RIP Stella Stevens

 

Stella Stevens Dies; ‘Poseidon Adventure’ Actress & Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis Co-Star Was 84

 

DEADLINE 

By Lynette Rice

February 17, 2023

 

Stella Stevens, the actress best known for her roles in The Nutty Professor and The Poseidon Adventure and starring opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, died today in Los Angeles after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

Stevens’ passing was confirmed to Deadline by her son, actor-producer Andrew Stevens, and her longtime friend John O’Brien.

A former Playboy centerfold from January 1960, Stevens was modeling in her hometown of Memphis when she was discovered and given a screen test by 20th Century Fox. She wound up under contract with Paramount and then Columbia through the ’60s, starring opposite such big names as Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, Dean Martin in How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life, Bobby Darin in Too Late Blues, Chuck Conners in Synanon and Glenn Ford in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, ADvance to the Rear and Rage.

She won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for her first film, 1959’s Say One for Me, which starred Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds. Stevens also appeared in Lil Abner that year.

She went on to play Jerry Lewis’ dream girl in The Nutty Professor and the lippy wife of Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon Adventure, the star-packed disaster movie that made more money than any movie 1972 other than The Godfather.

Her many other film credits include The Silencers, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Sol Madrid, Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! and The Secret of My Success.

Born on October 1, 1938, in Yazoo City, MI, Stevens was also a steady presence on television, appearing in dozens of TV movies and guest-starring in more than 40 series, from Bonanza and Ben Casey in the ‘60’s through The Commish and Arli$$ in the ‘90s.

For two seasons in the early ‘80s, she starred in the primetime soap Flamingo Road and later had recurring roles in Santa Barbara and General Hospital. Reportedly, Stevens came to regret her association with Playboy, finding the sexpot label confining.

“I did the best I could with the tools I had and the opportunities given me,” she was once quoted as saying. “I was a divorced mom with a toddler by the time I was 17. And Playboy did as much harm as it helped. But in spite of that rough start, I did OK.”

Along with her son, Stevens is survived by three grandchildren. She was predeceased by her longtime partner, rock musician Bob Kulick.

STEVENS, Stella (Estelle Caro Eggleston)

Born: 10/1/1938, Yazoo City, Mississippi, U.S.A.

Died: 2 /17/2023, Los Angeles, California, U.S

 

Stella Stevens’ westerns - actress

Bonanza (TV) – 1960 (Ann ‘Annie’ Croft)

Johnny Ringo (TV) – 1960 (Suzanne Crsil)

Riverboat (TV) – 1960 (Lisa Walters)

Frontier Circus (TV) – 1962 (Katy Cogswell)

Advance to the Rear – 1964 (Martha Lou Williams)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue – 1970 (Hildy)

A Town Called Hell – 1971 (Alvira)

Hec Ramsey (TV) – 1972 (Ivy Turnwright)

Honly Tonk (TV) – 1974 (Gold Dust)

Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging (TV) – 1977 (Martha McVea)

Wanted: The Sundance Woman – 1976 (Lola Wilkins)

The Oregon Trail (TV) – 1977 (Hannah Morgan)

The Manitou – 1978 (Amelia Crusoe)

No Man’s Land – 1984 (Nellie Wilder)

The Long Ride Home – 2003 (Fiona Champyon)

Hell to Pay – 2005 (Mary Potter)