The years since her untimely death have done little to diminish the impression she left usHer legacy has touched our lives.. Her later leading ladies revealed a mature, worldly wise resourcefulness that arose from lessons learned in the school of hard knocks. Inger Stevens was died at age 35. And there you are, left alone. In a chapter dedicated to her in Kirk Crivellos book Fallen Angels, Inger is quoted as saying, Once I felt that I was one person at home and the minute I stepped out the door I had to be somebody else. Following her recovery, the actress began an intense period of self-examination with a new drive. It was around this time that the young actress found a powerful friend in columnist Louella Parsons who went on to help her through some personal and professional stumbles. The drama, about the effects of divorce on a family, was not enthusiastically received. She found her way to Kansas City where she found work as a waitress. Divorce would not become final until August of 1958. [13] However, when Stevens's estate was being settled, her brother Carl O. Stensland confirmed in court that Stevens had hidden her marriage to Jones "out of fear for her career. interwoven throughout, Inger, in typical nice girl form, plays Nancy Terman, a naive young social worker who finds romance with Italianate Tony Parelli, a loose cannon intern and one-time gangbanger (as played by George Segal, who is introduced here). No. By Gary Brumburgh, Mobile News- One of the most riveting and radiant of blondes in late 1950s and 60s Hollywood, Stockholm-born Inger Stevens seemed to have the whole world in her corner. The epic War of 1812 costumer The Buccaneer (1958) was a sprawling but static remake of Cecil B. DeMilles 1938 classic that earlier starred a dashing Fredric March as pirate Jean Lafitte and featured Anthony Quinn. Although very little information has been filtered out about Ms. Stevens and her secretive life over the years, William T. Patterson's eagerly-anticipated biography, "The Farmer's Daughter Remembered: The Biography of Actress Inger Stevens" (2000), finally put an end to much of the mystery. Inger made her film debut at age 22 opposite Bing Crosby in Man on Fire (1957). (1958), Anthony Quinn, her director in Cecil B. DeMille's The Buccaneer (1958), and Harry Belafonte, her co-star in The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959), left her frequently depressed and ultimately despondent. He would end up having to fight an even tougher battle [] More, What could be more mysterious than an island filled with buried treasure? The absurdity of it all is that the floppy-looking Matthau in no way rates Inger, whose figure is placed on dazzling, bikini-clad display here and who (to this writer) is sexier than Sue Ane Langdon, tawdry Elaine Devry, and the rest of the distaff cast. The movie role went to another intoxicating beauty, Kim Novak. Both stars earned major kudos for their touching portrayals, including Emmy nominations. Inger Stevens. TV audiences adored Inger and her popularity soared. After co-starring her in the dramatic TV-movie Run Simon, Run opposite Burt Reynolds, with whom she was sharing an off-screen relationship, Spelling cast the actress without pause for his newly dramatic TV series Zig Zag set to air that fall. While Inger shares a couple of tender moments as nursemaid to an ambushed Eastwood and engages in a brief but lyrical love scene, its Eastwoods movie. A strong talent and consummate dramatic player of the late 50s and 60s, she was born Inger Stensland, the eldest of three children, of Swedish parentage. The following morning, a friend came by her house to visit and found her lying face down on the kitchen floor. Her father eventually tracked her down and dragged her back home where she graduated from high school before leaving yet again for New York City. And eventually as a dancer in a burlesque show. Often underused as a love interest, Inger gets to better display her dramatic talents here. Serious problems set in when Inger began falling in love with her co-stars. She had a brother named Ola who also went by Carl and another named Peter who were respectively born two and four years after her. While she was remembered for her works, not much about her family is unknown. Was Inger Stevens hot or not? Facts Verse A career cant put its arms around you, she once lamented. They point out that up until the morning of her death. At 11 pm, Stevens placed a phone call to her personal assistant, Chris Bone, and explained that she had just argued with Burt and drank a couple glasses of wine. It was not to be. Two years later, Inger Stevens started performing chorus line in New York while undergoing acting training at the Actor's Studio. Eventually, Inger and her brother moved in with their aunt, stage actress Karin Stensland Junker and her family in Lidingo. The relationship was fraught with tension and was marked by long separations. [9][10], After Stevens's death, Ike Jones, the first black person to graduate from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, revealed that he had secretly married Stevens in 1961 in Mexico. February 19, 2023, 6:17 am, by Hang Em High had the largest United Artists opening in history at the time and was given top-notch reviews by critics alike, including Arthur Winsten of the New York Post who called it, A western of quality, courage, danger and excitement.. All three family members are kidnapped and held ransom by madman Rod Steiger and his motley crew (antsy Jack Klugman, sultry Angie Dickinson and creepy Neville Brand) after they place Mason-devised bombs aboard several airliners as part of an extortion plot. With Irene Pappas excellent as his plain, suffering wife, a very breakable Inger Stevens makes all her scenes count as Anna, an emotionally frozen bakers widow, who is temporarily thawed out by Quinns lust for life and lust for sex. "[14] Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner A. Edward Nichols ruled in Jones's favor[15] and named him administrator of her estate. Bill and Inger often played little gags on each other in order to lighten up any tension on the set. A very young Harrison Ford (no relation to Glenn) can be spotted in his first credited movie part as a Union lieutenant. Unknown to many, behind the star's megawatt smile were dark personal problems. Swedish Actress Inger Stevens was born Inger Stensland on 18th October, 1934 in Stockholm, Sweden and passed away on 30th Apr 1970 Hollywood, CA aged 35. But sadly, she would become a tragic and wildly regrettable Hollywood statistic. Facts Verse January 27, 2023, 7:23 pm, by Inger Stevens (born Ingrid Stensland; October 18, 1934 April 30, 1970)[1] was a Swedish-American film, stage and Golden Globe-winning television actress. At the very least, they wanted to make sense of her life and puzzling death. Dawber has married to NCIS star Mark Harmon for more than three [] More, Jan Smithers is a former television actress that is best known for her portrayal of the character Bailey Quarters on the television series WKRP in Cincinnati. Mystery continues to surround her death, however. Her suicide just did not seem to gel with her on-screen sense and sensibility. The movie itself, distributed by small-scale National General and directed by Daniel Mann, has a spirited, Zorba-like Quinn playing Matsoukas, the owner of a foundering counseling service, who breaks from the communitys moral code attempting to come up with enough money to take his terminally ill son to Greece. Lisbet eventually married the man and moved back to Stockholm, taking youngest son Peter with her. She dressed in her nightgown and a pair of tattered slippers. His theory is that someone who knew her came over and forced her to swallow enough pills to end her life. On the sad side, burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee succumbed to lung cancer on April 26. A man named Ike Jones stepped forward to claim the body claiming to be Ingers husband. An ensuing whirlwind fling with the virile, handsome Reynolds occurred during filming and their affair would run hot and cold. The source of Ingers unhappiness can be traced back to her troubled childhood. [citation needed]. This was a controversial move for the popular star of a family television show, but Inger never shied away from such topicsa fact that alienated her from an industry that expected her to play by their rules, but . Much like the equally lovely Natalie Wood, Inger grew more exquisitely beautiful and sensual with age. Inger appears in a secondary role as a lonely boarding house owner who connects briefly with the equally forlorn Fonda. She was a paradoxical beauty, a study in contraststender yet elusive, welcoming yet guarded, stunningly attractive yet modestand this kept audiences intrigued. But she ended up spilling the beans on one of the most embarrassing chapters of her life instead. Her death was caused by chronic poisoning from barbituric drug, which acts as a central nervous system depressant and can produce a variety of outcomes, ranging from slight drowsiness to death. Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2020-2021. The following day, Ingers body was cremated and her ashes were spread into the Pacific Ocean. Ingers brutalized Emily Biddle is key to the film and she manages several highly affecting moments. September 14, 2021, 5:02 am, Way back in 1980, Dolly Parton sat down with Chet Flippo of Rolling Stone magazine for what she thought was just going to be a typical interview. Confused and angry, Inger and Ola stayed behind with their stern and emotionally distant father. Inger Stevens was born Oct. 18, 1933, in Stockholm, Sweden. Inger Stevens Actress - Born October 18, 1934 in Stockholm, Sweden Died April 30, 1970 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (suicide by overdose) Birth Name Inger Stensland Nickname Kay Palmer Height 5' 5" (1.66 m) Mini Bio (2) edit Born 1934 as Ingrid Stensland in Stockholm, Swedish-American actress Inger Stevens ran away from home to Kansas City, and worked in burlesque shows at 16. Hassan Plot-wise, however, the show had no place to go and the ratings once again plummeted. Stevens, whose real name was Inger Stensland, was to become a famous star, but her life was too short. Inger was the daughter Per Gustaf, a high school teacher, and Lisbet (nee Potthoff) Stensland who were married six months before Ingers birth. Instead of disguising her Scandinavian heritage, she began to embrace it after being cast in a small part on an episode of the Norwegian-American family series Mama. When World War II broke out, their dad decided to promptly move to the United States. 45 Beautiful Photos of Inger Stevens in the 1950s and '60s. Flippo asked Parton about what the most outrageous thing shed [] More, Robert Urich was known throughout the world as a tough guy. Broken affairs with Crosby, James Mason, her co-star in Cry Terror! The unusual story, which has a three-person cast, reunited Inger with her Man on Fire producer Sol C. Siegel and writer/director Ranald McDougall. Inger Stevens couldnt have played a villain if she wanted to. With ideas of directing or perhaps screenwriting, she also wished to devote more of herself to outside interests, particularly her work with special-needs children. It became a highly productive period as she starred in what would become one of The Twilight Zones more famous episodes. Auteur critic Andrew Sarris from The Village Voice once again championed director Don Siegel by calling the picture, the best American movie I have seen so far in 1968. Widmarks character was resurrected (sans wife) in the rotating 1972 TV series NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie that included Banacek and Cool Million. But she kept their marriage secret until her death. Directed by Gene Kelly and co-starring an excellent Robert Morse as the worldly buddy who schools Matthau in the art of philandering, the film is highlighted by a series of star vignettes featuring the likes of Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Sid Caesar, Jayne Mansfield, Joey Bishop, Terry-Thomas, Polly Bergen, Carl Reiner, et al., who demonstrate Morses various cheating tacticsboth successful and disastrous. The family moved to Mora, about 200 miles northwest of Stockholm, when she was four. Inger and her agent, Tony Soglio, quickly became a romantic twosome and the couple impulsively married in Connecticut on July 9, 1955. This movie had a budget of $1,180,000 and had earned $1,415,000 at the box office. Inger had swallowed an overdose of pills shortly after New Years Day in 1959, but by sheer luck she was found in time after friend David Tebet, a senior Vice President at NBC, became concerned after the actress failed to show up at a dinner engagement and then could not be reached the entire next day. Ingers latest affair, this time with the married Belafonte, ran its usual torrid course but now it was all starting to catch up with her. The actress was in excellent spirits and had every reason to be as they were celebrating her signing up for Spellings new TV series set for September. She was compassionate, thoughtful and highly giving to both cast and crew. As a child she was often ill. She was born Inger Stensland in Stockholm on October 18, 1934. Inger Stevens Suffered Abandonment As A Child. She died way too young in 1970 at the age of 36.Inger Stevens was born Inger Stensland in Stockholm, Sweden. February 19, 2023, 6:22 am, by Putting her under a personal Paramount seven-picture contract at the enviable rate of $600 per week (the standard was $200-$300), Siegel introduced the 22-year-old to the film world with the MGM family drama Man on Fire (1957), written and directed by Ranald McDougall and starring Bing Crosby in a rare dramatic role. (she later confided to a friend, You cant win em all, but then I dont try to!), but wisely turning down the lead in Song of Norway (1970), a movie musical mistake that eventually starred singer Florence Henderson, Inger began to entertain thoughts of broadening her horizons. Yet she would become a tragic and immensely regrettable Hollywood statisticovercome by a deep-rooted personal unhappiness hidden by a sunny disposition and megawatt smile. It was as if the solution to her emotional problems was instead building to a deadly explosion of all the pain she had suffered as a child. 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