Ramsay Ames: A Dulcinea in a Place in Málaga

In a place called 'La Mancha', the name Ramsay Ames was forgotten. The classic Hollywood American actress always emphasized in her interviews that her mother was Spanish, from Seville, although this fact does not match her official origins. "She reflects the fiery temperament of her Latin ancestors," stated a caption in the 'Los Angeles Times' in August 1944 about the then R.K.O. actress. What is clear is that Rita Rebecca Phillips Ames, born in New York on March 30, 1924, as shown in the census document, knew Spanish, loved Spain, and perhaps it was true that she had Andalusian blood in her veins because she retired from the screens definitively in the villa 'La Mancha', built in Benalmádena Pueblo.

She was not even twenty when, as a dancer and singer in Miami, she was discovered by Hollywood. She played supporting roles in four movies in 1943, the most notable being the adventure classic 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' by Arthur Lubin. The following year she made six movies, specializing in B-series horror films made by Universal, for which she is still idolized among genre fans. In the classic 'The Mummy's Return', Ames becomes the sexy reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian queen. However, what really brought her fame was World War II. Transformed into a 'pin-up' for American army magazines, she became the Dulcinea of the American soldiers deployed from North Africa to Guadalcanal. Erskine Johnson reported in a 1944 column that one day the recruits at Fort Ord (California) found a photo of the imposing Ames and a message on the board: "We don't know who this wonderful girl is, but it really doesn't matter. The Hollywood studio that sent the photo forgot a caption. We'll put it. It's simply WOW." Apparently, Ames found out and sent the barracks a new photo with the following poem: "A Hollywood girl abhors anonymity / as much as Mae West hates batiste nightgowns / so here you find a new pose, I wear sequins / you could publish this one, it's from a new angle / and this time let me, when mentioning names / I always sign mine, with love, Ramsay Ames."

However, in the 1970s, a quiet and anonymous life on the Costa del Sol didn't seem like such a bad plan anymore. There, in the Rancho Domingo development, the exclusive colony built by Simón Beriro next to architect Robert Mosher, a disciple of Frank L. Wright. "The terrain in Benalmádena, a golden slope with marbled touches and the green of the wind-twisted olive trees, is rugged and of special beauty," described 'La Mancha' Michael Bots for 'House Beautiful' magazine in 1972. Ames and her husband Dale Wasserman, globally known for writing the musical 'Man of La Mancha' in 1965, hence the name of the villa, lived in "a cool oasis swept by the breeze" which, as Bots could verify, "expresses their idyll with Spain and their Californian predilection for outdoor living."

Ramsay Ames could be seen outdoors in May 1944, in an unusual magazine report from 'LIFE' preceded by a hundred pages dedicated to current war events (the landing of Allied troops in Anzio, the reunion with their families of a group of pilots, or an infographic on how to survive a fall from a B17 bomber). The magazine dedicated a dozen photos to tell about a picnic at a Malibu beach with the "pretty Hollywood girls" Martha O´Driscoll and Ramsay Ames along with actors Peter Coe and Bill O'Connors. Those were years of fame and alleged romances aired in gossip columns. A rivalry with Katharine Hepburn for Turhan Bey, her co-star in 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves', was rumored. She was linked to Mickey Rooney. And she was seen on the arm of swing legend Artie Shaw, as Tom Nolan notes in the musician's biography: "Hedda Hopper rushed to tell the world on August 7: 'It's not a blonde that interests Artie Shaw, it's a handsome brunette.' Three days later, Hopper had her name: Ramsay Ames." However, eleven more movies in the 1940s, including the western 'Beauty and the bandit' starring with Gilbert Roland, made her realize that her acting career was not going to take off in Hollywood. A call from the Hotel Castellana Hilton in Madrid changed her life.

Much later, in Benalmádena, Ramsay Ames could delight in a rose garden just by looking out the window of the room where she worked translating her husband's plays into Spanish. Among them 'Operation Shakespeare', which was broadcast by Estudio 1 in 1973. She also wrote her own scripts for television and practiced with her Spanish guitar sitting in a swivel chair bought in an antique shop in Malaga. And always accompanied by her faithful German Shepherd. "She had a special relationship with it. When I was there, the dog was around like watching," says Dr. Lorenzo Valderrama, who practiced medicine in Arroyo de la Miel for over 50 years, "by the way, one day it bit me, you know?" Valderrama remembers Ames, who at that time would be around fifty years old, as a very normal person. "She was simply a patient. I would go to the house, treat whatever it was and that's it," explains the doctor, who always spoke in English with her, "because I have spoken English since I was a child and my wife is English." He also witnessed her eagerness to learn. "One day she tells me she wants to study medicine. I made her see that it was crazy, I mean, medicine is a long, difficult career and moreover, it has to be done at a faculty. She insisted so much, so much, so much, that in the end I said, well, if you want, every time you come here I will charge you as if it were a visit." And for a while the doctor was giving Ames classes, "with a book I was explaining to her the basic principles of anatomy."

In February 1954 Ames lands at Barajas to sing in the nightclub of the newly inaugurated Hotel Castellana Hilton. She arrives almost at the same time as Ava Gardner, the most beautiful animal in the world, who also stays in the same hotel, in suite 716. The two shared past lovers (Mickey Rooney and Artie Shaw were Gardner's ex-husbands), shared a passion for bullfighting (Ramsay claims in an interview just after arriving that her idol is Manolete, another ex-lover of Gardner) and from their privileged location they are going to share the Madrid of Chicote and Las Ventas. "Actress Ramsay Ames says she called Ava one night to invite her to a flamenco party at 11," published the American newspaper 'The Sentinel' in 1956, "I'll get out of bed, have my coffee –said Ava– and I'll go."

In Benalmádena, Ames enjoyed more tranquil schedules. "Usually, the Wassermans have lunch on the shaded terrace next to the dining room (gazpacho is a specialty of the house) or under the sun at a table next to the pool." For Bots, the report from 'House Beautiful' continues, "the exterior reflects the architecture of Andalusian farmhouses" and inside "a Moorish romanticism prevails." The gardens were designed by the famous anarchist horticulturist Edward Hyams, while the art collection includes a sculpture by Leon Saulter and a painting by Nelson C. White.

Because Ames lived her whole life surrounded by art and artists. From the Castellana Hilton, she was in charge of reporting for 'Variety' the endless list of international actors passing through Barajas to shoot or get to know Spain. Lawrence Olivier, Rod Steiger, Bette Davis, Anthony Franciosa, Vittorio De Sica, but also Lola Flores, Carmen Sevilla, Sara Montiel, or Alberto Closas appear in her chronicles. In 1957 Ames participates in the United Artist superproduction 'Alexander the Great' and begins to present, on the newly born Spanish Television, the program 'Cita en el estudio', where she interviews international celebrities alongside Jesús Álvarez. "My home is now Spain," she stated in an interview with the newspaper 'Pueblo'. "Ramsay Ames finds her Shangri-La in Spain," titled an American medium. She also began a fruitful career in radio, with programs like 'The Bridge of Triumphs', alongside Vicente Marco, or 'Here North America'. "I have found my true vocation in the microphones," she assured in another interview for 'Pueblo', "in daily contact with the public." And in 1962 she shot in Malaga the international production 'The Price of Death' by Carol Reed, her penultimate movie. Was it then when she fell in love with the Costa del Sol? In 1964 she attended the farewell party of John Wayne at Niccas's, the restaurant in Madrid of director Nicholas Ray. Among the guests there was everything, as reported by the media at the time: from Otto Skorzeny, the Austrian SS colonel who rescued Mussolini in 'Operation Greif' in World War II, to Claudia Cardinale, 'The Duke's' co-star in 'The Fabulous World of the Circus', which was then being filmed in El Retiro Park.

"I remember her tall, very beautiful, very nice, and my father very friend of hers, my mother too," says Irenka Gyenes, daughter of photographer Juan Gyenes. Ames passed through Gyenes' studio at least seven times between 1954 and 1961. The negatives of those sessions are kept by the National Library of Spain. According to Irenka, Ames was a regular at the Gyenes' house, also when she married Wasserman in 1966. The relationship intensified since the Gyenes had a vacation home in Montemar, Torremolinos. So, when the Wassermans moved to Benalmádena, the visits continued. "Ramsey came a lot to my house, and we often went to hers." Although going to Benalmádena Pueblo at that time was not like now. "I saw it as the end of the world," recalls Irenka, "although the views were incredible."

About those views, Bots wrote: "below, like a distant mirage, the Costa del Sol and the blue water seem to float into infinity." But nothing is infinite. The Wassermans returned to the United States and divorced in 1980. Ramsay settled in California, from where she answered letters from her fans. About her career in the entertainment world, she said in a book of interviews with former B-movie actresses: "It's part of my life that I've left behind and rarely reflect on, as there are now much more important things. However, it feels good to know that my best efforts have been recognized and continue to be enjoyed by so many people for so many years."

She died on March 30, 1998 in Santa Monica, a victim of lung cancer, 35 years after her last movie: 'A Certain Dulcinea'.