here - Inger Stevens

INGER STEVENS
WOUNDED BUTTERFLY
By Gary Brumburgh
O
ne of the most riveting and radiant of
blondes in late 50s and 60s
Hollywood, Stockholm-born Inger
Stevens seemed to have the whole world in her
corner. Bright and breathtaking, she possessed
the cool, classic glamour of a Grace Kelly on
screen, yet came off more approachable and
inviting. Her warm smile and honey-glazed
vocal tones alone could melt an iceberg. She
was a paradoxical beauty, a study in contrasts
– tender yet elusive, welcoming yet guarded,
stunningly attractive yet modest – and this kept
audiences intrigued. Columnist Hedda Hopper
probably said it best – “When Inger Stevens
turns those questioning blue eyes on an
audience, they’ve had it.”
On camera, Inger invoked instant sympathy.
She couldn’t have played the “bad girl” if she
tried; she was too sincere and nurturing. Her
early ingénues were vulnerable, troubled little
butterflies often in peril and in need of protection from the big, bad, ugly world. Her later
leading ladies revealed a mature, worldly wise resourcefulness that arose from the school
of hard knocks. As gorgeous as Inger was, talent was her first and foremost sellable item
and she pursued with fierce determination a meaningful career that would not based on
looks alone.
Like the lovely Natalie Wood, Inger grew more beautiful and sensual with age. The
fresh-faced prettiness that initially held viewers spellbound evolved into a full-grown
beauty accented by a sexy, irresistible smolder. Thanks to a popular mid-1960s TV
sitcom, the actress quickly became a
household name. As a result, Inger's
career seemed to headed for new
heights, and in her last film, she
displayed touches of Oscar worthiness
in her fragile, highly moving
performance.
By April of 1970, Inger had added
producer Aaron Spelling to her list of
admirers. After co-starring her in the
dramatic TV-movie Run Simon, Run
opposite Burt Reynolds, with whom
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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. Indeed, 35-year-old Inger Stevens
seemed to be on top of her game.
Yet she would become a tragic and immensely regrettable Hollywood statistic –
overcome by a deep-rooted, personal unhappiness hidden by a sunny disposition and
megawatt smile. A curious fascination centered on Inger after her death and it became
clear the real Inger was a chaotic contrast to the halcyon beauties she tended to portray on
camera.
Actually, she was a mystery. After her
untimely death, the public suddenly
wanted to know all about this stranger
Inger Stevens...or at the very least to make
sense of her life. The late William T.
Patterson's absorbing, well-researched
2000 biography The Farmer’s Daughter
Remembered: The Biography of Actress
Inger Stevens finally provided some
answers to the more disturbing questions,
but not to all. Patterson, who chose to take
a more positive approach in opening up
her story to the public, claimed that a
significant amount of previously published information about Ms. Stevens was either
untrue or distorted.
The source of her unhappiness can be traced back to her troubled childhood. The product
of a broken home, she was born Inger Stensland in Stockholm, on October 18, 1934,
named in honor of Ingebiorg, a Norse princess. Inger was the daughter of Per Gustaf, a
high school teacher, and Lisbet (née Potthoff) Stensland who were married just six
months before her birth. Brothers Ola (aka Carl) and Peter were born two and four years
later, respectively. She was a shy, introverted girl who was first drawn to acting after
witnessing the magic of her father’s performances (in particular, his role as Ebenezer
Scrooge) in local amateur theater shows.
The family moved to Mora, about 200 miles northwest of
Stockholm, when she was four. Within two years,
however, her mother had abandoned the family for another
man. Lisbet eventually married the man and moved back
to Stockholm, taking youngest son Peter with her. A
confused and distraught Inger and Ola remained with their
stern, emotionally distant father. When the outbreak of
World War II prompted his move to the United States in
late 1940, the children were left behind to fend for
themselves with only a family maid providing any sort of
parenting. Eventually the two children moved in with a
loving aunt, stage actress Karin Stensland Junker, and her
family in Lidingo, near Stockholm.
Officially divorced from his wife via mail years later, Per
Stensland eventually summoned his two eldest in 1944, after taking an American bride
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Inger, around age 9, with brothers Peter
(left) and Ola (aka Carl)
Family portrait – with movie husband
James Mason and daughter Terry Ann Ross
in Cry Terror! (1958)
Innocent Inger threatened by knife-wielding Neville
Brand in Cry Terror! (1958)
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Inger’s climatic subway tunnel scene in Cry Terror!
(1958). Both she and Rod Steiger were overcome by
carbon monoxide poisoning and hospitalized while
filming.
and finding steady work as a teacher at Columbia University in New York City.
Traveling alone on the freighter SS Margaret Johnson from Sweden to the United States,
the children found that their father was not there to greet them when they docked in New
Orleans. Too busy with his own work, he had a Salvation Army man accompany the
anxious youngsters to New York.
Inger commented in a 1962 article, “The most
horrifying thing for a child is to be different.” A
young stranger in a strange land, she felt painfully
out of place at her school in New York. An
excellent student nevertheless, she applied herself
and quickly picked up the English language in
order to appear less conspicuous. “I fit no
where,” the actress recalled. “I was awkward,
shy, clumsy, ugly with freckles and had no
chance of winning a beauty contest.” In 1948, a
teaching position opened up for her father at
Kansas State University that triggered a family
move to Manhattan, Kansas. This only
aggravated Inger’s acute pangs of displacement.
Unable to cope with her cold and strict father and
stepmother, Inger’s home life became unbearable
and she ran away at age 15. She wound up in a Kansas City burlesque chorus line
making $60 a week under an alias, Kay Palmer. Her father eventually brought his
underage daughter back home. Returning to school, Inger actively involved herself in
plays and the glee club – the only creative outlets she was permitted to enjoy. After her
1952 graduation, she left home as quickly as she could pack her bags. Once she left, she
never looked back, maintaining very weak, unemotional ties with her entire family for the
rest of her life.
Inger found menial jobs in town at first,
including selling fabric at a department store
and records at a music store. After moving
briefly to Kansas City, she decided to return to
New York in 1953, this time to actively pursue
her dreams of acting. Outgrowing her plaintive
teen awkwardness, Inger developed into a
graceful and strikingly beautiful young woman,
her fair and winsome Scandinavian features
highlighted by a single left cheek dimple. As a
result, she managed to secure some early work
as a New York model.
Quickly bored and disenchanted with what she
called “empty” modeling assignments, Inger
secured an assertive agent, Anthony Soglio, for
TV representation. He quickly Americanized
her last name to “Stevens” and, within a short
time, helped Inger book her very first
professional job, a Vel Detergent commercial in
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November of 1954. Other commercials, for Tide, Lustre-Crème and Kent cigarettes,
soon followed. She and another actress hopeful, Carroll Baker, auditioned for and were
accepted into Lee Strasberg’s renowned Actors Studio. Various members at the time
included James Dean, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Robert
Redford, Jane Fonda, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Steiger. Inger's random dancing and
singing lessons also paid off when she found supplementary income as a Latin Quarter
nightclub chorine at $75 a week.
Gaining experience on the summer stock stage in such productions as “Glad Tidings,”
“The Women,” “Oh, Men! Oh, Women!” and “Picnic,” Inger’s first break on TV came
when she was cast in a 1954 Studio One presentation of “Sue Ellen,” thanks to her
resemblance to the leading lady. Instead of disguising her Scandinavian heritage, she
began to embrace it after being cast in a small part on an episode of the NorwegianAmerican family series Mama. From there she appeared opposite the fast-rising Paul
Newman in both Goodyear TV Playhouse and Armstrong Circle Theatre presentations.
Making significant strides as a dramatic ingénue, she also proved right for lighter weight
material on such sitcoms as Jamie and Mr. Peepers.
Inger and her agent ,Tony Soglio, quickly became a romantic twosome and the couple
impulsively married in Connecticut on July 9, 1955. Soon, however, the young actress
realized she had made a horrible mistake. Due to Tony’s extreme jealousy and abusive
tendencies, the marriage was practically over before it began and the couple officially
separated in January of 1956. Divorce would not become final until August of 1958.
There was no community property to divide, but Tony profited greatly in the settlement,
receiving 5% of her earnings for the next seven years.
Following out-of-town tryouts, Inger took her first Broadway curtain call on February 22,
1956, as leading lady of the new three-act comedy play Debut. The play received lessthan-inspiring reviews but Inger’s performance was highly praised, save for New York
Times critic Brooks Atkinson who claimed she came off “high strung” and “aggressive.”
The show closed after only five performances. 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.
Despite their separation at the time, Tony Soglio, perhaps in the hopes of getting his wife
back, managed to help Inger secure a three-month test option contract at 20th CenturyFox. Although it proved a disappointment, Inger remembered with self-effacing
amusement, “My experience with Fox wasn’t a total loss…I took driving lessons at the
studio’s expense.” There were close calls too when she tested for major parts in the Fox
movies Oh, Men! Oh, Women!, Fräulein, and The Last Wagon,. Vying for the leading
lady role in the Paramount feature The Tin Star, the part eventually went to another pretty
blonde, Betsy Palmer.
It was film producer Sol C. Siegel who came to Inger’s rescue after discovering her in the
minor role of a chambermaid in the Playhouse 90 presentation of “Eloise” which starred
Ethel Barrymore, Monty Woolley, Louis Jourdan and “Eloise” creator Kay Thompson.
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. The story centers on
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The TV cast of the Playhouse 90 presentation of
“Eloise” (1956). Inger was discovered for films
thanks to this minor role as a chambermaid.
From left: Charlie Ruggles, William Roerick,
Hans Conreid, Conrad Hilton, Kay Thompson,
Louis Jordan, Inger, Mildred Natwick, Jack
Mullaney, little Evelyn Rudie (as Eloise), Ethel
Barrymore, Maxie Rosenbloom and Monty
Woolley
With a protective Dean Martin in 5 Card Stud (1968).
Guest-starring on the popular Smothers Brothers
Comedy Hour in 1967, Inger gets caught between
Tom (below) and Dick Smothers.
Recipients of the Golden Apple Awards on December 7,
1965. From left: Michael Wayne (Duke’s eldest son), Inger,
Donna Reed, Dorothy Malone, Jane Russell and Lorne
Green
Art-deco image of Inger, circa (1956)
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In a hesitant embrace with Mel Ferrer in The
World, The Flesh, and The Devil (1959)
On Broadway with Julia Meade in Roman Candle
(1960).
Inger and Robert Sterling on the March 1960
cover of Theater Arts magazine as stars of the
short-lived comedy Roman Candle.
An enthusiastic Inger making lots “dough” shooting
A Dream of Kings (1969).
Inger tending to Clint Eastwood in his first
post-Sergio Leone American film Hang ‘Em
High (1968).
With George Maharis and Pat Hingle in a 1961
episode of Route 66. Maharis’ chance to work with
Inger again on the 1970 TV series ZigZag was not to
be.
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an embittered, divorced father who has maintained tight-fisted custody of his son, and his
legal fight against an ex-wife who wants to rebuild a life with her estranged child.
Both second-billed Inger and third-billed Mary
Fickett (who later courted daytime fans on the
soap opera “All My Children”) made inspiring
movie debuts. Crosby and Fickett as the battling
ex-spouses are given the fireworks scenes while
Inger (as an assistant to E.G. Marshall, playing
Crosby’s lawyer) is properly restrained as
Crosby’s morale booster, legal aide-de-camp and
very subtle love interest. It was an important
assignment for Inger and she showed great
promise in her very first picture. Variety ‘s
assessment of the young actress was positive.
Inger Stevens, as a femme lawyer, is another
newcomer who should be heard in the future.”
On only her second day of shooting, however, her
life and career were briefly placed in jeopardy
when she was suddenly rushed to the hospital.
Stricken with an acute attack of appendicitis, the
company had to shoot around her until she could
return to the set.
Inger fell into an affair with Crosby, who was 30 years her senior, during the film’s
shoot. Inger’s biographer, William Patterson, played down the Crosby/Stevens
relationship and deemed it mild, if anything. Most of the movie magazines reported
Stevens as being emotionally devastated and suicidal after learning second hand of
Crosby’s marriage to actress Kathryn Grant. Patterson claims Inger purposely “went
along with the media and agreed to the many wild stories they printed” in order to help
promote Man on Fire.
In the meantime, the Paramount publicity train worked
overtime promoting their new film star. Inger, Mai Britt
and Ingrid Gould were given a three-page color photo
spread in Life magazine with the headline “Sumptuous
Swedish Smorgasbord.” Moreover, as the new cool
blonde in town, the nascent film actress won an audition
for the upcoming Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo (1958) in
the hopes of becoming the iconic director’s newest blonde
find (Grace Kelly had been lost to Prince Rainier of
Monaco). The movie role went to another intoxicating
beauty, Kim Novak.
Inger’s second loanout film was MGM’s Cry Terror!,
written, produced and directed by Andrew L. Stone. A
taut drama that takes place in N.Y.C. but was shot
primarily in Los Angeles, Inger was given the
uncharacteristic opportunity to shine as electronics expert
James Mason’s picture-perfect wife and mother of their young daughter. All three family
members are kidnapped and held ransom by madman Rod Steiger and his motley crew
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(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. One plane in
jeopardy, quite interestingly, is called 20th Century Airlines!
Though the plot is hard to believe, Inger becomes the emotional catalyst for much of the
film’s tension and she nearly runs away with the picture. Movie critic Leonard Maltin
singled out her performance in his annual Movie and Video Guide. During the shooting
of an underground subway chase scene involving Inger and Rod Steiger, which was
actually shot in a railway tunnel in Hoboken, New Jersey, both actors and a number of
the film’s crew were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes triggered by a defective
gasoline generator. Rushed to the hospital, a dangerously ill Inger had to be placed in an
oxygen tent for two days before recovering.
In the summer of 1958, Inger impulsively took a trip to her native Sweden where she
visited her estranged mother Lisbet, whom she hadn’t seen in a decade and a half. There
she met her mother’s “second family,” which included two stepsiblings. The reunion was
polite at best and went over as well as could be expected, but a close mother/daughter
relationship was out of the question.
Inger’s third film was for Paramount, her contract studio. The epic War of 1812
costumer The Buccaneer (1958) was a sprawling but static remake of Cecil B. DeMille’s
1938 classic that earlier starred a dashing Fredric March as pirate Jean Lafitte and
featured Anthony Quinn. A seriously ill DeMille, having suffered a heart attack while
filming The Ten Commandments (1956), executive produced the remake in name and
spirit only with Henry Wilcoxon taking over the rigorous producing reigns and Quinn,
who was married to C.B.’s adopted daughter Katherine at the time, stepping up to the
plate as director.
Nobody filled out period costumes better than the lovely Inger, who reprised the Margot
Grahame role of Annette, the Louisiana governor’s frilly daughter and Lafitte’s parasolcarrying paramour. Lending the requisite romantics between the highly disappointing
action scenes, Inger’s modest singing talents were also put on display with her airy
soprano rendering of “Barbara Allen,” an old English-American folk tune.
DeMille tried to strike gold twice by reuniting, as unlikely allies, his Ten Commandments
male stars. Despite the inimitable Yul Brynner (sporting a dark head of hair) as the
posturing pirate king, and a Moses-like Charlton Heston as the 45-year-old, silver-haired
General Andrew Jackson, The Buccaneer was a critical misfire and Tony Quinn’s
directing ambitions ended with it. DeMille’s trademark touches here are obvious with
unshakeable strains of Ten Commandments throughout, from its grand mounting and
Technicolor photography to its deferential casting and Elmer Bernstein’s score. At the
Academy Awards show of 1959, Inger made a brief appearance on stage showing off one
of her gorgeous 19th century outfits designed by Oscar-nominated Edith Head.
Inger’s passionate affair with the married director Quinn wreaked havoc on her as its end
brought on an acute bout of depression. According to Patterson’s biography, Inger once
remarked in an interview that when actors work together an involvement can easily occur
both on and off the set. “When the cruise is finished,” she lamented, “the romance may
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A brutalized Inger with Glenn Ford in the Civil War
drama A Time for Killing (1967)
Inger as Sarah Crandall and Harry Belafonte as
Ralph Burton in the end-of-the world drama, The
World, The Flesh, and The Devil (1959).
Social worker Inger accosted by gang punk Michael
Vandever in The New Intens (1965).
With “newcomer: George Segal in The New Interns
(1964).
With Henry Fonda in Firecreek (1968)
With George Peppard in House of Cards (1968).
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Publicity pose with Don Murray in the TV-movie The
Borgia Stick (1967).
With Eric Braeden on location in Mexico for the
TV-movie The Mask of Sheba (1970).
Headshot of Inger during her early MGM/Paramount
buildup (1956)
Promotional headshot of Inger used to publicize
Columbia’s The New Interns (1964).
Inger with an unusually hirsute Yul Brynner in a
publicity shot for The Buccaneer (1958).
A rare opportunity to see what Inger might have
looked like had she reached her senior years. She
and Farmer’s Daughter co-star William Windom
appear here in a 1964 dream sequence episode
entitled “Katy’s 76th Birthday”.
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In her last and arguably best film performance opposite
Anthony Quinn in A Dream of Kings (1969). Quinn directed
Inger a decade earlier in The Buccaneer and shared a
torrid, off-camera romance.
Inger stalked by “The Hitch-Hiker” (Leonard Strong) in
the classic 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone (1960).
With Harry Guardino in the hard-hitting cop drama
Madigan (1968)
Inger in Cecil B. DeMille’s remake of The Buccaneer (1958)
co-starring Charlton Heston as Gen. Andrew Jackson
Gorgeous Inger in period costume for The Buccaneer
(1958)
Relaxing on the set of Bonanza while filming a first season
episode “The Newcomers” (1959).
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linger, but the relationship seems to shift and change. You tell yourself you’ll never fall
in love that way again, but it happens. . . ”.
This destructive pattern occurred while on loan for her fourth film, MGM’s end-of-theworld drama The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) starring singer Harry Belafonte
in an impressive dramatic role. 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. The fascinating premise has underground African-American miner Ralph
Burton (Belafonte) as seemingly the only person to survive a nuclear attack in New York.
The early exteriors shots of Belafonte scouting out signs of human life in an utterly
desolate New York City are awe-inspiring and disturbing.
Halfway through the picture Belafonte comes upon another survivor, Inger’s lovely
Caucasian Sarah Crandall (who survived by staying in a decompression chamber after the
first alert), and an intriguing but uneasy relationship occurs. When another survivor
(Caucasian Mel Ferrer) surfaces as an imposing third wheel, the film begins to lose its
focus and impact and quickly nosedives into impractical melodrama. The film raised
some racial issues that then seemed to evaporate. The first half or so, however, is still
worth the price of admission and Inger was quite moving in a difficult and challenging
role.
While the actress' on-camera movie heroines thus far were often shown suffering at the
hands of a man, whether victims of fractured romances, unrequited love or physical
aggression, a real-life tragedy began to unfold. Inger’s latest affair, this time with the
already married Belafonte, ran its usual torrid course but now it was all starting to catch
up with her. What followed was a near-fatal suicide attempt from which she was not
expected to recover. Inger had swallowed an overdose of pills shortly after New Year’s
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.
By this point it was clear that Inger's addiction to on-set affairs had become extremely
destructive. They were especially dangerous for her because after the film wrapped and
the actors went their separate ways, she was again faced with reliving all the painful
feelings of the breakup of her family and lack of emotional nurturing during her
childhood. It was as if the "solution" to her emotional problems was instead building to a
deadly explosion of all the pain and abandonment she suffered as a child. She was, in
effect, trying to put out the flames by dousing them with gasoline.
Following her recovery, the actress began an intense period of self-examination with a
new drive. Refocusing intently on her career, she actively returned to TV. It became a
highly productive period as she starred in what would become one of The Twilight Zone‘s
most famous episodes. In 1960’s “The Hitch-Hiker,” Inger plays a young lady motorist
traveling cross-country who is stalked and terrified by the very same hitchhiker wherever
she goes. Elsewhere on TV, Inger shared touching scenes with sensitive hulk Dan
Blocker on the very first season of Bonanza, and went on to grace episodes of
Checkmate, Route 66, and Zane Grey Theatre, as well as a second Twilight Zone.
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Broadway welcomed her back with the lead femme role in Roman Candle, which debuted
on February 3, 1960, at the Cort Theatre. The three-act comedy by Sidney Sheldon, who
won an Oscar for writing The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer before creating TV’s I
Dream of Jeannie, co-starred Robert Sterling and Julia Meade. Inger plays a girl with
extra sensory perception who becomes entangled with both a top-secret missile program
and a handsome scientist. The welcome back was very short-lived. The comedy was
dismissed by both critics and audiences and closed after only five performances.
Another close call with death occurred in June of 1961 while on an extended European
vacation. Following a visit to her Swedish homeland, Inger continued on with stops in
Rome, Paris and Lisbon. While attempting to land in Lisbon, her plane bounced off the
runway and skidded with its nose gear collapsing, sparking a fire that quickly spread to
the passenger cabin. Inger was one of the very last passengers to exit the plane before it
exploded minutes later.
An exceptional TV role came her way
opposite Peter Falk in “The Price of
Tomatoes," a 1962 episode of The Dick
Powell Show. She co-stars as a very pregnant
Romanian girl on the run from immigration
authorities who is befriended by truck driver
Falk. Both stars earned major kudos for their
touching portrayals, including Emmy
nominations. Falk, whose role was originally
intended for Dick Powell himself, was an
Emmy winner; Inger, however, lost out to
Julie Harris’ queenly portrayal of Victoria
Regina.
Back on the comedic stage in a Chicago
production of The Voice of the Turtle, Inger
went on to replace Barbara Bel Geddes in the
New York smash Mary, Mary where she
earned the best Broadway reviews of her
career. Always keeping visible in the public
eye, she appeared readily as herself on such fun-oriented TV game and variety programs
as Truth or Consequences, Your First Impression, You Don’t Say, What’s My Line? (as a
guest panelist replacing Arlene Francis), Virginia Graham’s Girl Talk, The Today Show,
The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show. Many of these appearances were
prompted by her upcoming starring role in a prime time series.
The Farmer’s Daughter was thinly based on the disarming 1947 RKO film starring
Loretta Young and Joseph Cotton, but completely reworked to suit Inger’s gentler
comedic instincts. Taking over for the Oscar-winning Young as Katy Holstrum, the
naïve but attractive Swedish governess who wins over Washington D.C. (where the series
was filmed), Inger worked with William Windom co-starring as Katy’s boss,
Congressman Glen Morley, originally played by Cotton. Having completely lost her
Swedish accent a long time ago, Inger quickly recaptured it for the show, which
premiered on September 20, 1963, and was an instant success.
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Inger played no diva cards despite being the show’s top draw. She was compassionate,
thoughtful and highly giving to both cast and crew. Veteran character actress Cathleen
Nesbitt, who played Windom’s mother on the show, was frail and arthritic. Inger
generously saw to it that Ms. Nesbitt’s scenes were filmed first each day as the elderly
actress was easily fatigued. Inger often did her own make-up and never balked at lessthan-pleasurable conditions or situations that arose. Bill and Inger often played little gags
on each other in order to lighten up any tension on the set. Once she recalled deliberately
eating an onion sandwich just before shooting one of their kissing scenes.
TV audiences adored Inger and her popularity soared. During the show’s run she could
be found making personal appearances and granting interviews for TV Guide as well as
all the many popular fan magazines. Moreover, the blonde bouffant beauty became the
pitchwoman for Clairol’s hair products on the show. It was a joyous and productive time
for her despite the hectic scheduling and admitted lack of privacy.
Her film output, however, was a different matter. At odds with Paramount years back
after she turned down the female lead in the 1960 film Key Witness, Inger bought out her
contract in an expensive settlement agreement. She finally returned with Columbia’s
formula hospital drama The New Interns (1964) after a five-year absence. Earlier she had
lost out to Marilyn Monroe for the lead in The Misfits and the coveted role of Holly
Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which went to Audrey Hepburn and was a particular
disappointment. This sequel to The Interns (1962) smartly retained several members of
its original ensemble, including Michael Callan, Stefanie Powers, Kaye Stevens
(erroneously billed in the movie as “Kay”) and gruff veteran Telly Savalas.
With several multi-issue subplots (rape, sterility, etc.) interwoven throughout, Inger, in
typical nice girl form, plays Nancy Terman, a naïve 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). Inger’s most intense scenes involve
her kidnapping and subsequent rape by three members of Segal’s former gang and the
subsequent catatonic shock in its aftermath. Geared for the younger set, The New Interns
did not stir up any new movie offers for the actress.
Inger’s natural warmth and incandescent beauty was on full display in the TV travelogue
Inger Stevens In Sweden, an informative panoramic look at her native country. Helmed
by director/actor Don Taylor, who was simultaneously directing Inger on The Farmer’s
Daughter, the documentary began filming in September 1964 and aired in February of
1965. Among the noted Swedish interviewees were actor Max Von Sydow, former
boxing champ Ingemar Johansson, songwriter/singer Evert Taube and Prime Minister
Tage Erlander. Director Ingmar Bergman was a scheduled guest but the camera-shy icon
later declined. Whether riding a bicycle as she explored the famous historic and cultural
landmarks or conducting interviews with everybody from the rich and famous to your
average on-the-street commoner, Inger was the epitome of the perfect hostess.
The Farmer’s Daughter was a change-of-pace comedy role for the actress, who went on
to earn a Golden Globe award and Emmy nomination during its three-season run of 101
episodes. In addition, she and The Fugitive’s David Janssen were recipients of the TV
Guide Popularity Poll as “The Favorite Male (Female) Performer of the Year.” The
sitcom completely relied upon the relaxed charm and chemistry of its two stars as the
show’s comedy approach was relatively tame. Expectations of romance between Katy
and the Congressman kept loyal viewers glued to the set.
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While the steadiness of a TV series was inviting, Inger did comment in a 1964 radio
interview that it openly affected her social life. “I have learned to appreciate my free
time and I’ve learned to utilize it very well. And you appreciate your friends more when
you don’t see them so much, I think.” In the same interview she cited other creative
ways she expressed herself. She enjoyed oil painting and making/wiring lamps out of
glass and copper or brass tubing.
As viewership declined into the second season, the producers of The Farmer's Daughter
decided to have the two beloved TV characters finally declare their love for each other in
order to bolster the ratings. An estimated 28 million fans watched Katy and
Congressman Glen finally marry on November 5, 1965. Plot-wise, however, the show
had no place to go and the ratings once again plummeted. The last original episode aired
on April 22, 1966, while reruns continued until September.
As a famous TV star, Inger was now in the position to raise awareness for her various
humanitarian causes. She sponsored art exhibitions to benefit special needs children, did
volunteer work for various health centers, and was the Chairman of the California
Council for Retarded Children, which hit particularly close to home. Inger’s Aunt Karin,
who bore two children with severe disabilities, chronicled her experience in a Swedish
memoir entitled The Child in the Glass Ball. In 1966 the California governor would
appoint Inger to The Advisory Board of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, an
honor given for her pronounced dedication to working with mentally-disadvantaged
children.
The actress’s high-profile TV status had other
perks too. Her long dormant film career
began to rev up again. A string of movies
came along within a three-year stretch and, in
an effort to breakaway from her wholesome
image, she consciously sought out roles that
would emphasize her maturing sensuality.
Inger manages to show real grit in the first
movie to come along, the Civil War
vengeance tale A Time for Killing (1967).
The film's alternate title was The Long Ride
Home, which was also the name of Eddy
Arnold's tune during the opening credits.
Distributed by Columbia, the film starred
Glenn Ford and a heavily-bearded George
Hamilton as Union and Confederate
adversaries. Inger plays both a missionary
and POW camp commander Ford’s brideelect who is kidnapped by Rebel escapees as
Ford and his men give chase. Inger’s
brutalized Emily Biddle is key to the film and she manages several highly affecting
moments. A very young Harrison Ford (no relation to Glenn) can be spotted in his first
credited movie part as a Union lieutenant.
Next came the excellent TV-movie The Borgia Stick (1967) that paired the actress with
handsome, square-jawed Don Murray. A fine cat-and-mouse chase drama, Don and
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Inger are perfect in their faux husband-and-wife roles as two crime syndicate pawns who
fall in love, then try to extricate themselves from their covert existence. Often underused
as a sedentary love interest, Inger gets to better display her dramatic talents here. One
eerie scene occurs at the beginning of the movie in a funeral parlor where Murray and
Stevens are laid out in caskets.
One wishes that the actress had made more movies like 20th Century-Fox’s A Guide for
the Married Man (1967), the only comedy in her modest film repertoire. She is at her
sunniest and most vibrant here playing Ruth Manning, the practically perfect suburban
housewife unsuspecting of hubby Paul’s (Walter Matthau) roving eye. While a hidden
sadness seemed to permeate so many of Inger’s movie characters, it was a joyous change
of pace to see the actress show off her flair for the fun, lighter side.
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 Morse’s
various cheating tactics – both successful and disastrous. The absurdity of it all is that
the floppy-looking Matthau in no way rates Inger, whose figure is placed on dazzling,
bikini-wearing display here and who (to this writer) is far sexier than bump-and-grinding
Sue Ane Langdon, tawdry Elaine Devry, and the rest of the distaff cast. Critic Robert
Windeler called the comedy, “One of the funniest films of the last several seasons.”
With its subtle shades of High Noon thrown in for good measure, Firecreek (1968) is a
downbeat drama that pits pacifist James Stewart, a farmer and reluctant sheriff, against
laconic but lethal outlaw Henry Fonda. The latter is on the lam with his kill-for-hire gang
of freebooters (Jack Elam, James Best, Morgan Woodward and baby-faced Gary
Lockwood) and wreaks terror on the lethargic little town that won’t stand up for itself
until Stewart is jolted out of his cowardice. Inger appears in a secondary role as a lonely
boarding house owner who connects briefly with the equally forlorn Fonda. The climax
is worth waiting for and Ms. Stevens plays an unexpected part of it. Reviews were
mixed. While Judith Crist thought it a “satisfyingly low-keyed and absorbing western,”
the Massachusetts Film Bureau (MFB) called it a “cramped and clumsy western (that)
grinds to a standstill in its attempt to give (Firecreek) symbolic status.” In any event,
Inger is overshadowed in this picture by the male-dominated histrionics.
The same holds true with Hang ‘Em High (1968), Clint Eastwood’s first homemade
American “spaghetti western” since hitting international superstardom in Italy. It
provides solid entertainment but Inger again takes somewhat of a sidecar seat as an
embittered lady on a long-standing mission to find the men who murdered her husband
and brutally assaulted her. Primary focus lies with the squinty-eyed, lynch-scarred
Eastwood running down the illegal posse responsible for his near hanging. While Inger
shares a couple of tender moments as nursemaid to an ambushed Eastwood and engages
in a brief but lyrical love scene, it’s Eastwood’s movie. 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.”
Likewise, in the gritty Universal crime drama Madigan (1968), Inger is given only a
couple of scenes as the vulnerable, disused wife of a Brooklyn detective (Richard
Widmark) who is briefly tempted into the willing arms of fellow detective Warren
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Stevens. Unneeded for any of the New York exterior filming, Inger’s interior scenes
were all shot in Hollywood. Andrew Sarris from The Village Voice called the picture,
“the best American movie I have seen so far in 1968.” Widmark’s character was
resurrected (sans wife) for the rotating 1972 TV series NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie
that included Banacek and Cool Million.
Judith Crist deemed Paramount’s revenge western 5 Card Stud (1968) “so mediocre you
can’t get mad at it.” Gambling stud Dean Martin (who sings the lackadaisical title tune),
fancy-shootin’ preacher Robert Mitchum and typically snide Roddy McDowall offer
what modicum of interest there is. Directed by veteran Henry Hathaway and shot on
location in Durango and Mexico City, Mexico, the film is reminiscent of William
Dieterle’s Dark City (1950) with its Ten Little Indians “whodunit” plot but ultimately
lacks its style. Inger is shortchanged once again as brothel owner Lily Langford who
seems to be around solely to trade sexy repartee with Dino. The most newsworthy item
was the off-camera affair Inger had with Martin, which lasted longer than usual after the
film’s shoot. It appeared that she had obviously learned nothing from her past mistakes.
Inger turned platinum blonde and replaced a pregnant Eva Renzi in the hip and stylish
European chase thriller House of Cards (1968). This Universal picture has her playing
the constrained widow of a wealthy French general who hires nomadic writer/adventurer
George Peppard to tutor her son, then joins him in the rescue of her boy after he is
kidnapped by Fascist villain Orson Welles. The plush Roman and Parisian locations add
greatly to the Hitchcockian intrigue and accentuated Inger’s own sophisticated beauty.
One exotic scene has the two stars wading in the romantic Trevi Fountain in Rome
stealing coins in order to buy food. What should have been an exciting experience turned
into an unpleasant, shiver-inducing ordeal that took an exhausting eleven hours, and over
a three-consecutive-night period, to complete.
Chicago’s “Greektown” is celebrated in the ethnic drama A Dream of Kings (1969), a
film that reunited Inger with old Buccaneer flame Anthony Quinn. 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 community’s moral code attempting to come up with enough money to
take his terminally ill son to Greece. With Irene Pappas excellent as his plain-suffering
wife, a very breakable Inger Stevens makes all her scenes count as Anna, an emotionally
frozen baker’s widow, who is temporarily thawed out by Quinn’s lust for life and lust for
sex. Alex North’s flavorful score was a standout, and Leonard Maltin praised the film’s
vivid look and style along with its heart-rending story while once again singling out Inger
by calling her work “exceptional.”
With locations filmed in Chicago, A Dream of Kings was scheduled for only eight days of
shooting but extremely bad weather extended it to three weeks. As for Quinn, despite
their scorching love play in the film, the reunion itself was uneventful and didn’t seem to
trigger any emotional red flags. Little did anyone know that Inger’s outstanding
contribution to A Dream of Kings, one of her finest in years and one that might have been
a contender for Oscar had it received better distribution, would be her last.
Unwisely turning down Jane Fonda’s Oscar-nominated role in They Shoot Horses, Don’t
They? (she later confided to a friend, “You can’t win ‘em all, but then I don’t 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 the thoughts of
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With Bing Crosby in Man on Fire (1957)
A gracious Inger hosting a birthday party at her
Hollywood home for lovely Farmer’s Daughter co-star
Cathleen Nesbitt.
In her one and only comedy film, a scintillating Inger
tries to entice disinterested hubby Walter Matthau in A
Guide for the Married Man (1967).
Inger pitching Clairol products during her TV series
run of The Farmer’s Daughter. Largely concealed in the
photo is renowned hairstylist Leslie Blancard.
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broadening her horizons. With ideas of directing or perhaps screenwriting, she also
wished to devote more of herself to outside interests, particularly her work with specialneeds children. On that same track, she went into a decorating and antique business
venture with a friend and called the enterprise “Stevens and Cardini, Interiors and
Design,” located in Hollywood on La Cienega Boulevard.
Following her expeditionary work searching for a precious Ethiopian mask in the minimovie adventure The Mask of Sheba (1970, with Walter Pidgeon and Eric Braeden, Inger
began filming a second TV-movie, Run, Simon, Run (1970), that starred Burt Reynolds as
a formerly imprisoned Papago Indian who seeks vengeance against his brother’s killers.
The tense tale has Inger’s well-to-do social worker falling for Reynolds and aiding him in
his vigilant search. An ensuing whirlwind fling with the virile, handsome Reynolds
occurred during filming and their affair would run hot and cold.
Things were looking very promising for Inger in mid-April of 1970. She attended the
local Emmy Awards on Saturday the 18th looking as beautiful and fashionable as ever.
On top of this she was excited about a prospective new fall TV series in the offering, her
first since The Farmer’s Daughter. On the sad side, burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee
succumbed to lung cancer on April 26. Having appeared with Ms. Lee in summer stock
during the early years, Inger more recently had been a guest on Lee’s TV talk show. She
decided to attend the memorial service. On April 28, character veteran Ed Begley also
passed away. Begley appeared with Inger in the westerns Firecreek and Hang ‘Em High.
A day earlier, on Monday, April 27, Inger and Burt Reynolds had dinner with their Run,
Simon, Run producer Aaron Spelling and his wife Candy, at La Scala restaurant. The
actress was in excellent spirits and had every reason to be as they were celebrating her
signing up for Spelling’s new TV series set for September. Zig Zag (which was renamed
The Most Deadly Game when it premiered) co-starred Inger with George Maharis and
Ralph Bellamy as three highly skilled criminologists who solve atypical murders.
Promotional trailers and teasers of the three were filmed in preparation, with actual
shooting to begin on June 1st.
It was not to be. On the morning of April 30, 1970, the actress was discovered on her
kitchen floor by her housekeeper. Pronounced dead at Hollywood Hospital, Inger's cause
of death was listed as “acute barbiturate intoxication.” For all intents and purposes, Ms.
Stevens' death appeared to be a suicide but William Patterson's book does offer substitute
theories.
Following her passing, it came out in the tabloids that Inger had been secretly married for
nearly a decade to African-American Ike Jones (they wed in Tijuana, Mexico on
November 18, 1961). Jones, five years older than Inger and a former U.C.L.A. athlete
turned musician, actor, writer and producer, was once a part of Nat King Cole’s
entourage and later produced the Sammy Davis Jr. film A Man Called Adam (1966). The
career backlash suffered by Mai Britt after her marriage to Sammy Davis was reason
enough for Inger and Ike to keep their own union under wraps. They never attended
premieres or public functions together and denied all persistent rumors of marriage
throughout the decade, which must have placed insurmountable pressures on the couple.
The relationship became was fraught with tension and was marked by several
separations. At the time of Inger's death, the couple had been estranged for some time.
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The shock of Inger’s untimely death was widespread. Her suicide just did not seem to
jell with her on-screen sense and sensibility. Unlike the opaque and artificial Monroes
and Mansfields of her generation, Inger appeared genuine and far too intelligent and
unpretentious to ever fall into a blurring, destructive fusion of fact and Hollywood
fantasy. Among those who commented was Anthony Quinn, who stated, “She had
idealism and purity, and maybe she came to a sort of desperation. The great
competitiveness and phony sense of accomplishment we have here can be very
destructive.”
Inger herself was very candid about her dissatisfaction with the Hollywood game. “A
career can’t put its arms around you,” she once lamented. “You end up like Grand
Central Station with people just coming and going. And there you are, left alone.” In a
chapter dedicated to her in Kirk Crivello’s 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. I had a terrific insecurity and extreme shyness that I covered up with
coldness. Everybody thought I was a snob. I was really just plain scared.”
With no public funeral services held, according to her wishes, mourners at her May 4
memorial service included director Leo Penn, and actors Peter Falk, Beau Bridges, Jack
Warden, France Nuyen, Marge Redmond and Shelley Morrison, in addition to several
family members. Excerpts from friend and Hollywood columnist Ben Irwin’s eulogy
summed up the actress most appropriately: “[She was] essentially a hopeful and gay
human being capable of imparting that to others… For that really was what Inger was
about…honesty and love. And she spent her life working harder than most of us
practicing the first and living the second.” Jerry Lem, the primary contributor to Ms.
Stevens’ on-line memorial website, adds: “Inger remains a gifted actress, an
unforgettably beautiful woman and a kind, caring human being who lives on in our
memories. The years since her untimely death have done little to diminish the impression
she left us…Her legacy has touched our lives.”
The year 2011 marks the 41st anniversary of Inger’s death. Her contributions to
Hollywood are so much more than the personal tragedy that befell her. A strong and
consummate dramatic player as well as light comedienne, Inger Stevens deserves to be
remembered in a better and more encouraging light.
NOTE: My personal thanks to the late biographer William Patterson for sharing his
knowledge and information with me via e-mail exchanges, and to Jerry Lem who
contributed several positive notes and wonderful photos for this article.
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