UPDATE: Local sports announcer Christian Vedder, a cousin of the late Yvette Vedders, called in this afternoon to clarify some of the information in this post. The update after the end of the original post.
Kansas City has a long history of being a hometown to Hollywood legends. In the 1930s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's roster of major stars included four who had grown up in Kansas City: Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, William Powell and Jean Harlow. Even today, former residents such as Ed Asner, Dee Wallace, Dianne Wiest, Don Cheadle and Jason Wiles return to town with great fanfare. (And that includes Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper, who appeared on KCUR 89.3s Up to Date with Steve Kraske this morning.)
A cult favorite star who didn't get much attention from her birthplace was Yvette Vickers, whose grisly death -- trumpeted last week by almost every news and blog source in the United States -- eclipsed her screen career. Vickers' decomposed body (reportedly "mummified") was found inside her Los Angeles home. Vickers' body -- if it is, indeed, her body -- had been on the floor for months, possibly a year.
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Christian,
I am Rosalee Vedder's daughter.My Mother and Yvette were first cousins, their fathers were brothers. I'm not sure what that makes us but wanted to let you know that when my Mother found out about Yvette's death she went to the LA coroners office and gave a DNA sample. Everything that you wrote was the same as what my Mother has told me as far as the history. I feel horrible as I'm sure you do about her death and wanted to thank you for putting the truth out there as we know it.
Charles, I just wanted to reply with a couple corrections as to what I was quoted to have said:
I did speak with with Yvette once online, but it was our Aunt, who was close to Yvette that told me a lot about her life before Hollywood, and she also helped me with some other family research. I also wanted to say that Yvette was very cordial in her message to me and she referenced Kansas City as being a "long time ago" and thanked me for saying hello. I now understand that Yvette's reclusiveness was nothing personal, and this preference to be left alone was not exclusive to her family, rather, tragically we know now that even her closest friends and neighbors were kept at a distance. Also... I do believe Yvette may have had a half-brother and they shared the same father, but according to family members he was never in her life and he supposedly has a different last name being that he was raised by his biological mother and a different man as his dad. This was quite awhile ago probably in the the late 20s... I'm not sure where he is now, but I understand he is in his 80s.
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