In the sixties, Stella Stevens was a hot property. She was beautiful, decorative and winsomely sweet. She showed she had a talent for comedy and when given a chance, something more grittier.
Stella was born Estelle Caro Eggleston in Mississippi on 1st October 1936. Stella was married at age of 15, became a mother at 16 (the act
or Andrew Stevens) and divorced at 17. She enrolled in Memphis State College to be a doctor, but switched to modeling and acting instead. She did some modeling and a Playboy spr
ead. She was discovered modeling in the tea room of Goldsmith's Department Store in Memphis Tennessee, where a press-agent from United Artists told her if she could get to New York while he was there, he could introduce her to the executives at Twentieth Century Fox.
or Andrew Stevens) and divorced at 17. She enrolled in Memphis State College to be a doctor, but switched to modeling and acting instead. She did some modeling and a Playboy spr
ead. She was discovered modeling in the tea room of Goldsmith's Department Store in Memphis Tennessee, where a press-agent from United Artists told her if she could get to New York while he was there, he could introduce her to the executives at Twentieth Century Fox.Her movie debut was in the chorus of "Say One For Me" (1959- starring Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner) and "The Blue Angel" (1959, a remake with May Britt in the lead). She role as Appassionata Von Climax in the 1959 musical adaption from Broadway "Li'l Abner". She went back to pose for Playboy and became their Playboy Playmate of the month January 1960
. (She also appeared in their issue in 1965 and 1968).
. (She also appeared in their issue in 1965 and 1968). She popped up in some television series like "Bonanza" and "Hawaiian Eye", before given the title role "Man-TraP" (1961) a Jeffrey Hunter's alchoholic nympho wife. She was a singer in love with Bobby Darin in "Too Late Blues" (1961). She was paired off with Elvis Presley in "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962), singing the beautiful "The Nearness Of You" and with Jerry Lewis in his best madcap movie, "The Nutty Professor" (1963). S
he then went over to MGM for a pair of comedies with Glenn Ford - as his dim love interest in "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father" (1963) and as a prostitute in "Advance To The Rear" (1964). "The Secret Of My Success" (1965) was a British comedy about how three beautiful girls got rid of their partners (Shirley Jones and Honor Blackman were the other two).
he then went over to MGM for a pair of comedies with Glenn Ford - as his dim love interest in "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father" (1963) and as a prostitute in "Advance To The Rear" (1964). "The Secret Of My Success" (1965) was a British comedy about how three beautiful girls got rid of their partners (Shirley Jones and Honor Blackman were the other two).In the first of Matt Helm films starring Dean Martin, she added some spunk in to "The Silencers" (1966). She was back with Glenn Ford in the drama "Rage" (1
966) and Dean Martin in the battle of the sexes comedy, "How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life" (1968). She played a tough, free thinking nun in "Where Angels Go...Trouble Follows" (1968). There was a poor remake of the 1941's "Ladies In Retirement" called "The Mad Room" (1969) with Stella in the lead as a psychotic companion of equally looney Shelley Winters and a good role as a whore in "The Ballard Of Cable Hogue" (1970). Her next best and memorable role was in the classic disaster movies made in the seventi
es, "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) as a former tart married to cop Ernest Borgnine aboard the doomed vessel.
966) and Dean Martin in the battle of the sexes comedy, "How To Save A Marriage And Ruin Your Life" (1968). She played a tough, free thinking nun in "Where Angels Go...Trouble Follows" (1968). There was a poor remake of the 1941's "Ladies In Retirement" called "The Mad Room" (1969) with Stella in the lead as a psychotic companion of equally looney Shelley Winters and a good role as a whore in "The Ballard Of Cable Hogue" (1970). Her next best and memorable role was in the classic disaster movies made in the seventi
es, "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) as a former tart married to cop Ernest Borgnine aboard the doomed vessel.She started to be associated with television by the mid-seventies, when things were not all that promising at the movies. She was married to a corpse in "Arnold" (1973) and dealt in drugs in "Cleopatra Jones And The Casino Of Gold" (1975); Her big screen career may have slowed during that time, but she has appeared in a number of movies in every decade since she debuted.
In 1981, she produced and directed a documentary profiling a variety of women from many walks of life, entitled "The American Heroine" (1979). Her film crew was comprised largely of film students from the University of Texas at Arlington. They had first worked with Stella in 1979 when she traveled to Texas to act for them, free of charge, in a short class film they were making, entitled "Lewis," directed by a film student.
(Scanned autographed photo - property of author)
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