Stella Stevens

Stella Stevens (born Estelle Caro Eggleston; October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023) including regular soap opera roles as Lute-Mae Sanders on Flamingo Road (1980-82) and Phyllis Blake on Santa Barbara (1989-90). In addition to her acting work, she appeared in three Playboy Pictorials and was named Playmate of the Month for January 1960.

She was the mother of actor-turned-producer Andrew Stevens and the longtime partner of rock guitarist Bob Kulick.

Early life Stevens was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, the only child of Thomas Ellett Eggleston, an insurance salesman, and his wife, Estelle (née Caro) Eggleston, a nurse who was sometimes called by the nickname "Dovey". One of the younger Estelle Eggleston's great-grandfathers was Henry Clay Tyler, an early settler from Boston and a jeweler who gave the Yazoo City courthouse cupola its clock.

When Stevens was four, her parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee; they lived on Carrington Road, near Highland Street, in the city. She attended St. Anne's Catholic School which is on Highland Street and Sacred Heart School on Jefferson Avenue graduating from high school in 1955 at the Memphis Evening School at Memphis Technical High School.

At age 16, she married electrician Noble Herman Stephens, on December 3, 1954, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. They moved to Memphis, where their only child, Herman Andrew Stephens (later Andrew Stevens) was born. The couple divorced in 1957.

While studying at Memphis State University, Stevens became interested in acting and modeling. According to her official biography, "Her schooling in Memphis included a couple of years at Memphis State University, where she was noticed in the school play Bus Stop. The Memphis Press-Scimitar review of that performance in Memphis sparked her career."

Film career

Stevens was modelling and working for Goldsmith's department store in Memphis when she signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1958 with Buddy Adler and Dick Powell considering her for a film based on the life of Jean Harlow. She made her film debut in Say One for Me (1959), a modest musical produced by and starring Bing Crosby, appearing in the minor role of a chorus girl. Stevens' contract with Fox was dropped after six months. After winning the role of Appassionata Von Climax in the musical Li'l Abner (1959), she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures (1959-1963).

In 1961, she starred opposite Bobby Darin in John Cassavetes' Too Late Blues, and in 1962, she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!.

In 1963 she appeared in two successful comedy films: The Nutty Professor starring comedian Jerry Lewis, where she plays his student and love interest Stella Purdy, and in Vincente Minnelli's The Courtship of Eddie's Father, playing the would-be "Miss Montana" beauty queen.

In 1964, she signed a four-year contract with Columbia Pictures.

In 1970, Stevens starred opposite Jason Robards in Sam Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue, for which she received positive reviews. In his review in The New York Times, Roger Greenspun wrote, "But it is Stella Stevens, at last in a role good enough for her, who most wonderfully sustains and enlightens the action." In 1972, she co-starred with Jim Brown in the blaxploitation movie Slaughter, later in the year costarring in Irwin Allen's hugely successful disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, starring Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall, Red Buttons, Arthur O'Connell and Shelley Winters. Stevens played the role of Linda Rogo, the "refreshingly outspoken" ex-prostitute wife of Borgnine's character. In 1986, she appeared in Monster in the Closet.

Although she continued to appear in feature films for the next four decades, Stevens shifted the focus of her career to television series, miniseries, and telemovies.

Television career

Stevens appeared in several top television series in the 1960s, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960), General Electric Theater (1960, 1961), and Ben Casey (1964). One of her earliest television appearances was in a critically acclaimed 1960 episode of Bonanza, "Silent Thunder"; she played a deaf-mute.

In the early 1970s, she began working regularly on television series, miniseries, and movies. She appeared in episodes of popular series such as Ghost Story (TV series) (1972), Banacek (1973) and Police Story (1975), as well as the pilot films for Wonder Woman (1975), The Love Boat (1977), and Hart to Hart (1979). In 1979, she appeared along with her son Andrew Stevens in The Oregon Trail (1977) episode "Hannah's Girl".

During the 1980s, she continued to work regularly on series including Newhart (1983), The Love Boat (1983), Fantasy Island (1983), Highway to Heaven (1984), Night Court (1984), Murder, She Wrote (1985), Magnum, P.I. (1986), and Father Dowling Mysteries (1987). Stevens appears in 34 episodes of the primetime soap opera Flamingo Road (1981–82), as Lute-Mae Sanders, the former madam of a brothel. During a 1988 interview she commented on her role as a madam in Flamingo Road, saying that, "The truth of the matter is that I've always been type cast, but I don't mind because hookers are among the few roles that require glamorous wardrobes, feathers and jewelry."

Speaking about her Playboy features, Stevens told The New York Times, "If you've got ten million people seeing you in a layout like that ... and half of them remember the name 'Stella Stevens', they'll buy tickets for your movies." Following her divorce she changed the spelling of her last name to 'Stevens' and left her son in the custody of her parents while she sought out a successful acting career. In the years following, she and her former husband engaged in a custody battle for their son, with each party accusing the other of kidnapping, before Stevens finally won full custody. She also opened an art gallery and bakery in the nearby small town of Twisp, Washington. In March 2016, Kulick and Stevens sold her longtime Beverly Hills home, and she moved to a long-term Alzheimer's care facility in Los Angeles. Kulick often visited her there until his death on May 28, 2020.

Death Stevens died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in Los Angeles on February 17, 2023, at the age of 84.

Filmography

Films Say One for Me (1959) as Chorine The Blue Angel (1959) as Chorus Girl (uncredited) Li'l Abner (1959) as Appassionata Von Climax Man-Trap (1961) as Nina Jameson Too Late Blues (1961) as Jess Polanski Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) as Robin Gantner The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) as Dollye Daly The Nutty Professor (1963) as Stella Purdy Advance to the Rear (1964) as Martha Lou Williams Synanon (1965) as Joaney Adamic The Secret of My Success (1966) as Violet Lawson The Silencers (1966) as Gail Hendricks Rage (1966) as Perla How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968) as Carol Corman Sol Madrid (1968) as Stacey Woodward Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968) as Sister George The Mad Room (1969) as Ellen Hardy The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) as Hildy A Town Called Bastard (1971) as Alvira Stand Up and Be Counted (1972) as Yvonne Kellerman Slaughter (1972) as Ann The Poseidon Adventure (1972) as Linda Rogo Arnold (1973) as Karen Las Vegas Lady (1975) as Lucky Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975) as Bianca Javin / Dragon Lady Nickelodeon (1976) as Screen Queen The Manitou (1978) as Amelia Crusoe Wacko (1982) as Mrs. Doctor Graves Mister Deathman (1983) as Liz Ladies Night (1983) as Shelly Chained Heat (1983) as Captain Taylor The Longshot (1986) as Nicki Dixon Monster in the Closet (1986) as Margo Down the Drain (1990) as Sophia Mom (1990) as Beverly Hills The Terror Within II (1991) as Kara Last Call (1991) as Betty The Nutt House (1992) as Mrs. Robinson Exiled in America (1992) as Sonny Moore South Beach (1992) as Nancy Little Devils: The Birth (1993) as Mrs. Clara Madison Eye of the Stranger (1993) as Doc Hard Drive (1994) as Susan Point of Seduction: Body Chemistry III (1994, Video) as Frannie Sibley Molly & Gina (1994) as Mrs. Sweeny Illicit Dreams (1994) as Cicily The Granny (1995, Video) as Granny Body Chemistry 4: Full Exposure (1995, Video) as Fran Sibley Star Hunter (1995, Video) as Mrs. March Virtual Combat (1995, Video) as Mary Invisible Mom (1996, Video) as Mrs. Herbert Pringle Bikini Hotel (1997) as Gail Regent Size 'Em Up (2001) The Long Ride Home (2003) as Fiona Champyon Blessed (2004) as Betty Glass Trap (2005) as Joan Highsmith Hell to Pay (2005) as Mary Potter Popstar (2005) as Henrietta Megaconda (2010) as Mary Jane, (final film role)

Television

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 5 Episode 23: "Craig's Will") as Judy Johnny Ringo (1960, Episode: "Uncertain Vengeance") as Suzanne Crale Hawaiian Eye (1960, Episode: "Kakua Woman") as Carol Judd Bonanza (1960, Episode: "Silent Thunder") as Ann 'Annie' Croft Riverboat (1960, Episode: "Zigzag") as Lisa Walters General Electric Theater (1960, Episode: "The Graduation Dress") as Laura Jericho General Electric Theater (1961, Episode: "The Great Alberti") as May Alberti Follow the Sun (1961, Episode: "Conspiracy of Silence") as Linda Laurence Frontier Circus (1962, Episode: "The Balloon Girl") as Katy Cogswell Ben Casey (1964, 5 episodes) as Jane Hancock In Broad Daylight (1971, TV Movie) as Elizabeth Chappel Ghost Story (1972, Episode: "The Dead We Leave Behind") as Joanna Brent Hec Ramsey (1972, Episode: "Hangman's Wages") as Ivy Turnwright Climb an Angry Mountain (1972, TV Movie) as Sheila Chilko Banacek (1973, Episode: "Ten Thousand Dollars a Page") as Jill Hammond Linda (1973, TV Movie) as Linda Reston Honky Tonk (1974, TV Movie) as Gold Dust The Day the Earth Moved (1974, TV Movie) as Kate Barker Police Story (1975, Episode: "The Losing Game") as Margaret Case Wonder Woman (1975, TV pilot The New Original Wonder Woman as Marcia Kiss Me, Kill Me (1976, TV Movie) as Stella Stafford Wanted: The Sundance Woman (1976, TV Movie) as Lola Wilkins The Love Boat (1977, TV movie, pilot) Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging (1977, TV Movie) as Martha McVea Murder in Peyton Place (1977, TV Movie) as Stella Chernak The Night They Took Miss Beautiful (1977, TV Movie) as Kate Malloy The Oregon Trail (1977, Episode: "Hannah's Girl", appears with her son, Andrew Stevens) as Hannah Morgan The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978, Pilot: "Nightmare at Pendragon Castle") as Gwynneth Nukem The Jordan Chance (1978, TV Movie) as Verna Stewart Cruise Into Terror (1978, TV Movie) as Marilyn Magnesun Friendships, Secrets and Lies (1979, TV Movie) as Edyth Hart to Hart (1979, Episode: "Express to Terror") as Dr. Fleming The French Atlantic Affair (1979), miniseries Make Me an Offer (1980, TV Movie) as Deidre Price Flamingo Road (1980–1982, 34 episodes) as Lute-Mae Sanders Children of Divorce (1980, TV Movie) as Sherry Malik Twirl (1981, TV Movie) as Carolyn Moore Matt Houston (1983, Episode: "Whose Party Is It Anyway?") as Clover McKenna The Love Boat (1983, 3 episodes) as Toni Cooper / Kathy Costello / Leonara Klopman Women of San Quentin (1983, TV Movie) as Lieutenant Janet Alexander Newhart (1983, 2 episodes) as Erica Chase Fantasy Island (1983, 2 episodes) as Marion Sommers / Maatira Amazons (1984, TV Movie) as Kathryn Lundquist No Man's Land (1984, TV Movie) as Nellie Wilder Hotel (1984, Episode: "Flesh and Blood") as Rita DeLaine Highway to Heaven (1984, Episode: "Help Wanted: Angel") as Stella Night Court (1984, Episode: "Harry and the Madam") as Irene Danbury Murder, She Wrote (1985, Episode: "Funeral at Fifty-Mile") as Sally Mestin A Masterpiece of Murder (1986, TV Movie) as Della Vance / Deb Potts Magnum, P.I. (1986, Episode: "Find Me a Rainbow") as Loretta "Lolly" Zachary van der Post The History of White People in America: Volume II (1986, TV Movie) Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Natica Jackson (1987, TV Movie) as Mimi Carteret Adventures Beyond Belief (1987, TV Movie) as Mrs. Loretta Kemble Tales from the Hollywood Hills: A Table at Ciro's (1987, TV Movie) as Mimi Carteret Father Dowling Mysteries (1987, "Fatal Confession") as Katherine 'Kate' St. Urban Man Against the Mob (1988, TV Movie) as Joey Day Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1988, Episode: "Twist") as Georgia Brooks Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989, TV Movie) as Sandra Summers Santa Barbara (1989–1990, 66 episodes) as Phyllis Blake Dream On (1990, Episode: "Over Your Dead Body") as Lyla Murphy In the Heat of the Night (1991, Episode: "A Woman Much Admired") as Georgia Farren Dangerous Curves (1992, Episode: "In the Name of Love") as Muffy Fuller The Commish (1993, Episode: "Eastbridge Boulevard") as Donna DeVries Burke's Law (1994, Episode: "Who Killed the Romance?") as Candice Collier Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women (1994, TV Movie) as Lawanda Highlander: The Series (1995, Episode: "Vendetta") as Margaret Lang Dave's World (1995, Episode: "The Mommies") as Dave's Mother Subliminal Seduction (1996, TV Movie) as Mrs. Beecham Renegade (1996, Episode: "Love Hurts") as Amanda Sixkiller Arli$$ (1996, Episode: "What About the Fans?") as Flora Lansing Silk Stalkings (1996, Episode: "When She Was Bad") as Mrs. Morton In Cold Blood (1996, 2 episodes) as Hotel Keeper General Hospital (1996-1999) The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997, TV Movie) as Josephine 'Mama Jo' Max Nash Bridges (1997, Episode: "Deliverance") as Suzie Dupree The Christmas List (1997, TV Movie) as Natalie Parris Viper (1998, Episode: "The Getaway") as Lorraine By Dawn's Early Light (2000, TV Movie) as Eli Strip Mall (2001, 5 episodes) as Doreen Krudup Twenty Good Years (2006, Episode: "The Crying Game") as Martha

Video game Phantasmagoria (1995) As director The American Heroine (1979) The Ranch (1989)