It bugged me that I couldn’t identify the model, who I assumed was an actress. Since Der Bingle (Bing Crosby) was associated with Shavex, I speculated that perhaps one of his Hollywood pals did the ads as a favor. But I was unable to come up with anybody.
I was watching a Kirk Douglas movie (Ace in the Hole) that I’d never seen before, when I noticed that the female lead looked strangely familiar. “THAT’S HER!” I exclaimed as I practically did a spit-take with my morning coffee.
At least to me, the woman in the Shavex ad looks like the woman in the movie: Jan Sterling. They both had those sad eyes and distinctive, narrow nose.
Jan Sterling could really change her looks with a simple tilt of her head or a different hairdo. If you Google her name, you’ll find that she looks like a different person in every photo. That’s why it’s so difficult to know for sure if it’s her in the ad.
Anyway, Jan Sterling was in my one of my favorite John Wayne non-Westerns, The High and the Mighty. You can see her a few times in the movie’s trailer.
