Photo by: Everett Collection
TV, Movie Glamour Girl Sheree North Dies
Sheree North, a contemporary of Marilyn Monroe's – and, briefly, her rival at 20th Century Fox – and a veteran of such TV shows as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (as Lou Grant's sultry girlfriend) and Seinfeld (as Kramer's mother, Babs), died unexpectedly Friday at a Los Angeles hospital of complications after surgery, her daughter told the Los Angeles Times.

North was 72. In 1955, she replaced Monroe in How to Be Very, Very Popular,with Betty Grable. The studio used her to keep the often-temperamental Marilyn in line – a familiar tactic during Hollywood's golden era. North, done up as a platinum blonde, was said to share Monroe's exact height and measurements.

Her other notable film was in 1954's Living It Up, opposite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.