The Strange Connection to Art Linkletter’s Daughter’s Death
Carol Wayne was a well-known character actress in the 1970s, known for her platinum hair, her cleft chin, and her “dumb blonde” persona.
She appeared in many of the era’s most popular shows, including I Dream Of Jeanie, I Spy, Love American Style, The Red Skelton Show, The Johnny Carson Show, and Hollywood Squares.
She also appeared in the films Gunn, The Party, Scavenger Hunt, Savannah Smiles and Smurffs II.
Carol and her look-alike sister Nina grew up in Chicago and started their showbiz careers as teenaged, pony-tailed, figure skaters in The Ice Capades.
After Carol’s bad fall and knee injury, the sisters moved on to Las Vegas and became topless showgirls in the Follies Bergère.
Soon she was appearing in numerous television and film roles but she is perhaps best remembered for her 100 guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Jonny Carson, playing the foil to Carson’s many subtle and not so subtle sexual jokes at her expense.
Her best work can be seen in shows such as Bewitched, I Spy, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, and the Peter Seller’s film, The Party.
By the 1980s, the roles had dried up, and Carol had developed a drug problem. Desperate for cash, in 1984, Wayne appeared in a nude pictorial for Playboy magazine. That same year, she filed for bankruptcy.
Not long after finishing the filming of the 1985 movie Heartbreakers, movie critic Roger Ebert said Wayne’s “performance is so good, so heartbreaking, if you will, that it pulls the whole movie together.”
In January 1985, Wayne and her companion Edward Durston were vacationing at the Las Hadas Resort in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. After an argument with Durston, Wayne reportedly left to take a walk on the beach. Some say she was angry that they could not be accommodated at the plush Las Hadas resort (same resort featured in 10, with Dudley Moore) and stormed off.
The next morning, Durston apparently not concerned that his female companion had been out all night, checked them both out of the cheaper hotel and headed to Playa de Oro Airport with both their bags. He left her suitcase at the airport saying that Carol would probably show up at the last minute and catch a different flight. She never did.
Three days later, her bloated body was hauled up in a fishing net by local fishermen in Santiago Bay.
The Manzanillo coroner stated that death occurred 3 – 4 days earlier and they claimed her body tested negative for drugs and alcohol. With no scratches or abrasions on her body, foul play was ruled out.
Carol Wayne died on January 13, 1985. She was 43.
As an interesting side note, Durston was also present when Diane Linkletter, TV personality Art Linkletter’s daughter, supposedly jumped out a 6 story apartment window to her death in 1969.
Like Wayne, she was also an aspiring actress. Durston later told authorities that she had been upset, asked him to come over for a late-night chat. In spite of his attempts to reach her, she jumped.
To read more about Linkletter’s death click here.
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CINDY LEAL MASSEY, TEXAS AUTHOR
Clever Journeys 
Hmm-I wonder what the probability is for these two deaths to have been a coincidence. 🙂
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Those eyes just stab me to the heart. It’s like they’re saying, “This is all I’m worth.”
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Smelling a rat here. I remember the Carol Wayne case, not so much the Linkletter, except your post on it. She was funny and quick. Carson made many jokes at her expense, but she stole the skit.
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