Tempest Storm

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Tempest Storm (born Annie Blanche Banks February 29, 1928 in Eastman, Georgia[1]) is a retired American burlesque star and motion picture actress. Along with Lili St. Cyr and Blaze Starr, she was one of the best known burlesque performers of the 1950s and 1960s. She is regarded as having one of the longest careers as a burlesque performer, spanning more than 50 years.[3] She regularly performed until the early 2000s.

Early years

A victim of child abuse, she ran away from home as a young girl. By age 20 she had been twice married and divorced and headed for Hollywood. Her beauty landed her work as a chorus girl, but her curvaceous figure and very generous and natural 40" bosom and 22" waist combined with a magnetic stage personality led to a highly successful career in burlesque. Her professional debut was at the El Rey Theater in Oakland, California. She took Tempest Storm as her stage name around 1950, legally changing her name in 1957. Her professional debut was at El Rey Theater in Oakland, California. She adopted the stage name Tempest Storm about 1950 and changed it legally in 1957. In 1955, while working at the Tropics Nightclub, in Denver CO, Tempest visited the University of Colorado, Boulder, campus where she took off her mink coat, and nearly started a riot.[4] She was married to Duke Ellington's singer (and first black cowboy) Herb Jeffries.

Feature performer

Storm was a regular performer for many years at the El Rey, a burlesque theater in Oakland, California, as well as at clubs around the United States, including in Las Vegas. She was famous for her astounding physical measurements (44DD-25-35) and being a natural redhead. She was featured in numerous men's magazines and burlesque movies, including Russ Meyer's French Peep Show (1950), Paris After Midnight (1951), Striptease Girl (1952), Irving Klaw's Teaserama, (1955) (which also featured Bettie Page) and his Buxom Beautease (1956), and other films. She traveled extensively and did many performances in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.

In 1953 she moved to Portland, Oregon and worked at the Star Theater. A few months later she moved over to the Capital Theater down the street after her then-husband John Becker bought it. The owner of the Star then brought Becker's ex-wife, and rival burlesque star, Arabelle Andre to the Star to perform as "John's Other Wife". This sparked a "burlesque war" that made it into the pages of LIFE magazine on November 30, 1953.

In the late 1950s, her breasts, or her "moneymakers" as she called them, were insured by Lloyds of London for one million dollars. In the 1950s and 60s she starred in a number of motion pictures both as herself and in a character role. Much admired for her intelligence, personality and sense of humor, over the years, icons such as Walter Cronkite joined the line up of personalities to have their photo taken with her. During her career, she was romantically linked with John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Vic Damone.

Retirement and Death

With writer Bill Boyd, Ms. Storm told her life story in a 1987 book titled Tempest Storm: The Lady Is a Vamp. (ISBN 0-934601-25-9). She was inducted into the Exotic World Burlesque Museum Hall of Fame in Helendale, California, her G-string part of the museum's display.

Tempest officially retired in 1995 at the age of 67, but has done the occasional stage performance since then. She still receives requests for interviews about her life.

In 1999 she stripped in San Francisco's O'Farrell Theatre to mark the club's 30-year anniversary. Mayor Willie Brown declared a "Tempest Storm Day" in her honor.[1]

Tempest was married four times. She has one daughter, from her last marriage to singer and cowboy actor Herb Jeffries, which ended in divorce. She currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.[5]

Longtime manager Harvey Robbins confirmed that Storm died at her Las Vegas home with her family and friends by her side on April 20, 2021. A publicist says funds are being raised so Storm may be interred at a Los Angeles cemetery with costar Bettie Page and friend and fellow burlesque performer Dixie Evans.[6]

Quotes

  • "They don't make 'em too big for this business."

Pictures

Tempest Storm
Tempest Storm


Big tit movies / pictures of Tempest Storm

References

External links


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