Edie Adams
Encyclopedia
Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway
, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award
winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most particularly, Marilyn Monroe
.
. The daughter of Sheldon and Ada (Adams) Enke, the family lived in Grove City for some years and spent a year in New York City before moving to Tenafly, New Jersey
, where Edie finished high school. Edie's mother taught her how to sing and play the piano; mother and daughter were members of the Grove City Presbyterian church choir. Adams' grandmother, a seamstress, taught her how to sew. She made her own clothing beginning in the sixth grade and later had her own designer line of clothing, called Bonham, Inc.
She earned a vocal degree from the Juilliard School of Music
, and then graduated from Columbia School of Drama
. Edie also studied at the Actors Studio
in New York and the Traphagen School of Fashion Design, where she became adept at designing and sewing. Initially, she could not decide whether to pursue a career in fashion design or music, so she tossed a coin, with music being the winner. In 1950, she won the "Miss U.S. Television
" beauty contest, which led to an appearance with Milton Berle
on his television show
. Her earliest television work billed her as Edith Adams. One of Edie's early television appearances was on Arthur Godfrey
's Talent Scouts. She was seen by the producer of the Ernie Kovacs
show Three To Get Ready (in Philadelphia), who invited her to audition. Edie, who was well-trained in classical music, had very little experience with popular music and could perform only three songs. She said later, "I sang them all during the audition, and if they had asked to hear another, I never would have made it." She became part of the show in July 1951. In one of the last interviews of his life, her first husband Ernie Kovacs looked back on the early days, saying, "I wish I could say I was the big shot that hired her, but it was my show in name only--the producer had all the say. Later on I did have something to say and I said it, 'Let's get married.".
Adams began working regularly on television with comedian Ernie Kovacs
and talk show pioneer Jack Paar
. After a courtship that included mariachi
bands and an unexpected diamond engagement ring, Adams and Ernie Kovacs eloped; they were married on September 12, 1954, in Mexico City
. Initially, Adams wasn't certain about marrying Kovacs. She went on a six week European cruise, hoping to come to a decision. After just three days away and many long distance phone calls, Adams returned home with an answer-it was "yes". It was Kovacs' second marriage, and a union that lasted until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962.
The husband-wife team of Adams and Kovacs received Emmy nominations for best performances in a comedy series in 1957. In 1960, she and husband Ernie Kovacs portrayed themselves as the guest stars in the final Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz "Lucy/Ricky Ricardo" coupling hour-long TV special on the Columbia Broadcasting System network.
After Kovacs' death, his network, ABC
, gave Adams a chance with her own show, Here's Edie, which received five Emmy nominations but nevertheless was on for only one season, 1963. Kovacs was a noted cigar smoker, and Adams did a long-running series of TV commercials for Muriel cigars. She remained the pitch-lady for Muriel well after Kovacs' death, intoning in a Mae West
style and sexy outfit, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" Another commercial for Muriel cigars, which cost ten cents, showed Adams singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me" (based on the song, "Hey Big Spender" from the musical Sweet Charity
.) In subsequent years, Adams made sporadic television appearances, including on Fantasy Island
, The Love Boat
, Murder, She Wrote
, and Designing Women
.
Adams starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town
(1953) opposite Rosalind Russell
(winning the Theatre World Award), and as Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner
(1956), winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein
's original 1957 Cinderella
broadcast. Adams was to play Daisy Mae in the film version of Li'l Abner, but was unable to due to the late arrival of her daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs.
Adams played supporting roles in several films in the 1960s, including the bitter secretary of two-timing Fred MacMurray
in the Oscar-winning film The Apartment
(1960) and the wife of presidential candidate Cliff Robertson
in 1964's The Best Man
. In 2003, as one of the surviving headliners from the all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
, she joined actors Marvin Kaplan
and Sid Caesar
at a 40th anniversary celebration of the movie. She was also a favorite nightclub headliner.
Shortly after her husband's death, Adams won a "nasty custody battle" with Kovacs' ex-wife over her stepdaughters, Kip Raleigh "Kippie" Kovacs (1949–2001) (married Bill Lancaster, (1947–1997) son of Burt Lancaster
) and Elizabeth ("Bette"). His ex-wife had previously kidnapped the girls during a visit; Adams and Kovacs worked tirelessly to locate his daughters and return them to their father's custody. The 1984 film Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (in which Adams plays Mae West) deals with the real-life drama. Another court battle began for Adams in the same year; this time with her mother-in-law, who refused to believe there were more debts than assets in her son's estate. Mary Kovacs accused Edie of mismanaging the estate and petitioned for custody of her granddaughters. The dispute lasted for years with Edie remaining the administrator of her husband's estate and the guardian of the three girls.
She also worked for years to pay off Kovacs' massive back-taxes debt to the IRS. The couple's celebrity friends planned a TV special benefit for Edie and her family, but she declined, saying, "I can take care of my own children." Adams spent the next year working practically non-stop.
farm and was the spokeswoman for Sun Giant nuts. Because of her 20 years of commercials for Muriel cigars and her successful business ventures, Adams went from being mired in debt after Kovacs' fatal accident in 1962 to being a millionaire in 1989.
Adams had two later marriages, briefly to photographer Martin Mills and then to trumpeter Pete Candoli
, with whom she appeared in a touring production of the Cole Porter
musical Anything Goes
. In addition to taking care of two stepdaughters, she gave birth to two more children; a daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs, who was born in 1959 and killed in an automobile accident in 1982, and a son, Joshua Mills.
at age 81. According to her son, the causes were cancer
and pneumonia
. Edie is buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery
between her daughter, Mia, and her stepdaughter, Kippie.
. She later testified on the status of the archive of the short lived DuMont Television Network
, where both she and husband Kovacs worked during the early 1950s. Adams claimed that so little value was given to the film archive that the entire collection was loaded into three trucks and dumped into Upper New York Bay.
Upon discovering that her husband's work was disappearing through being discarded and re-use of the tapes, Edie Adams initially used the proceeds of his insurance policy to purchase the rights to as much footage as possible. She also used her own earnings for this purpose.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most particularly, Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
.
Early years
Adams was born as Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, PennsylvaniaKingston, Pennsylvania
Kingston is a municipality located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the Susquehanna River opposite Wilkes Barre. Kingston was incorporated as a borough in 1857. Kingston has adopted a home rule charter which became effective in January 1976. It is part of the greater metropolitan...
. The daughter of Sheldon and Ada (Adams) Enke, the family lived in Grove City for some years and spent a year in New York City before moving to Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
, where Edie finished high school. Edie's mother taught her how to sing and play the piano; mother and daughter were members of the Grove City Presbyterian church choir. Adams' grandmother, a seamstress, taught her how to sew. She made her own clothing beginning in the sixth grade and later had her own designer line of clothing, called Bonham, Inc.
She earned a vocal degree from the Juilliard School of Music
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, and then graduated from Columbia School of Drama
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Edie also studied at the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
in New York and the Traphagen School of Fashion Design, where she became adept at designing and sewing. Initially, she could not decide whether to pursue a career in fashion design or music, so she tossed a coin, with music being the winner. In 1950, she won the "Miss U.S. Television
Miss U.S. Television
Miss U.S. Television was a series of contests held by the DuMont Television Network and its affiliates during 1950. The contest searched for the woman "with the most outstanding talent and beauty"....
" beauty contest, which led to an appearance with Milton Berle
Milton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
on his television show
Texaco Star Theater
Texaco Star Theater is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave Milton Berle the nickname "Mr...
. Her earliest television work billed her as Edith Adams. One of Edie's early television appearances was on Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
's Talent Scouts. She was seen by the producer of the Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
show Three To Get Ready (in Philadelphia), who invited her to audition. Edie, who was well-trained in classical music, had very little experience with popular music and could perform only three songs. She said later, "I sang them all during the audition, and if they had asked to hear another, I never would have made it." She became part of the show in July 1951. In one of the last interviews of his life, her first husband Ernie Kovacs looked back on the early days, saying, "I wish I could say I was the big shot that hired her, but it was my show in name only--the producer had all the say. Later on I did have something to say and I said it, 'Let's get married.".
Edie and Ernie
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
and talk show pioneer Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
. After a courtship that included mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
bands and an unexpected diamond engagement ring, Adams and Ernie Kovacs eloped; they were married on September 12, 1954, in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. Initially, Adams wasn't certain about marrying Kovacs. She went on a six week European cruise, hoping to come to a decision. After just three days away and many long distance phone calls, Adams returned home with an answer-it was "yes". It was Kovacs' second marriage, and a union that lasted until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962.
The husband-wife team of Adams and Kovacs received Emmy nominations for best performances in a comedy series in 1957. In 1960, she and husband Ernie Kovacs portrayed themselves as the guest stars in the final Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz "Lucy/Ricky Ricardo" coupling hour-long TV special on the Columbia Broadcasting System network.
After Kovacs' death, his network, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, gave Adams a chance with her own show, Here's Edie, which received five Emmy nominations but nevertheless was on for only one season, 1963. Kovacs was a noted cigar smoker, and Adams did a long-running series of TV commercials for Muriel cigars. She remained the pitch-lady for Muriel well after Kovacs' death, intoning in a Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
style and sexy outfit, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" Another commercial for Muriel cigars, which cost ten cents, showed Adams singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me" (based on the song, "Hey Big Spender" from the musical Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity is a musical with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon. It is based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria...
.) In subsequent years, Adams made sporadic television appearances, including on Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
, Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
, and Designing Women
Designing Women
Designing Women is an American television sitcom that centered on the working and personal lives of four Southern women and one man in an interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia. It aired on the CBS television network from September 29, 1986 until May 24, 1993. The show was created by head writer...
.
Adams starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town
Wonderful Town is a musical with a book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Leonard Bernstein...
(1953) opposite Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
(winning the Theatre World Award), and as Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner (musical)
Li'l Abner is a musical with a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, music by Gene De Paul, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer.Based on the comic strip Li'l Abner by Al Capp, the show is, on the surface, a broad spoof of hillbillies but is also a pointed satire taking on any number of topics, ranging...
(1956), winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's original 1957 Cinderella
Cinderella (TV)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la Petite Pantoufle de Vair, by Charles Perrault...
broadcast. Adams was to play Daisy Mae in the film version of Li'l Abner, but was unable to due to the late arrival of her daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs.
Adams played supporting roles in several films in the 1960s, including the bitter secretary of two-timing Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
in the Oscar-winning film The Apartment
The Apartment
The Apartment is a 1960 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to the enormously popular Some Like It Hot and, like its predecessor, was a commercial and critical hit, grossing $25...
(1960) and the wife of presidential candidate Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson
Clifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
in 1964's The Best Man
The Best Man (1964 film)
The Best Man is a 1964 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner with a screenplay by Gore Vidal based on his play of the same title. Starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Lee Tracy, the film details the seamy political maneuverings behind the nomination of a presidential candidate...
. In 2003, as one of the surviving headliners from the all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
, she joined actors Marvin Kaplan
Marvin Kaplan
Marvin Kaplan is an American character actor and voice artist. Kaplan is probably best known for his recurring role on the sitcom Alice where he portrayed a phone company employee named Henry Beesmeyer who frequented Mel's diner. He was a part of the cast from 1977 to the series end in 1985...
and Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
at a 40th anniversary celebration of the movie. She was also a favorite nightclub headliner.
Shortly after her husband's death, Adams won a "nasty custody battle" with Kovacs' ex-wife over her stepdaughters, Kip Raleigh "Kippie" Kovacs (1949–2001) (married Bill Lancaster, (1947–1997) son of Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
) and Elizabeth ("Bette"). His ex-wife had previously kidnapped the girls during a visit; Adams and Kovacs worked tirelessly to locate his daughters and return them to their father's custody. The 1984 film Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (in which Adams plays Mae West) deals with the real-life drama. Another court battle began for Adams in the same year; this time with her mother-in-law, who refused to believe there were more debts than assets in her son's estate. Mary Kovacs accused Edie of mismanaging the estate and petitioned for custody of her granddaughters. The dispute lasted for years with Edie remaining the administrator of her husband's estate and the guardian of the three girls.
She also worked for years to pay off Kovacs' massive back-taxes debt to the IRS. The couple's celebrity friends planned a TV special benefit for Edie and her family, but she declined, saying, "I can take care of my own children." Adams spent the next year working practically non-stop.
Starting over
Adams started her own businesses: Edie Adams Cosmetics, which were sold door to door, and Edie Adams Cut 'n' Curl beauty salons, which she began in 1967. Edie also once owned a 160 acre California almondAlmond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
farm and was the spokeswoman for Sun Giant nuts. Because of her 20 years of commercials for Muriel cigars and her successful business ventures, Adams went from being mired in debt after Kovacs' fatal accident in 1962 to being a millionaire in 1989.
Adams had two later marriages, briefly to photographer Martin Mills and then to trumpeter Pete Candoli
Pete Candoli
Pete Candoli was an American swing and West Coast jazz trumpeter. He played with the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and many others, and worked extensively in the studios of the recording and television industries...
, with whom she appeared in a touring production of the Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
musical Anything Goes
Anything Goes
Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London...
. In addition to taking care of two stepdaughters, she gave birth to two more children; a daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs, who was born in 1959 and killed in an automobile accident in 1982, and a son, Joshua Mills.
Death
Edie Adams died in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
at age 81. According to her son, the causes were cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. Edie is buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica...
between her daughter, Mia, and her stepdaughter, Kippie.
Archiving Kovacs' work
She is also known for her work in archiving her husband's television work, something she described in detail during a 1999 video taped interview with the Archive of American TelevisionArchive of American Television
The Archive of American Television is a division of the non-profit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation that films interviews with notable people from all aspects of the television industry....
. She later testified on the status of the archive of the short lived DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, where both she and husband Kovacs worked during the early 1950s. Adams claimed that so little value was given to the film archive that the entire collection was loaded into three trucks and dumped into Upper New York Bay.
Upon discovering that her husband's work was disappearing through being discarded and re-use of the tapes, Edie Adams initially used the proceeds of his insurance policy to purchase the rights to as much footage as possible. She also used her own earnings for this purpose.
Filmography
- Showdown at Ulcer Gulch (1956)
- The ApartmentThe ApartmentThe Apartment is a 1960 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to the enormously popular Some Like It Hot and, like its predecessor, was a commercial and critical hit, grossing $25...
(1960) - Lover Come BackLover Come BackLover Come Back is a 1961 Eastmancolor romantic comedy released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their second film together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas....
(1961) - Call Me BwanaCall Me BwanaCall Me Bwana is a 1963 farce film starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg, and directed by Gordon Douglas. It is largely set in Africa. It is the only film made by EON Productions which is not about the Ian Fleming spy character, James Bond and was made by most of the same film crew as Dr...
(1963) - Under the Yum Yum TreeUnder the Yum Yum TreeUnder the Yum Yum Tree is a 1963 comedy movie that stars Jack Lemmon, Carol Lynley, Paul Lynde, Dean Jones and Edie Adams.This sex comedy was one of the successful small comic movies that Lemmon despised making . It first ran on Broadway in 1960-1961.-Plot:Jack Lemmon stars as the playboy landlord...
(1963) - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad WorldIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad WorldIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
(1963) - Love with the Proper StrangerLove with the Proper StrangerLove with the Proper Stranger is a 1963 romantic comedy drama film made by Pakula-Mulligan Productions and Boardwalk Productions and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and produced by Alan J. Pakula from a screenplay by Arnold Schulman.The film stars Natalie Wood,...
(1963) - The Best ManThe Best Man (1964 film)The Best Man is a 1964 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner with a screenplay by Gore Vidal based on his play of the same title. Starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Lee Tracy, the film details the seamy political maneuverings behind the nomination of a presidential candidate...
(1964)
- Made in Paris (1966)
- The Oscar (1966)
- The Honey PotThe Honey PotThe Honey Pot, also known as The Honeypot, is a 1967 crime comedy film made by Famous Artists Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film stars Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson, Capucine, Edie Adams, and Maggie Smith. It was written for the screen and directed by Joseph L....
(1967) - Up in SmokeUp in SmokeUp in Smoke, directed by Lou Adler, is Cheech and Chong's first feature-length film, released in 1978 by Paramount Pictures. It stars Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Edie Adams, Strother Martin, and Stacy Keach....
(1978) - Racquet (1979)
- The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980)
- Boxoffice (1982)
- Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were ThereBroadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were ThereBroadway: The Golden Age is a 2004 documentary by Rick McKay, telling the story of the "golden age" of Broadway by the oral history of the legendary actors of the 40s and 50s, incorporating rare lost footage of actual performances and never-before-seen personal home movies and photos.-The Cast:The...
(2003)
Television
- Three to Get Ready (1951–1952)
- Ernie in Kovacsland (1951) (a summer replacement show)
- Kovacs On the Corner (1952) (canceled after 3 months)
- The Ernie Kovacs ShowThe Ernie Kovacs ShowThe Ernie Kovacs Show is an American comedy show hosted by comedian Ernie Kovacs first shown in Philadelphia during the early 50s, then nationally.In 1953, Kovacs had an evening show by the same name on CBS...
(1952–1956) - Appointment with AdventureAppointment with AdventureAppointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure/dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m...
(1955) - The Guy Lombardo Show (1956)
- CinderellaCinderella (TV)Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la Petite Pantoufle de Vair, by Charles Perrault...
(1957) - The Garry Moore ShowThe Garry Moore ShowThe Garry Moore Show is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer, Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don...
(1958) - The Gisele MacKenzie ShowThe Gisele MacKenzie ShowThe Gisele MacKenzie Show in an American variety show hosted by Gisele MacKenzie. The series aired live on NBC from September 28, 1957, to March 29, 1958. The Curfew Kids appeared on the program as semi-regulars....
(1958) - The Pat Boone Chevy ShowroomThe Pat Boone Chevy ShowroomThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars. The program was of course sponsored by Chevrolet...
(1958) - The Dinah Shore Chevy ShowThe Dinah Shore Chevy ShowThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A...
(1958) - The Art Carney Show (1959-premiere)
- Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1960)
- Take a Good Look (panelist from 1960–1961)
- The Spiral Staircase (1961)
- Here's Edie (1963–1964)
- Evil Roy SladeEvil Roy SladeEvil Roy Slade is a 1972 made-for-television comedy film about the "meanest villain in the West."-Plot:Orphaned and left in the desert as an infant, Evil Roy Slade grew up alone—save for his teddy bear—and mean...
(1972) - Cop on the Beat (1975)
- Superdome (1978)
- Fast Friends (1979)
- The Seekers (1979)
- Kate Loves a Mystery (1979)
- Make Me an Offer (1980)
- Portrait of an Escort (1980)
- A Cry for Love (1980)
- The Haunting of Harrington House (1981)
- As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
(cast member in 1982) - Shooting Stars (1983)
- Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (1984)
- Adventures Beyond Belief (1987)
- Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989)
- Tales of the City (1993) (miniseries
- Great Performances: Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella (2004) (TV series)