintained with remarkable discipline across an era that has seen every other star family splashed across tabloids.

Five Marriages

Van Doren has been married five times. Her first husband was Jack Newman (1950-1952), married when she was 19. Her second, Ray Anthony (1955-1961), was the father of her son and the most famous of the five, a bandleader whose orchestra backed top vocalists of the era.

Marriages three, four, and five, to Lee Meyers, Ross McClintock, and Thomas Dixon, produced no children and kept lower profiles. Van Doren has been candid that the studio-era pressure to maintain her bombshell image didn't leave much room for domestic stability, and that her one constant through the decades was Perry.

She's outlived all five husbands and nearly all of her contemporaries, a longevity she attributes to good genes, discipline, and what she's described as a refusal to let Hollywood break her.

Who Is Mamie Van Doren? A Quick Biography

Born Joan Lucille Olander on February 6, 1931, in Rowena, South Dakota, Van Doren moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and was discovered by Howard Hughes. In 1953, Universal signed her to a seven-year contract explicitly hoping she'd be their Marilyn Monroe, and she became the third of the Three M's alongside Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.

Her films, teen dramas, rock-and-roll pictures like Untamed Youth (1957), and cult exploitation fare, made her one of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s. She posed, she sang, she vamped, and she outlasted the studio system that created her, working steadily through the 1960s in films and television.

In later decades she became a beloved cult figure and memoirist, publishing Playing the Field (1987), a frank autobiography. As the last living blonde bombshell of the Golden Age, every birthday now is a news event, and at 95 she remains sharp, witty, and active on social media.

The Last of the Three M's

The Three M's, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren, were the defining blonde bombshells of the 1950s, each groomed by the studio system as the answer to the others. Monroe died in 1962, Mansfield in 1967. Van Doren alone survived into the 2020s, becoming the living memory of an entire era of Hollywood.

She's spoken about both women with affection and without rivalry, describing a sisterhood of women who understood the particular pressures of being manufactured as fantasies. Her survival, she's said, came down to luck, toughness, and leaving the hardest living to others.

Her son Perry represents the private side of that public mythology: the child raised by a sex symbol who managed to give him a normal life anyway, or as normal as life gets when your mother is Mamie Van Doren.

Mamie Van Doren in 2026

As of October 2026, Mamie Van Doren is 95 and still going: active on social media, still giving interviews, still the undisputed last queen of the Golden Age bombshells. Her son Perry, 69, remains her closest family.

She celebrated her 95th birthday in February 2026 with the usual media fanfare, witty as ever about aging, fame, and outliving everyone. The Three M's are down to one M, and she's carrying the torch with characteristic flair.

One child, five marriages, seven decades of fame, and still here. It's a Hollywood story with no sequel, because there was only ever one Mamie.

Mamie Van Doren: Quick Facts

How many kids does Mamie Van Doren have? One: son Perry Ray Anthony (born 1956, age 69). Who is the father? Her second husband, bandleader Ray Anthony (married 1955-1961). How many times was she married? Five times. How old is Mamie Van Doren? 95, born February 6, 1931, in Rowena, South Dakota, as Joan Lucille Olander. What is she famous for? The last living 1950s blonde bombshell, one of the Three M's with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield; Universal contract star of teen and rock-and-roll films.

Perry Ray Anthony: The Son

Mamie Van Doren's only child is Perry Ray Anthony, born in 1956, with her second husband, bandleader Ray Anthony. Now 70, Perry grew up as the child of a 1950s sex symbol and a famous trumpeter, a Hollywood childhood by any measure.

Perry has lived largely out of the spotlight, though he's appeared with his mother at events celebrating her legacy. Mamie, born Joan Lucille Olander on February 6, 1931, in Rowena, South Dakota, has described motherhood as grounding her through the wildest years of her fame.

Now 95, Mamie is the last living of Hollywood's Three M's (Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren), and Perry is the keeper of her flame: the son of a bombshell who's spent 70 years watching his mother remain an icon.

Five Marriages

Van Doren married five times: first to Jack Newman (1950), then to bandleader Ray Anthony (1955-1961, Perry's father), then to baseball player Lee Meyers (1966-1967), then to Ross McClintock (1972-1973), and finally to Thomas Dixon in 1979, her longest marriage.

Her career ran from a 1953 Universal contract (the studio's answer to Marilyn Monroe) through teen dramas, exploitation films, and rock-and-roll movies that became cult classics. She was one of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s, and unlike Monroe and Mansfield, she survived it.

At 95, with one son, five marriages, and seven decades in the public eye, Mamie Van Doren is Hollywood endurance personified.

The Last of the Three M's

In the 1950s, Hollywood had its Three M's: Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren, the blonde bombshells who defined the decade's ideal. Monroe died in 1962, Mansfield in 1967. Mamie, born Joan Lucille Olander on February 6, 1931, is the last one standing at 95.

Universal signed her in 1953 hoping she'd be their Monroe. She starred in teen dramas, exploitation films, musicals, and rock-and-roll movies, many now cult classics: Untamed Youth (1957), High School Confidential (1958), Sex Kittens Go to College (1960). She was one of the leading sex symbols of the 1950s, and she outlived them all.

Her son Perry Ray Anthony (born 1956, now 70) has watched his mother remain an icon for seven decades. Five marriages, one son, and a place in film history: Mamie Van Doren is Hollywood endurance personified.

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