Jeanne Carmen, a longtime Orange County resident who earned stardom as a bombshell pinup, trick-shot golfer and "Queen of the B Movies," has died. She was 77.

Carmen succumbed to lymphoma at her Turtle Ridge home on Thursday, according to her son, Brandon James.

"It was very peaceful - she just went to sleep," James said. "I was holding her hand when it happened."

Jeanne Laverne Carmen was born Aug. 4, 1930 in Paragould, Ark., where she picked cotton with her family before running away at 13 with dreams of the silver screen.

"I was just a little country girl that wanted to be a movie star," Carmen said in a 1996 interview with The Register.

Her platinum blonde hair and hourglass build (36-26-36 measurements) landed her an off-Broadway job as a burlesque dancer, a gig she parlayed into photo shoots for then-risqué girlie magazines and roles in a wealth of bawdy, low-budget flicks that won her the title of "Queen of the B Movies."

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