Inger Stevens: Tragic Beauty Lostby Marjorie Dorfman | More from this Blogger
Her career blossomed through television commercials and summer stock, and she made her film debut at the age of 22 opposite Bing Crosby in "Man On Fire" (1957). She was known to have affairs with most of her co-stars, including James Mason, Anthony Quinn, Bing Crosby, Burt Reynolds and Harry Belafonte. Constantly looking for love and validation, she spiraled destructively towards suicide, her first attempt made on New Years Day, 1959. She rallied and moved on to the Broadway lead in "Roman Candle" and an Emmy-nominated role opposite Peter Falk in "The Price of Tomatoes." She got the lead in a series called "The Farmer's Daughter" in 1963, which lasted for three seasons and earned her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. In all of her roles as well as in her private life, a sadness prevailed that overtook her life and thought. She was highly successful and very talented, but she could find no emotional anchor, no inner peace of mind. She was married twice in her short lifetime; once to her first agent, Anthony Soglio, and secretly since 1961 to African-American actor, Ike Jones. She took her own life at the age of thirty-five, with an overdose of barbituates on April 30, 1970. What are some of YOUR favorite Inger Stevens performances? Learn more about Marjorie Dorfman  Marjorie Dorfman is a freelance writer and former teacher originally from Brooklyn, New York. Relevantpopular culture tags |
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Inger Stensland was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 18, 1934, the eldest of three children. Her childhood was rather bleak, accentuated by the fact that her mother abandoned the family for another man when Inger was only six years of age. Reputedly, this painfully shy and sensitive child was drawn to acting after watching her father perform in amateur theater productions. Her father moved to the United States, remarried, and in 1944, summoned his children to America to join him and his new bride. Inger did not fit in, and tensions ran supreme, so much so that she ran away from home as a teenager and ended up in a burlesque chorus line. Her father found her and brought her home. She finished high school, and afterwards made her way to New York, working briefly as a model while studying at the Actor's Studio.
