Inger Stevens

She married her agent Anthony Soglio on July 9, 1955, but the marriage ended after three years on August 18, 1958.

According to sources Inger fell for her co-stars including Bing Crosby, Harry Belafonte and James Mason. She also had a brief affair with Anthony Quinn, the director of the film ‘The Buccaneer’. However, none of these relationships were successful and this left her gloomy and depressed every time.

Her companion Lola McNally found her lying on the kitchen floor of her Hollywood Hills home on the morning of April 30, 1970. She was rushed to the hospital but died on the way in ambulance. According to Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the then Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, Inger died due to "acute barbiturate poisoning".

Inger was born on October 18, 1934, in Stockholm, Sweden to Per Gustaf and Lisbet Stensland as their eldest child.

Inger often remained ill as a kid and faced a troubled childhood. When she was nine, her mother left the family for another man and her father relocated to the US leaving behind the two daughters in the care of the family maid.

The two girls were thereafter kept in the custody of an aunt in Lidingö before Inger’s father, who started teaching at Columbia University and remarried by that time, relocated the two girls to New York City in 1944.

When she was 13, Inger shifted to Manhattan, Kansas, with her father and started attending Manhattan High School. When she was 16, she ran away from home. She went to Kansas City, Missouri, where she began working in burlesque show, but her father located her and brought her back home.

After attaining 18 years of age she started performing as a chorus girl, worked in the Garment District located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City and also attended classes at the Actors Studio.

She began her showbiz career with TV series, commercials and plays. Some of her initial TV series appearances includes in ‘Kraft Television Theatre’ (1954, 1 episode), ‘Robert Montgomery Presents’ (1955, 1 episode), ‘Studio One’ (1954–1955, 3 episodes) and ‘Matinee Theatre’ (1956, 1 episode) among others.

Her breakthrough came in 1957 with her debut film ‘Man on Fire’ where she essayed the starring role of Nina Wylie opposite famous yesteryear American singer and actor Bing Crosby. Although the film failed to make a mark at the box-office, it fetched her attention as an actress.

She played the starring role of Joan Molner in the thriller film ‘Cry Terror!’ that also had James Mason and Rod Steiger in lead roles. The film released on May 2, 1958, and went on to become a commercial success. That year she also featured in the pirate film ‘The Buccaneer’ that, however, fared poorly at the box-office.

This stunning and elegant beauty garnered a nomination at the 1958 Laurel Awards in the category of ‘Top New Female Personality’.

While continuing with her big-screen endeavours, she made several TV appearances in series like ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ (1957, 1 episode), ‘Playhouse 90’ (1956–1959, 2 episodes), ‘Bonanza’ (1959, 1 episode), ‘The Twilight Zone’ (1960, 2 episodes), ‘Route 66’ (1960–1961, 2 episodes) and ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour’ (1963, 1 episode) among many others.