Coroner says 1959 Playmate died from heart disease

[May 14, 2011]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The badly decomposed body found in a dilapidated hillside home overlooking Beverly Hills was former B-movie actress and 1959 Playboy Playmate Yvette Vickers and an autopsy showed she died from heart disease, authorities said Friday.

Vickers, 82, was found April 27 by a neighbor in her Benedict Canyon house. While foul play wasn't suspected, her death captured headlines after authorities estimated her remains could have been there from a few months to a year.

County coroner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter, however, couldn't say Friday when Vickers had actually passed away.

Born Yvette Vedder in 1928, Vickers' first film role was in "Sunset Boulevard" in 1950. After the James Cagney-directed "Short Cut to Hell" flopped, she turned to B-movies, appearing in "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" and "Attack of the Giant Leeches."

She appeared in Playboy as Miss July 1959.

Neighbors said Vickers kept to herself and there hadn't been many signs that something was amiss at her one-bedroom house. Once letters started piling up in her mailbox, the neighbor went to check on Vickers and found her body. Inside, a space heater was on as was a computer.

Winter said Vickers, who wasn't believed to have any children, has a brother who was notified about her death.

[Associated Press; By GREG RISLING]

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