GOOD OLD DAYS:

Pin-up model. Friend of Marilyn Monroe; lover of Frank Sinatra. Trick-shot golfer. B-movie actress.

Whatever she may have been, blonde bombshell Jeanne Carmen never ceased stirring the pot in her long lifetime.

“My mom was the most amazing, warmest, kindest, funniest, most beautiful girl I ever met in my life. I will miss her forever,” Newport Beach resident Brandon James said.

Carmen died from lymphoma last December. James has written a book and movie about her exploits; the latter is currently being shopped among actresses including Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel.

James will sign books at the Fashion Island Barnes & Noble from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.

Carmen was born in a small town in the Midwest, and she ran away from home at the age of 13, James said.

She made her way into theater and then into B-movies. She experienced whirlwind romances and early fame, including as a trick-shot golfer who played with Masters champions.

Later exploits would, James said, bring her into the private lives of Monroe, Sinatra and the Kennedys.

He and his mother spent the past several years divulging the secrets of the celebrities she claimed to have been close to, and she and her son have fought criticism from bloggers and Monroe biographers alike, who claim Carmen created and marketed a “fantasy” world.

Not all biographers claim that Carmen exaggerated her relationships. George Jacobs, Sinatra’s personal valet, wrote about Carmen in his autobiography, “Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra.”

“Jeanne Carmen was a classic blond starlet and pinup girl with one of the most perfect figures in Hollywood,” he wrote; he added that she and Monroe became the best of friends, although no pictures of the two together have been found.

After Monroe died, James said Carmen was told to leave Hollywood by the Chicago mob; she moved to Arizona, where she dyed her hair brown and raised her children in a quiet life.

More than a decade later, following the murder of the mob boss, she was told she could return to California — but the subsequent murder of his lieutenant caused Carmen to move to sleepy Newport Beach instead of Hollywood, to keep her family out of possible harm, her son said.

Carmen used to go on dates with Sinatra at the Villa Nova on Sunset Boulevard (now the Rainbow Bar & Grill).

James said he isn’t fazed by his mother’s provocative photos he pored over to put together his book.

“When you grow up with it, you get used to it,” James said. “I would imagine it’s the same way with Madonna’s kids, or Cher’s kids.”

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (949) 494-5480 or at [email protected].