Lori Martin

Lori Martin, born Dawn Catherine Menzer (18 April 1947, Glendale, California — 4 April 2010, Oakhurst, CA) was an American child TV/film actress; best known for starring in the National Velvet (1960–62) television drama series on [url=/label/259148]NBC[/url] and several Hollywood movies. Her sole music single, The Home Of The Boy I Love / Mine 'Til Monday 7" on [url=/label/33098]Del-Fi[/url] in 1963, was produced by Barry Mann for [a=Nevins-Kirshner] and published by [url=/label/358669]Aldon Music[/url]. By the mid-to-late 1960s, Martin took an extended hiatus from film acting. Despite persistent attempts to revive her career in later years, however, Lori was unable to gain any significant foothold in Hollywood as an adult actress. After a lengthy struggle with mental health issues, Dawn "Lori Martin" Breitenbucher committed suicide at the age of 62.

Dawn Menzer's feature-length film debut at the age of eleven was in Roger Corman's 1958 noir biopic Machine-Gun Kelly; she appeared as a kidnapped girl, "Sherryl Vito." (Coincidentally, the film also marked the first leading role for its main protagonist, [url=/artist/12295822]Charles Bronson[/url], and the director's breakthrough critical success.) The following year, Menzer had an uncredited role in [a=Mervyn LeRoy]'s crime drama, The FBI Story, as "Anne Hardesty," the leading heroine played by [url=/artist/4091313]Joyce Taylor[/url], in her childhood. The cast also featured [url=/artist/1117367]James Stewart[/url], [a=Vera Miles], [a=Murray Hamilton], and [url=/artist/3382041]Nick Adams[/url]. In 1960, 13-year-old Dawn C. Menzer won nationwide auditions for MGM Television's upcoming flagship TV drama, "National Velvet," chosen out of 975 contestants. At the showrunner's request, Menzer adopted her lifelong moniker.

In 1962, now broadly renowned as "Lori Martin," the 15-year-old actress starred in [url=/master/1626486]Cape Fear[/url] psychological thriller, an adaptation of [url=/artist/10455265]John D. MacDonald[/url]'s 1957 crime novel directed by J. Lee Thompson (1914—2002) and starring [url=/artist/1464283]Gregory Peck[/url] as lawyer "Sam Bowden" and Robert Mitchum as an ex-convict and psychopath criminal "Max Cady," who stalked and terrorized Bowden's wife, "Peggy," enacted by Polly Bergen. Lori played "Nancy Bowden," their on-screen teenage daughter. Her outstanding performance was praised both by the viewers and professional critics. According to Martin's subsequent account, such a strikingly vivid and realistic manifestation of horror came, more or less, at the expense of legitimate psychological trauma; Lori described persistent nightmares she had for many weeks after the filming. Evidently, the distressing work environment was further exacerbated by the director's hostile attitude towards her — J. Lee Thompson, who initially wanted to cast 16-year-old Hayley Mills (winner of BAFTA's "Most Promising Newcomer" award for her debut role in Thompson's 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay) as "Nancy," later admitted that he treated the teenage starlet unfairly harshly and emotionally-distant out of jealousy.

In 1966, Martin appeared as "Cutie" in [url=/artist/3783537]Arthur Penn[/url]'s "prison break" criminal drama, [url=/master/405188]The Chase[/url], written by [a=Lillian Hellman] and starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, and [a=Robert Redford]. In subsequent interviews, Lori claimed that her hesitance and unwillingness to accept the inevitable career path of a stereotypical "young hot female victim" was the primary motivation behind her decision to withdraw from Hollywood so abruptly.