Karen Hamilton (1945 - 1969) in 'Speedway'

Karen Sue Hamilton (1945 - 1969): American actress, featured role in Elvis Presley’s Speedway (1968) with Bill Bixby.
Born Karen Sue Levitt in Queens, New York, November 14, 1945. Graduated from Bayside High School, New York, in January 1962. The family moved to Arizona in 1962. Karen attended the University of Arizona for some time (pledged to Alpha Epsilon Phi), and worked for the Arizona Land Title and Trust.
Five feet and ten and a half inches tall, with red hair, Karen and entered beauty pageants and modeled professionally. She was a finalist in the 1963 Miss Pima County pageant, awarded Miss Outdoor Girl ‘63, modeled for jewelry shows, came fourth in 1965 Miss Arizona contest.
In December 1963 she obtained a license to marry architecture student Kenneth Dorian Mayer (born Sep 26, 1942, New York). They were married Saturday June 13, 1964, with younger sister Pamela as a bridesmaid. Their divorce was decreed 18 months later on February 1, 1966. Karen had already moved to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles she had a short-lived marriage to actor Allen Hamilton, divorcing him in May 1968. She got a non-speaking and uncredited role in the Elvis movie Speedway (1968) produced by MGM. According to her death certificate, MGM was her employer at the time of her death.
May 20, 1969, her parents announced in the Los Angeles Times her engagement to Richard Allen Wagner, a graduate of New York University. Three months later, at 1.40am on September 3, 1969, she killed herself with a shotgun blast to the chest, in her Los Angeles apartment on El Cerrito Place, north of Hollywood Boulevard.
She never appeared in Playboy and she never acted in a Beach Party movie. That was Sue Williams (Playboy Miss April 1965) aka Sue Hamilton ('Peanuts' in How To Stuff A Wild Bikini), a tiny (4'10") California-born actress and model who has lived well beyond 1969 to the present day.

[@robertbunting2833]

Hillard-- I can verify some of the information about Karen Sue Hamilton. I knew her. She worked for my brother in Tucson at Trust Finance for 18 months or so after she married. He moved away about the time she quit during her marriage troubles, and she and I had become friends. She was very intelligent, funny, had very high energy, and was a very sweet person, but underneath she always seemed a bit troubled. We can all see in her clip from "Speedway" and the way she did so well with Bill Bixby in silent drink-guzzling that with added training, she could have been a very fine actress. She was beautiful, and had a fantastic figure. A sad end to a good person.

[@robertbunting2833]

@Jewel Clark Unfortunately, a suicide. She was a very sweet person. My brother and I liked her a lot. She was showing talent as an actress too.

[@eddiefaccioni2453]

You have confused Karen Hamilton (5' 10") with Karen Sue Hamilton (4' 11").

[@hillardelkins]

Hi Big Barney: the difference and confusion is explained here: beachmovies.wordpress.com/sue-williams-sue-hamilton/