Conny Van Dyke, a singer-songwriter signed to Motown Records who appeared in films including W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings and Framed, has died. She was 78.
Van Dyke died on 11 November at her home in Los Angeles due to complications from vascular dementia, her son Bronson Page told Variety.
The Detroit native was a longtime survivor of colon cancer and a stroke. She got her start in the entertainment industry when she was just 15 and a student in high school, making the film “Among the Thorns” with Tom Laughlin, Bill Wellman Jr. and Stephanie Powers. During this time, Van Dyke also worked as a songwriter for Wheelsville Records in Detroit.
In 1961, Van Dyke signed with Motown Records, becoming one of the first white artists on the label. Her first two singles, “Oh, Freddy”, written by Smokey Robinson, and “It Hurt Me Too”, previously written and recorded by Marvin Gaye, were released in 1963.
In 1969, Van Dyke starred as Betsy, the love interest of Jeremy Slate, in the outlaw biker film “Hell’s Angels ’69”. The film also starred Tom Stern, Steve Sandor, Sonny Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels motorcycle club as themselves. Van Dyke described making the film as “a terrifying and yet exhilarating experience”.
After starring in Hell’s Angels ’69, Van Dyke released two country albums, Conny Van Dyke and Conny Van Dyke Sings for You. In 1975, she also starred in “W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings” opposite Burt Reynolds and Art Carney and in “Framed” as singer Susan Barrett with Joe Don Baker. Van Dyke made a number of television appearances in “Adam-12”, “Barbary Coast” and “Nakia” with game show appearances including “The Hollywood Squares”, “Match Game”, “Tattletale” and “The Gong Show”.
Van Dyke retired from acting in the late 1970s to care for her son, but returned in 2008 with a guest role on Cold Case and later CSI, before suffering a stroke that left her partially paralysed and from which she never fully recovered.
Van Dyke is survived by her son Page.
