Inger Stevens (October 18, 1934 – April 30, 1970) was a Swedish-American movie and TV actress. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden.
Contents
[hide]
Growing up in Sweden, Stevens was an insecure and often ill child. She was 9 years old when her parents divorced, and she moved with her father to New York City.[2] At age 13, she and her father moved to Manhattan, Kansas, where she attended Manhattan High School (Kansas). At 16 years old, she worked in the Kansas City burlesque shows. At age 18, she left Kansas for New York City to work as a chorus girl and in the Garment District. Simultaneously, she took classes at the Actors Studio.
[edit] Career
She appeared on television programs and commercials and in plays, until she finally got her big chance in the movie, Man on Fire, with Bing Crosby.
Several roles in major films followed, but she had the greatest success with her leading role in the ABC television series The Farmer's Daughter, with William Windom. Stevens also had roles in episodes of Bonanza, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict and The Twilight Zone.
After The Farmer's Daughter was canceled in 1966, Stevens concentrated on movies. The best-known of her movie roles were, A Guide for the Married Man (1967), with Walter Matthau, Hang 'em High, with Clint Eastwood, 5 Card Stud, with Dean Martin, and Madigan, with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark, all in 1968. Stevens was attempting to make a comeback on TV, in 1970, with the detective drama series The Most Deadly Game when she died.
Her first husband was her agent, Anthony Soglio, to whom she was married from 1955 to 1957. From 1961 to her death, she was secretly married to Ike Jones, a black American actor. She also was romantically involved with Crosby, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Harry Belafonte, Mario Lanza, among numerous others, and Burt Reynolds, shortly before her suicide.
A houseguest found Ms. Stevens lying face down on her kitchen floor on the morning of April 30, 1970, having overdosed[3] on Tedral (a combination drug of theophylline, ephedrine and phenobarbital, commonly prescribed in the treatment of breathing trouble associated with asthma, emphysema, bronchitis and other such illnesses), washed down with alcohol. Ms. Stevens had attempted suicide once before in 1959 when her reported romance with Bing Crosby ended. After an autopsy, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
Filmography
* Man on Fire (1957)
* Cry Terror! (1958)
* The Buccaneer (1958)
* The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
* The New Interns (1964)
* The Borgia Stick (1967, TV)
* A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
* A Time for Killing (1967)
* Firecreek (1968)
* Madigan (1968)
* 5 Card Stud (1968)
* Hang 'Em High (1968)
* House of Cards (1968)
* A Dream of Kings (1969)
Television
* Kraft Television Theatre (1 episode, 1954)
* Robert Montgomery Presents (1 episode, 1955)
* Studio One (3 episodes, 1954–55)
* Crunch and Des (1 episode, 1956)
* Matinee Theatre (1 episode, 1956)
* Crusader as Alicia in "The Girl Across the Hall" (CBS, 1956)
* Conflict (1 episode, 1956)
* The Joseph Cotten Show, or On Trial (1 episode, "Law Is for the Lovers", 1956)
* The Millionaire (1 episode, 1956)
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1 episode, 1957)
* Climax! (1 episode, 1957)
* Playhouse 90 (2 episodes, 1956–59)
* Bonanza (1 episode, 1959)
* Sunday Showcase (1 episode, 1959)
* ****** Powell's Zane Grey Theater (1 episode, 1960)
* Moment of Fear (1 episode, 1960)
* Checkmate (1 episode, 1960)
* Hong Kong (1 episode, 1960)
* The Twilight Zone (2 episodes, 1960)
* The DuPont Show of the Month (1 episode, 1961)
* Adventures in Paradise (1 episode, 1961)
* The Aquanauts (1 episode, 1961)
* The Detectives (1 episode, 1961)
* Route 66 (2 episodes, 1960–61)
* Follow the Sun (2 episodes, 1961)
* The Eleventh Hour (1 episode, 1962)
* Sam Benedict (1 episode, 1962)
* Your First Impression (As herself, 1963)
* The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1 episode, 1963)
* The Nurses (1 episode, 1963)
* The ****** Powell Show (2 episodes, 1962–63)
* Empire (1 episode, 1963)
* The Farmer's Daughter (101 episodes, 1963–66)
* The Most Deadly Game (1 episode, 1970)
* The Mask of Sheba (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 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The ****** Powell Show
1964 Nominated Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) The Farmer's Daughter
