\n<\/p>\n
Dolores Rosedale, a model known as Roxanne whose burst of fame in the early 1950s as the hostess of the wacky game show \u201cBeat the Clock<\/a>\u201d led to the creation of a doll in her image and to appearances on the covers of magazines like Life and TV Guide, died on May 2 in Spring Park, Minn., near Minneapolis. She was 95.<\/p>\n Her daughter Ann Roddy confirmed the death, at an assisted living facility.<\/p>\n Roxanne joined \u201cBeat the Clock\u201d in 1950 when it made its transition to television from radio. Bud Collyer, the host, presided over the weekly program, in which contestants raced to finish stunts against time limits.<\/p>\n Roxanne\u2019s role didn\u2019t require her to say much at first. She posed with the prizes and took pictures of contestants<\/a> as they carried out their stunts. She later gave introductions of the contestants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But her poise and glamour \u2014 and, perhaps, the polka-dot ballet costume she sometimes wore \u2014 helped her break out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1951, she donned a costume for a Life magazine cover story<\/a> about chorus girls. Inside, a photograph that identified her as the show\u2019s \u201cstunt mistress\u201d showed her guiding a blindfolded Boy Scout as he tried to identify an elephant.<\/p>\n She was on at least two Look magazine covers, one of which showed her posing on Jones Beach, on Long Island, N.Y.; two TV Guide covers, including one with Mr. Collyer; and one cover of Tempo, a celebrity magazine, with the headline: \u201cSecrets of Roxanne \u2014 TV Sensation.\u201d<\/p>\n Commenting on her popularity, The Bangor Daily News in Maine declared that she was \u201cbatting 1.000 in the pinup league.\u201d<\/p>\n She reached a pop culture pinnacle of sorts in 1952 with the appearance of the 18-inch Roxanne doll<\/a>. It was made of \u201clifelike latex with vinyl head, sleeping eyes and washable \u2018platinum\u2019 Saran hair,\u201d according to a newspaper ad for the Abraham & Straus department store in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHave your picture taken with TV\u2019s beauteous blonde!\u201d the ad said, promoting Roxanne\u2019s appearance with the doll at A & S Toyland in November 1952. A tiny camera hung around the doll\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n An ad from Valentine, the doll\u2019s manufacturer, published in a business trade magazine, crowed: \u201cProfit from the impact of Roxanne\u2019s following! Now on more TV stations than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n Dolores Evelyn Rosedale was born on March 20, 1929, in Minneapolis. Her father, Kenneth, was a civil engineer. Her mother, Thyra, was in charge of receiving and processing evidence at a local courthouse.<\/p>\n As a teenager, she worked as a dental assistant, took courses in fashion design at the Minnesota School of Fine Arts and was a top contender in the Miss Minnesota pageant in 1947.<\/p>\n She left for New York City in late 1949, signed with the Conover modeling agency and quickly found work.<\/p>\n By then, she had adopted the single name Roxanne, and eventually made the change legal. Ms. Roddy, her daughter, said in a phone interview that her mother disliked her original name: \u201cShe\u2019d say, \u2018How could anyone give someone such an ugly name?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1954, Roxanne married Thomas Roddy and gave birth to Ann the next year, when her time on \u201cBeat the Clock\u201d had expired. That year, she had a small role in Billy Wilder\u2019s comedy \u201cThe Seven Year Itch,\u201d starring Marilyn Monroe. In the film, Roxanne and Tom Ewell parodied the famous romantic beach scene in \u201cFrom Here to Eternity\u201d with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.<\/p>\n Two years later, she had another small part in a drama, \u201cThe Young Don\u2019t Cry,\u201d<\/a> with Sal Mineo and James Whitmore<\/a>.<\/p>\n She also studied acting with the influential teacher Sanford Meisner.<\/p>\n She appeared once on Broadway, in 1956, as a prostitute in \u201cA Hatful of Rain,\u201d a drama about a man with a drug addiction. She told The Daily News of New York that it was the \u201cmost exciting experience to date\u201d in her career.<\/p>\n She felt that it was important to advance her career as an actress. As she told The Daily News, she wondered if working on a game show had given viewers \u201cthe impression that I was just another dumb blonde because I was given so little to say.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1957, she starred in a summer stock production of George Axelrod\u2019s comedy \u201cWill Success Spoil Rock Hunter?\u201d She played the same role, a bombshell actress named Rita Marlowe, that Jayne Mansfield did on Broadway in 1955 and in the film adaptation two years later.<\/p>\n But as Roxanne\u2019s family grew \u2014 she would have five children \u2014 she shifted from acting. She continued to model; commented on fashion shows; designed clothing; operated a fashion boutique; and sold furs in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She and Mr. Roddy divorced in 1979. She married Stanley Shanedling in 1981; he died in 1997. She was at various times known as Roxanne Roddy and Roxanne Shanedling.<\/p>\n In addition to her daughter Ann, she is survived by another daughter, Elizabeth Roddy; her sons, Thomas, David and Michael; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and a sister, Kitty Torrentore.<\/p>\n Roxanne encountered Ms. Monroe well before appearing with her in \u201cThe Seven Year Itch.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my first week in New York,\u201d she told Earl Wilson, the syndicated gossip columnist, in 1953. \u201cI\u2019d gone to a wholesale house to model dresses. This girl walked in and started taking off her clothes. She was wearing just a dress, stockings and garter belt, and that\u2019s ALL! I said, \u2018Oh, this girl doesn\u2019t know what underwear is.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n