Inger Stevens

Inger Stevens was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the eldest child of Per Gustaf{{cite news |title=Obits {{!}} Per Stensland |newspaper=The Newtown Bee |date=August 14, 1998 |url=https://www.newtownbee.com/08111999/headline-453/ |access-date=2022-09-29}} and Lisbet Stensland.{{cite book |last=Pilato |first=Herbie J. |title=Glamour, Gidgets, and the Girl Next Door: Television's Iconic Women from the 50s, 60s, and 70s |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-58979-970-7 |page=134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FbyCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 |access-date=June 17, 2017 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |title=The Farmer's Daughter Remembered: The Biography of Actress Inger Stevens |first=William T. |last=Patterson |date=September 30, 2017 |publisher=Xlibris |isbn=978-0-7388-1192-5}}{{self-published source|date=January 2018}}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}} When she was six years old, her mother abandoned the family, taking her youngest son Peter with her. Soon after, Stevens' father moved to the United States, leaving Stevens and her brother Ola in the custody of the family maid and then later with an aunt on Lidingö,{{cite web |title=A Short Biography |first=Jerry |last=Lem |website=The Inger Stevens Memorial Site |url=http://www.ingerstevens.org/bio.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406090557/http://www.ingerstevens.org/bio.html|archive-date=2018-04-06}}{{rs|date=October 2022}} an island near Stockholm.{{cite news |last=Brumburgh |first=Gary |title=Inger Stevens: Wounded Butterfly |newspaper=Classic Images |url=http://www.classicimages.com/people/article_1e7f82c6-bac3-57e9-a1bb-2d301aee1af7.html |access-date=October 13, 2015 |archive-date=October 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026212849/http://www.classicimages.com/people/article_1e7f82c6-bac3-57e9-a1bb-2d301aee1af7.html |url-status=dead }} In 1944, Stevens and her brother moved to the United States and lived with their father and his new American wife in New York City, where her father was completing his PhD in education at Columbia University. At age 13, Stevens moved with her family to Manhattan, Kansas, where her father taught at Kansas State University. Stevens attended Manhattan High School.

At 15, Stevens fled to Kansas City, where she worked in burlesque shows.{{cite web |title=TECH 1: The Mysterious Death of Inger Stevens |last=Silverman |website=tech1tech1.blogspot.com |date=February 14, 2015 |url=https://tech1tech1.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-mysterious-death-of-inger-stevens.html}} At 18, she returned to New York City, where she worked as a chorus girl and in the Garment District while taking classes at the Actors Studio.{{Cite web |last=McOmish |first=Sorcha McCrory, Freya |date=2023-08-10 |title=What Ever Happened to Inger Stevens? |url=https://www.scandinaviastandard.com/what-ever-happened-to-inger-stevens/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Scandinavia Standard |language=en-US}}

File:Inger Stevens (cropped).jpg

Stevens appeared on television series, in commercials, and in plays until she received her big break in the film {{film show year|Man on Fire|1957}}, starring Bing Crosby.

Starring roles in major films followed, including opposite James Mason and Rod Steiger in Cry Terror! (1958) and opposite Harry Belafonte in 1959's {{film year|The World, the Flesh and the Devil|1959}}, but she achieved her greatest success in the television series The Farmer's Daughter (1963–1966) with William Windom. Previously, Stevens had appeared in episodes of Bonanza, Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Eleventh Hour, Sam Benedict, The Aquanauts, and The Twilight Zone.

Following the cancellation of The Farmer's Daughter in 1966, Stevens appeared in several films including: A Guide for the Married Man (1967), Hang 'Em High, 5 Card Stud, and Madigan (all released in 1968). Her final theatrical film was {{film show year|A Dream of Kings|1969}} opposite Anthony Quinn. Her final project was the television film, Run, Simon, Run (1970) with Burt Reynolds. At the time of her death, Stevens was attempting to revive her television career with the detective drama series The Most Deadly Game.{{Citation needed |date=December 2019}}

Stevens's first husband was her agent, Anthony Soglio,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7csXXH7S9UC&q=Inger&pg=PT104|title=Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous|first=Alan W.|last=Petrucelli|date=September 29, 2009|publisher=Penguin|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-101-14049-9}} to whom she was married from 1955 to 1957.

In January 1966, she was appointed to the advisory board of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute by California governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. She also was named chairman of the California Council for Retarded Children. Her aunt was Karin Stensland Junker, author of The Child in the Glass Ball.{{cite book|first1=Carol|last1=Turkington|first2=Ruth|last2=Anan| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-XGmKsK6ycC&q=Stensland&pg=PA301|title=The Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders|date=September 30, 2017|publisher=Infobase Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-8160-7505-8}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004225304/http://www.ingerstevens.org/children.html|url=http://www.ingerstevens.org/children.html|title=Inger and the Children|archive-date=October 4, 2017|website=www.ingerstevens.org|via=Internet Archive}}

After Stevens' death, Ike Jones, the first black graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television, alleged that he had secretly married Stevens in Mexico in 1961.{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-ike-jones-20141012-story.html |title=Ike Jones dies at 84; pioneering African American film producer |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 11, 2014}}{{cite news|last=Robinson|first=Louie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-DcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA56|title=Death of Actress Inger Stevens|date=May 21, 1970|work=Jet|page=56|via=Google Books}} Some doubted Jones' claim because of the lack of a marriage license, the maintenance of separate homes, and the filing of tax documents as single people.{{cite book|last=Austin|first=John|url= https://archive.org/details/hollywoodsbabylo00aust/|title=Hollywood's Babylon Women|chapter=Inger Stevens: Accident .. Suicide .. Or ...?|page=[https://archive.org/details/hollywoodsbabylo00aust/page/170 170]|publisher=S.P.I. Books|year=1994|isbn=978-1-56171-288-5|via=Internet Archive|access-date=July 1, 2011}} However, when Stevens' estate was being settled, her brother, Carl O. Stensland, confirmed in court that Stevens had hidden her marriage to Jones "out of fear for her career."{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22|title=Inger's Brother Backs Ike Jones' Claim on Estate|work=Jet|date=August 13, 1970|page=22|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|via=Google Books}} Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner A. Edward Nichols ruled in Jones' favor{{cite news|title=Rule Ex-Actor Mate Of Actress, She Took Own Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA23|access-date=June 17, 2017|work=Jet|date=August 20, 1970|page=23|publisher = Johnson Publishing Company}} and named him administrator of her estate.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810092022/http://www.ingerstevens.org/moreinfo.html|url=http://www.ingerstevens.org/moreinfo.html|title=April 30th, 1970 and Aftermath|website=ingerstevens.org|archive-date=August 10, 2017|via=Internet Archive}} A photograph exists of the two attending a banquet together in 1968.

On the morning of April 30, 1970, Stevens' roommate and companion Lola McNally found Stevens on the kitchen floor of her Hollywood Hills home. According to McNally, Stevens opened her eyes, lifted her head, and tried to speak, but was unable to utter any sound. McNally told police that she had spoken to Stevens the previous night and had seen no signs of trouble. 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 fresh blood oozing from a cut that appeared to have been a few hours old. Los Angeles County coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi attributed Stevens' death to "acute barbiturate poisoning"{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuW9GwAACAAJ|title=Fallen Angels: The Lives and Untimely Deaths of Fourteen Hollywood Beauties|first=Kirk|last=Crivello|date=September 30, 1988|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group Limited|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-7088-4836-4}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3rmJCgAAQBAJ&q=Inger&pg=PA301|title=Suicide in the Entertainment Industry: An Encyclopedia of 840 Twentieth Century Cases|first=David K.|last=Frasier|date=March 8, 2005|publisher=McFarland|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-4766-0807-5}} and the death was eventually ruled a suicide.

{{div col}}

• Man on Fire (1957) — Nina Wylie
• Cry Terror! (1958) — Mrs. Joan Molner
• The Buccaneer (1958) — Annette Claiborne
• The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) — Sarah Crandall
• The New Interns (1964) — Nancy Terman
• The Borgia Stick (1967, TV) — Eve Harrison
• A Guide for the Married Man (1967) — Ruth Manning
• A Time for Killing (1967) — Emily Biddle
• Firecreek (1968) — Evelyn Pittman
• Madigan (1968) — Julia Madigan
• 5 Card Stud (1968) — Lily Langford
• Hang 'Em High (1968) — Rachel Warren
• House of Cards (1968) — Anne de Villemont
• A Dream of Kings (1969) — Anna
• Run, Simon, Run (1970, TV) — Carroll Rennard

{{div col end}}

File:Rod Serling Inger Stevens Serling model airplane collection 1960.JPG's The Twilight Zone (image at his home in 1960).]]

• Kraft Television Theatre (1 episode, 1954)
• Robert Montgomery Presents (1 episode, 1955)
• Studio One (3 episodes, 1954–1955) — Lucy Henderson / Mary / Sue Ellen
• Crunch and Des (1 episode, 1956) — The Actress
• Matinee Theatre (1 episode, 1956)
• Crusader as Alicia in "The Girl Across the Hall" (CBS, 1956) — Alicia
• Conflict (1 episode, 1956) — Lady Arabella
• The Joseph Cotten Show, or On Trial (1 episode, "Law Is for the Lovers", 1956) — Ruth
• The Millionaire (1 episode, 1956) — Betty Perkins
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 2 Episode 17: "My Brother, Richard") (1957) — Laura Ross
• Climax! (1 episode, 1957) — Marge
• Playhouse 90 (2 episodes, 1956–1959) — Gail Lucas / Johanna — Chambermaid
• Bonanza (1 episode, 1959) — Emily Pennington
• Sunday Showcase (1 episode, 1959) — Nina Kay
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (1 episode, 1960) — Beth Watkins
• Moment of Fear (1 episode, 1960)
• Checkmate (1 episode, 1960) — Betty Lyons
• Hong Kong (1 episode, 1960) — Joan Blakely
• The Twilight Zone
• In "The Hitch-Hiker" Season 1 Episode 16 (CBS, 1960) — Nan Adams
• In "The Lateness of the Hour", Season 2 Episode 8 (CBS, 1960) — Jana
• Route 66 (2 episodes, 1960–1961) — Julie Brack / Wendy Durant
• The DuPont Show of the Month (1 episode, 1961) — Princess Flavia
• Adventures in Paradise (1 episode, 1961) — Dr. Britta Sjostrom
• The Aquanauts (1 episode, 1961) — Margot Allison
• The Detectives (1 episode, 1961) — Thea Templeton
• Follow the Sun (2 episodes, 1961) — Lisa Mannheim / Abby Ellis
• The Eleventh Hour (1 episode, 1962) — Christine Warren
• Sam Benedict (1 episode, 1962) — Theresa Stone
• The Dick Powell Show (2 episodes, 1962–1963) — Adele Hughes / Anna Beza
• Your First Impression (1963) — Herself
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 1 Episode 17: "Forecast: Low Clouds and Coastal Fog") — Karen Wilson
• The Nurses (1 episode, 1963) — Clarissa Robin
• Empire (1 episode, 1963) — Ellen Thompson
• The Farmer's Daughter (101 episodes, 1963–1966) — Katy Holstrum / Katy Morley / Ann Carpenter
• The Danny Kaye Show (1 episode, 1966) — Herself
• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1 episode, 1967) — Eve Harrison
• The Mask of Sheba (1970) — Sarah Kramer
• Run, Simon, Run (1970) — Carroll Rennard
• The Most Deadly Game (1 episode, 1970) — Vanessa Smith

• Debut (1956)
• Roman Candle (1960)
• Mary, Mary (1962){{IBDB name|61057}}

{{Portal|Biography|Sweden|New York (state)|Kansas|United States|California|Theatre|Film|Television}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first=William T.|last=Patterson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VmdPwAACAAJ|title=The Farmer's Daughter Remembered: The Biography of Actress Inger Stevens|year=2000|publisher=Xlibris|isbn=978-0-7388-1192-5}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20180406091816/http://ingerstevens.org/main.html Inger Stevens Memorial Site] (archived)
• {{IBDB name}}

{{Golden Globe Award Best Actress TV Comedy|state=collapsed}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Inger}}

Category:1934 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:1970 suicides

Category:Actresses from Kansas

Category:Actresses from Stockholm

Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (television) winners

Category:Drug-related suicides in California

Category:Barbiturates-related deaths

Category:People from Manhattan, Kansas

Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century Swedish women