Inger Stevens
Encyclopedia
Inger Stevens was a Swedish-American movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 actress.

Early life

Inger Stevens was born Inger Stensland in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. She was an insecure child and was often ill. When she was nine, her parents divorced and she moved with her father to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. At age 13 she and her father moved to Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...

, where she attended Manhattan High School
Manhattan High School
Manhattan High School is a fully accredited public high school in Manhattan, Kansas, serving students in grades 9-12. It is part of the Unified School District No. 383. For the 2010–2011 school year, Manhattan High had an enrollment of 1,984 students....

. At 16 she worked in burlesque
American burlesque
American Burlesque is a genre of variety show. Derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows, burlesque shows in America became popular in the 1860s and evolved to feature ribald comedy and female striptease...

 shows in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. At 18 she left Kansas for New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 where she worked as a chorus girl
Chorus Girl
A chorus girl is a female performer in a chorus or chorus line.It may also refer to:*Chorus Girl , a compilation from Atomic Records*Chorus Girls , a 1981 musical*"The Chorus Girl", a story by Anton Chekhov...

, and in the Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan
The Garment District, also known as the Garment Center, the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is a neighborhood located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The dense concentration of fashion-related uses give the neighborhood, which is generally considered to span between Fifth Avenue...

 while taking classes 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...

.

Career

Stevens appeared on television series, commercials and in plays, until she got her big break in the movie Man on Fire starring Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

.

Roles in major films followed, but she achieved her greatest success in the 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...

 television series The Farmer's Daughter
The Farmer's Daughter (TV series)
The Farmer's Daughter is an American situation comedy series that was produced by Screen Gems Television and aired on ABC from September 20, 1963 to April 22, 1966. It was sponsored by Lark cigarettes and Clairol for whom the two leading stars often appeared at show's end promoting the products...

, with William Windom
William Windom (actor)
William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...

. Previously, Stevens appeared in episodes of Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

, Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...

, Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict
Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....

and The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...

.

Following the cancellation of The Farmer's Daughter in 1966, Stevens appeared in several movies: A Guide for the Married Man
A Guide for the Married Man
A Guide for the Married Man is a 1967 American bedroom farce comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, and Inger Stevens. It was directed by Gene Kelly. It features a large number of cameos, including Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Jayne Mansfield, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Joey...

(1967) with Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...

, Hang 'Em High
Hang 'Em High
Hang 'Em High is a 1968 American Western film directed by Ted Post and produced and co-written by Leonard Freeman. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching, Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him, Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched him, and Pat...

with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, 5 Card Stud
5 Card Stud
5 Card Stud is a 1968 Western, released by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Henry Hathaway, the script, based on a novel by Ray Gaulden, was written by Marguerite Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay of True Grit for Hathaway the following year...

with Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

, and Madigan
Madigan
Madigan is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Don Siegel and starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda.The screenplay, originally titled Friday, Saturday, Sunday, was adapted by two writers who had been blacklisted in the 1950s, Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodman , based on a novel titled The...

with Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

 and Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...

, all in 1968. Stevens was attempting to make a comeback on television with the detective drama series, The Most Deadly Game
The Most Deadly Game
The Most Deadly Game is an American drama television series that ran for 12 episodes on ABC from 1970 to 1971. The series was produced by Aaron Spelling Productions, with Aaron Spelling being the executive producer. It starred Yvette Mimieux , Ralph Bellamy, and George Maharis....

, when she died.

Personal life

Her first husband was her agent
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...

, Anthony Soglio, to whom she was married from 1955 to 1957. From 1961 until her death she secretly was married to Ike Jones
Ike Jones
Ike Jones is a producer and actor who is perhaps best known as the former husband of actress Inger Stevens...

, an African-American actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. In addition to these marriages she also had been romantically linked with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

, Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...

, Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...

, Mario Lanza
Mario Lanza
right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....

, and Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

.

Death

On the morning of April 30, 1970, Stevens' sometime roommate and companion, Lola McNally, found Stevens on the kitchen floor of her Hollywood Hills home. According to McNally, when she called Stevens' name, Stevens opened her eyes, lifted her head and tried to speak, but was unable to make any sound. McNally told police that she had spoken to Stevens the previous night, without any sign that anything was wrong. Stevens died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. On arrival, medics removed a small bandage from her chin that revealed a small amount of what appeared to be fresh blood oozing from a cut, which appeared to have been a few hours old. Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi attributed Stevens' death to "acute barbiturate
Barbiturate
Barbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system depressants, and can therefore produce a wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to total anesthesia. They are also effective as anxiolytics, as hypnotics, and as anticonvulsants...

 poisoning".

Filmography

  • Man on Fire (1957)
  • Cry Terror!
    Cry Terror!
    Cry Terror! is a 1958 thriller film starring James Mason, Inger Stevens, and Rod Steiger.-Plot:An innocent family gets caught in the middle when a gang threatens to blow up an airplane unless a ransom is paid.-Cast:*James Mason as Jim Molner...

    (1958)
  • The Buccaneer
    The Buccaneer (1958 film)
    The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...

    (1958)
  • The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
  • The New Interns (1964)
  • The Borgia Stick (1967, TV)
  • A Guide for the Married Man
    A Guide for the Married Man
    A Guide for the Married Man is a 1967 American bedroom farce comedy film starring Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, and Inger Stevens. It was directed by Gene Kelly. It features a large number of cameos, including Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Jayne Mansfield, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Joey...

    (1967)
  • A Time for Killing (1967)
  • Firecreek
    Firecreek
    Firecreek is a 1968 western movie directed by Vincent McEveety and starring James Stewart and Henry Fonda in his second role as an antagonist that year. The film is similar to High Noon in that it features an entire town refusing to help a peace officer against outlaws, showing no backbone...

    (1968)
  • Madigan
    Madigan
    Madigan is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Don Siegel and starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda.The screenplay, originally titled Friday, Saturday, Sunday, was adapted by two writers who had been blacklisted in the 1950s, Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodman , based on a novel titled The...

    (1968)
  • 5 Card Stud
    5 Card Stud
    5 Card Stud is a 1968 Western, released by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Henry Hathaway, the script, based on a novel by Ray Gaulden, was written by Marguerite Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay of True Grit for Hathaway the following year...

    (1968)
  • Hang 'Em High
    Hang 'Em High
    Hang 'Em High is a 1968 American Western film directed by Ted Post and produced and co-written by Leonard Freeman. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching, Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him, Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched him, and Pat...

    (1968)
  • House of Cards (1968)
  • A Dream of Kings
    A Dream of Kings
    A Dream of Kings is a 1969 drama film directed by Daniel Mann. It stars Anthony Quinn and Irene Papas. It was nominated for an award at the 1970 Laurel Awards -Cast:*Anthony Quinn as Matsoukas*Irene Papas as Caliope*Inger Stevens as Anna...

    (1969)

Television

  • Kraft Television Theatre
    Kraft Television Theatre
    Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...

    (1 episode, 1954)
  • Robert Montgomery Presents
    Robert Montgomery Presents
    Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...

    (1 episode, 1955)
  • Studio One (3 episodes, 1954–55)
  • Crunch and Des (1 episode, 1956)
  • Matinee Theatre
    Matinee Theatre
    Matinee Theatre is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George...

    (1 episode, 1956)
  • Crusader
    Crusader (TV series)
    Crusader is a half-hour black-and-white American adventure/drama series that aired on CBS for two seasons from October 7, 1955 to December 28, 1956.-Synopsis:...

    as Alicia in "The Girl Across the Hall" (CBS, 1956)
  • Conflict
    Conflict (TV series)
    Conflict is a 1956 ABC series that directly succeeded Warner Brothers Presents. It is most famous for having hosted the effective pilots of 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick....

    (1 episode, 1956)
  • The Joseph Cotten Show
    The Joseph Cotten Show
    The Joseph Cotten Show is an American anthology series series hosted by and occasionally starring Joseph Cotten. The series, which first aired on NBC, aired 31 episodes from September 14, 1956, to September 13, 1957...

    , or On Trial (1 episode, "Law Is for the Lovers", 1956)
  • The Millionaire (1 episode, 1956)
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

    (1 episode, 1957)
  • Climax! (1 episode, 1957)
  • Playhouse 90
    Playhouse 90
    Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...

    (2 episodes, 1956–59)
  • Bonanza
    Bonanza
    Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

    (1 episode, 1959)
  • Sunday Showcase (1 episode, 1959)
  • Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
    Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
    Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...

    (1 episode, 1960)
  • Moment of Fear (1 episode, 1960)
  • Checkmate
    Checkmate (TV series)
    Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue...

    (1 episode, 1960)
  • Hong Kong
    Hong Kong (TV series)
    Hong Kong is a 26-episode adventure/drama series which aired on ABC television during the 1960–1961 season and helped to catapult Australian actor Rod Taylor into a major film star, primarily in the 1960s, beginning with his role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds...

    (1 episode, 1960)

  • The Twilight Zone
    The Twilight Zone
    The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...

    (2 episodes, 1960)
  • The DuPont Show of the Month (1 episode, 1961)
  • Adventures in Paradise
    Adventures in Paradise
    Adventures in Paradise is an American television series which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962. It starred Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. The show was created by James Michener...

    (1 episode, 1961)
  • The Aquanauts
    The Aquanauts (TV series)
    The Aquanauts is an American adventure/drama series that aired on CBS in the 1960-1961 season. The series stars Keith Larsen, Jeremy Slate and Ron Ely .-Synopsis:...

    (1 episode, 1961)
  • The Detectives
    The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor
    The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season...

    (1 episode, 1961)
  • Route 66
    Route 66 (TV series)
    Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...

    (2 episodes, 1960–61)
  • Follow the Sun
    Follow the Sun (TV series)
    Follow the Sun is an American drama series which ran for thirty episodes on the ABC television network from September 17, 1961, through April 8, 1962.-Synopsis:...

    (2 episodes, 1961)
  • The Eleventh Hour
    The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
    The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...

    (1 episode, 1962)
  • Sam Benedict
    Sam Benedict
    Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman....

    (1 episode, 1962)
  • Your First Impression
    Your First Impression
    Your First Impression is a NBC daytime game show which aired from January 2, 1962, to June 26, 1964. A panel of three celebrities tried to guess the identity of mystery guests from clues supplied by the host. Bill Leyden was the MC of the program, with Dennis James as a regular panelist or...

    (As herself, 1963)
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...

    (1 episode, 1963)
  • The Nurses
    The Nurses
    The Nurses is a soap opera that aired on ABC from September 27, 1965 to March 31, 1967. The show was a continuation of a serialized primetime drama which aired on CBS originally called The Nurses when it premiered in 1962, later called The Doctors and the Nurses.The setting was Alden General...

    (1 episode, 1963)
  • The Dick Powell Show
    The Dick Powell Show
    The Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...

    (2 episodes, 1962–63)
  • Empire (1 episode, 1963)
  • The Farmer's Daughter
    The Farmer's Daughter (TV series)
    The Farmer's Daughter is an American situation comedy series that was produced by Screen Gems Television and aired on ABC from September 20, 1963 to April 22, 1966. It was sponsored by Lark cigarettes and Clairol for whom the two leading stars often appeared at show's end promoting the products...

    (101 episodes, 1963–66)
  • The Most Deadly Game
    The Most Deadly Game
    The Most Deadly Game is an American drama television series that ran for 12 episodes on ABC from 1970 to 1971. The series was produced by Aaron Spelling Productions, with Aaron Spelling being the executive producer. It starred Yvette Mimieux , Ralph Bellamy, and George Maharis....

    (1 episode, 1970)
  • The Mask of Sheba
    The Mask of Sheba
    The Mask of Sheba is a made-for-television adventure movie. It was first broadcast on NBC on March 9, 1970.-Plot:An anthropological team travels to a dense African jungle in search of missing safari members and a priceless gold statue. The journey is endangered by primitive tribesmen, treacherous...

    (1970)
  • Run, Simon, Run (1970)


Awards and nominations

Year Result Award Category Series
1958 Nominated Laurel Awards Top New Female Personality
1968 Nominated Best Family Comedy Series A Guide for the Married Man
1964 Won Golden Globes Best TV Star — Female The Farmer's Daughter
1962 Nominated Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The Dick Powell Show
1964 Nominated Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) The Farmer's Daughter

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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