Susan Griffiths as the Iconic Marilyn Monroe

Susan is a TV actress and Marilyn Monroe look-alike who appears as the film legend in the Season Five episode of Quantum Leap titled Goodbye Norma Jean. She has been a Marilyn Monroe impersonator since her appearance in Legends in Concert (1991).

She was born on December 31, 1959 in Tustin California.  Looking like an A-list celebrity certainly has its perks, but looking like a celebrity who is widely regarded as one of the sexiest women who ever lived and getting paid for it?  Well, that's just incredible!

Ms. Griffiths has made an astonishing $4 million over the course of her career as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.  Appearing on film, in advertisements and even at corporate events, Susan has been racking in cash for her uncanny resemblance to the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star since the 80s. 

"People always told me I looked like Marilyn".

It wasn't until colleagues at a Macy's department store, where she was working at a cosmetics counter, urged her to audition for an impersonator agency that she decided to capitalize on her doppelganger status.

Susan had never even seen one of Maryilyn's movies until she was 21, but she decided to audition and sign with an agency.  She then honed an on-stage act that she performed in Hawaii and Las Vegas with the tribute show Legends in Concert. 

"I had to learn to sing."  Marilyn wasn't known for being an incredible singer.  It wasn't like I had to come up to the standards of Judy Garland, but I had to study with several vocal coaches".

"Marilyn" also had to speak like the Seven Year Itch bombshell, who was known for her sultry, breathy voice.  "At first it took a lot of practice to get Marilyn's mannerisms right, especially her breathy voice which was the hardest.  I spent hours pouring over her movies and practicing.  Now everything is just second nature".

For awhile in the late 80s and early 90s Susan retired her act, but couldn't avoid the call of being a celebrity look-alike forever.  She revisited impersonating Marilyn for the 1991 TV movie, Marilyn in Me. From there, she went on to play Marilyn several more times in film, most notably in the cult classic Pulp Fiction with John Travolta.  "Every time John saw me, he'd make comments about how similar I looked to Marilyn".

Though she takes pains to apply her make-up and bleach her brown hair to look like Marilyn's hair she insists she's had no surgery to further the likeness and often gets stopped on the street when she isn't done up. "People even approach me when I'm bare-faced and wearing a hat covering my distinctive hair, exclaiming how much I look like Marilyn". 

Susan continues to do her Marilyn act at private events charging $1,500 to $4,000 for a single appearance. 

"One of the most unbelievable moments was the night Kentucky billionaire, Steve Wilson, hired me as his date for the Kentucky Derby in 2010.  There was a red carpet and I had my own personal bodyguard.  It was an extraordinary evening".

Susan is thrilled she's had the chance to make a career out of her likeness to such a beloved celebrity.  

"Thanks to Marilyn, I've had a fabulous life.  I love my job and feel so blessed.  It's incredible how much attention I get from Marilyn fans". 

Susan appeared on the Bemus Bay Pops floating stage with the group called Guys and Dolls (Martin, Monroe, Streisand and Sinatra).

Pat Locke, Maestro Muse 

 

Andy DiMino as Dean Martin

Andy has been called "the quintessential crooner". After a varied career that took him to Hollywood clubs and Colorado ski lodges, the Southern California native moved to Las Vegas, where he discovered his inner Dean Martin. 

For the last several years, he has been one-third of A Toast to the Rat Pack with Sebastian Anzaldo as Frank Sinatra and Lambus Dean as Sammy Davis, Jr. 

"It's a really fun show. In theaters, we break it up into two sets.  During the first set, we focus on the individual performers.  Dean Martin usually opens the show with three songs then he turns it over to Sammy for three songs and Frank for three songs.  That way, each performer gets to do the solo numbers from the catalog."

Andy DiMino

Before the intermission, the trio comes together for a handful of songs  They return to the stage as The Rat Pack, with the three tuxedoed performers interacting and closing with "big finish numbers".  The six-piece band features a three-piece orchestra that hearkens back to the big band era.

DiMino grew up watching The Dean Martin Show  from 1965 to 1974, but he was a self-professed "child of the 1960s" during which time he  was raised on The Beatles. 

After a stint with bands, he stepped back to raise his son.  In 1990, DiMino relocated to Las Vegas and started working odd jobs ranging from a strolling minstrel/guitarist at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino to singing the Italian-American songs of Martin.  Then, he saw a Rat Pack tribute show at now-shuttered the Desert Inn in Paradise, Nevada.

"A light bulb went off in my head.  I thought, I could do this.  I like this music.  I like the comedy.  I like the era.  I'm already Italian."  The pros outweighed the cons and it made perfect sense.

DiMino studied all the music and read everything he could.  He picked up the mannerisms by watching DVDs of Martin's TV show.  Singing and performing weren't the hard parts.  Instead, DiMino admits he was a little leery about Martin's comedic side.  Andy had never done comedy before.  Dean Martin was a natural comedian.  Andy had done some musical theater.  

"These were such great characters. Through our show, we hope to remind the audience how much they loved the characters and music of that time and how it made them feel.  If we can do that, that's success for us.  We've done our jobs." 

Andy DiMino

Pat Locke, Maestro Muse

    

 

This show graced the floating stage in Bemus Point one summer and it was a showstopper!  When you bring the unique sounds of Sinatra, Streisand, Martin and Monroe together on a unique floating stage you have the recipe for legendary music with a magical black tie and evening gown ambience .. direct from Vegas! And they say .. "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" .. well, not in this case!  

Thank you "Dean", "Marilyn", "Barbra" and "Frank" for performing at the Bemus Bay Pops!  We shall never forget your presence .. on stage and off stage. 

Thank you Andy DiMino, Susan Griffiths, Sharon Owens and Sebastian Anzaldo.  

 

Pat Locke

Maestro Muse

                                                             A Walk Down Memory Lane

Part Ten

Pat Locke

Maestro Muse

 

2013

Celebrating 16 Spectacular Years of Sky High Musical Adventures