Inger Stevens

Inger Stevens born Ingrid Stensland October 18 1934 April 30 19701 was a SwedishAmerican film television and stage actress Stevens was born in Stockholm Sweden the eldest child of Per Gustaf and Lisbet Stensland When she was six years old her mother abandoned the family taking her youngest son Peter with her Soon afterwards Stevens father moved to the United States leaving Stevens and her brother Ola in the custody of the family maidand then later with an aunt in Lidingö near Stockholm In 1944 she and her brother moved to the United States and lived with their father and his new wife in New York City where he was teaching 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 16 she ran away from home to Kansas City and worked in burlesque shows At 18 she left Kansas City to return to New York City where she worked as a chorus girl and in the Garment District while taking classes at the Actors Studio Stevens appeared on television series in commercials and in plays until she received her big break in the film Man on Fire starring Bing Crosby Roles in major films followed including a starring role opposite Harry Belafonte in 1959s The World the Flesh and the Devil but she achieved her greatest success in the television series The Farmers Daughter 19631966 with William Windom Previously Stevens had appeared in episodes of Bonanza Route 66 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour The Eleventh Hour Sam Benedict The Aquanuts 1960 TV series and The Twilight Zone Following the cancellation of The Farmers Daughter in 1966 Stevens appeared in several films A Guide for the Married Man 1967 with Walter Matthau Hang Em High with Clint Eastwood 5 Card Stud with Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum and Madigan with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark At the time of her death Stevens was attempting to revive her television career with the detective drama series The Most Deadly Game Her first husband was her agent Anthony Soglio 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 thenCalifornia 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 On the morning of April 30 1970 Stevenss sometime roommate and companion Lola McNally found her on the kitchen floor of her Hollywood Hills home According to McNally when she called Stevenss name she opened her eyes lifted her head and tried to speak but was unable to make any sound McNally told police that she had spoken to Stevens the previous night and had seen no sign 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 Stevenss death to acute barbiturate poisoning that was eventually ruled a suicide