Biography
Tammy Lea Marihugh was born in Los Angeles to Malcolm Marihugh, a part-time Hollywood stand-in, and Ellie, a former bank clerk. Both parents supported and nurtured their daughter's career, and by age six, Tammy had earned around $35,000 from winning child beauty contests, modeling, and TV appearances. At four, Ellie took Tammy to a local photographer to take photos to send to family in Minot, ND. The photographer found Tammy so photogenic that he offered free photos in exchange for using her images in his advertisements. Ellie agreed, and Tammy's photos soon appeared in several Los Angeles newspapers. In December 1957, she won a TV Shirley Temple Smile contest, leading to a small role on CBS's Playhouse 90, where she earned $200 "just for smiling into the camera." In 1958, out of nearly 209,000 entrants, Tammy won the "Howdy Doody" TV Show Smile Contest, earning $10,000. She toured the country, appeared multiple times on NBC, and graced magazine covers. Between October and November 1958, she was featured several times on People Are Funny, a Candid Camera-style show hosted by Art Linkletter. On the show, she was given thousands of dollars in play money; in one episode, she tried to buy her father a 50-cent gift, and in another, she attempted to give away a kitten in public but found it difficult. These appearances boosted her popularity, and in April 1959, she joined the cast of The Bob Cummings Show during its final season, earning $500 per episode under contract. She represented Asta, the dog from the 1957-1959 TV series The Thin Man, at the 1960 PATSY Awards. Tammy soon began receiving movie offers and made her theatrical debut in 1960’s The Last Voyage, playing the daughter of Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone’s characters. In June 1960, she was named "Little Miss Hot Dog," symbolizing the July celebration sponsored by the National Hot Dog Month Council, becoming the youngest "Miss Hot Dog" ever. In December that year, a judge approved Tammy buying a six-room house near MGM Studios for $16,000, making her her parents' landlord. She signed a seven-year contract with MGM, earning $500 to $700 weekly. Producer George Pal personally recommended her for the role of Gretel in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, but she was cast as Pauline Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm's daughter. This marked Tammy’s final movie role, and by the mid-1960s, she had stopped appearing on television. After a 1964 guest spot on CBS's My Three Sons, her final acting role came five years later in a 1969 episode of the same show.
