Inger Stevens

Why is her death suspicious, OP? Didn't she finally kill herself by drinking cleaning fluid, lye, or something like that?

She was a beautiful, sad woman and died way too young, but was self-destructive for years.

Beautiful women are often troubled; being a beautiful woman doesn't guarantee happiness or love.

It's a cookbook!

Barbiturates were in her system, but like Marilyn , there were many who felt it was accidental, or ? She had just signed to do a new series for Aaron Spelling, and friends thought she was happier than she had been in a long time.

The Hitchhiker, The Lateness of The Hour were the two Twilight Zone episodes she was on and she was also on a creepy Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode too. I like her.

Besides The Farmer's Daughter, I remember her fondly as a witty guest contestant on the after-school TV quiz show You Don't Say, which was sort of a poor man's Password.

Inger had a bandage on her chin, when she was found. At a coroner's inquest, Burt Reynolds admitted he had hit her. She was found in her kitchen , and it was determined she was in the middle of making a sandwich, when she collapsed. A lot of pills were still in her esophagus, like she had tried not to swallow them. I'd say that's fairly suspicious.

Another weird Inger fact - pre "Farmer's Daughter", she had secretly married a black musician named Ike Jones. Back in that crazy time, if the network had known their pretty, blonde star was married to a black man , she would have been fired immediately. They were still married , when she died, but no one knew till after. Don't think that secret could be kept today.

I remember when Inger Stevens suddenly, unexpectedly died; I was 10 years old at the time. Yes, there was a great deal of mystery surrounding her death at the time, and this was in the days long before the Internet. The first story circulated was that Stevens had been drinking heavily, that she was on a bender, and that she had tried to drink a bottle of caustic lye. This would have been a horrible way to die, if true. This story was so pervasive in the early 70s that everyone just accepted it as the truth -- for decades, until I was in my 40s, I always recalled Inger Stevens' death as an accident or suicide by ingesting lye. I mean, I never even heard the barbiturate story until the Internet came along.

My favourite Inger Stevens film is the 1967 TV Movie The Borgia Stick. Don Murray, Fritz Wepper, Barry Nelson and the beautiful, seductive Inger.

When she was young, her parents divorced and she moved with her father to the U.S., eventually to Kansas. She basically stopped going to high school so she could perform at burlesque clubs in Kansas City, when she was as young as 14 (Wikipedia claims 16, but I know someone who was her teacher, and he says that from her first year in high school she was often a no-show). I'd say it was pretty likely she was molested or forced into sketchy work by her own father.

Curiously, on her last night on earth, she had dinner with Candy Spelling of all people. (And Aaron, and Burt Reynolds, who later told an inquest he'd hit her that night.)

Dinner with Reynolds and Spellings, No wonder she killed herself.

My family were good friends of a family in Kansas who owned a music and appliance store where Inger worked when she was in high school. They liked her and never said anything bad about her, which was a surprise, because Mrs. Conde (whose first name I have forgotten) was a very cold woman.

I just wanted to add that since the teacher I mentioned in R11 was pretty negative about Stevens, which I don't think was an accurate assessment.

Inger was one of my favorite actresses. No doubt she would have been up there in the 1970s with Burstyn, Rowlands and Fonda had she lived. Burt sounds like he was a real bastard............

I've always confused her with Jean Seberg, another suicidal blonde Viking hottie.

After reading the circumstances of her death, I think there was some kind of a cover up. She was involved with too many high profile men, and had lots of stuff going for her. Damn I think she was one of the best looking women that ever worked in Hollywood. Just doesn't add up............

OP, this thread only got 15 responses in almost five years. Why did you bump it?

[quote]On the morning of April 30, 1970, Stevens' sometime roommate and companion, Lola McNally,

That means lesbian

r17

Mrs Landers!!! The Beaver and Larry were talking after the bell rang. I told them they were not allowed to do that and just because you're not here, doesn't mean they can.

Inger left Walter Mathau unimpressed

Look at them pointy suckers

Burt Reynolds dated such a weird variety of women, and none of them looked quite the same--he liked all types. He dated neurotic insecure big-chested blondes (Inger), fucked-up kooky types (Judy Carne), driven and ambitious kooky types (Sally Field), women who looked like Barbie dolls (Loni Anderson), and the love of his life was Dinah Shore, who was old enough to be his mother and very secure. I've never thought ALL those women were beards--even if he's bisexual, some of them had to be real relationships.

It's been said he beat both Inger and Judy Carne--I wonder if he beat the others.

Burt Reynolds knows he killed her.

There were rumors that Burt killed actress Sarah MIles boyfriend/manager

surprise, surprise, pills and alcohol were found around the dead man's body too

Inger had a torrid affair with Anthony Quinn and was heartbroken when he ended it. Her last appearance was in an ABC Movie of the Week with Burt Reynolds, "Run, Simon, Run".

[quote]There were rumors that Burt killed actress Sarah MIles boyfriend/manager

Rumours? Come back when you have proof you can kill someone

Are you bigger than a breadbox?

love and miss u baby

ur face was a tonic whenever it popped up on tv

good vibes: u are awesome...

Bitch, there's only one Farmer's Daughter!

r3 If you're quoting from The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" that was Susan Cummings not Inger Stevens.

R20

Well, that's the whole point of A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN; Matthau' character has his best friend Robert Morse constantly trying to fuck around & yet, he's got the perfect wife at home.

TRIVIA: Does the pair of headboards in the bedroom scene look familiar ?

Why do they always make out nutjobs to be "troubled"? She was batshit crazy is all.

R32

Before you get so dismissive, and you're obviously highly intelligent with a vast knowledge on mental health; Inger was also known as having been a very kind, giving person. Those who knew her had nice things to say about her. She had suffered with horrible depression for years. Inger was never known to be mean, vengeful, crazy in thought nor action per se. Whether her depression was rooted in biochemistry etc...I do not know but it was a sad ending for someone with much going for her.

ps Burt Reynolds has a very mean side to him. Men do not hit women. His wife Judy Carne left him due to his physical abuse and mental cruelty. In all likelihood, Sally Field saw some of his meanness and left. She does not discuss their relationship.

She was.......

r31 kudos and a WW. That's an excellent catch on the prop bed. I never even thought to look at the headboards instead of the actresses. Particularly when Inger was doing her stretches,

I'm old enough to remember "The Farmer's Daughter" first run. The episode where she married the Congressman, William Windom, was nearly as anticipated as Rhoda's wedding years later. I also remember John Lindsay appearing on the show when he was still an actor.

Back in the 70’s, while doing extra work in New York, I met a woman who said she’d been Inger Stevens’ stand-in in “Farmer’s Daughter.”

She said Stevens had told her about her relationship with Bing Crosby, which apparently was quite romantic. One day, Crosby drove her up into the Hollywood Hills, where he walked around a construction site for a house he was having built.

Though he never said so, Stevens felt he wouldn’t have done this if he hadn’t been on the verge of proposing

The next day, she read he had married Kathryn Grant.

R37 If that is true, then Bing Crosby really was an abusive asshole! I can't understand what she would see in him to begin with.

R37

The tale I'd heard was that he'd (Bing) sent her and his right hand man to his Palm Springs home telling Inger to advise him on how she'd re-do the place. Now Inger and Bing had been casually dating. Bing had also been dating a few other women. The second night in P.S., Inger and the asst were watching the evening news on tv while eating dinner: One of the big stories that night was that Bing Crosby had eloped with Kathryn Grant and married in Las Vegas.

Crosby was a mean SOB.

Inger was also in "Madigan," a good policier with Widmark. I liked "Borgia Stick" too. Don Murray had also been opposite MM in "Bus Stop." Someone mentioned Fritz Wepper was in Borgia. That would have been before "Cabaret," where he played Berenson's boyfriend.

Good genes or good docs ?

You be the judge ...........

How many mysterious deaths has Burt Reynolds been involved in?

How about neither R41 ?

Reynolds was woman abusing piece of shit. Funny all the shit about these 70s stars like Reynolds, Ryan O Neal, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Farrah Fawcett, Raquel Welch, etc didn't come out till years later. As far as Inger Stevens goes, it sounds like probable homicide, but I think she was running around with some shady characters....same with another "suicide" around the same time-Pete Duel of Alias Smith and Jones!

That Deuel (sp?) was one cute guy.

Pete Duel needs his own death thread. Can you imagine if Pete Duel and Inger Stevens did a TV movie together? HOT.

Another female fucked up by Burt.

Sad. That followe by death is one of my favorite twilight zone episodes

R21, I've always been mystified by the "bullet-tit" pointy bras of the 1960s.

They gave such an inhuman shape.

R49

That type of brassiere actually came out in the 1940s, gaining popularity in the 50s.

everybody has it wrong. Reynolds didnt have anything to do with her death. It was the husband. Inger was a very very thrifty swede and had a lot of investments and 2 houses. The husband ended up with it all and the estate never made it out of probate. Ike hid all the assets and ended up with all of the money. He was never even a suspect. Some of Inger s friends that knew the couple knew that it was a violite relationship and Ike was not well liked by them.

I read the biography of Inger. The scene at her house on the day of her death was odd. She was in the middle of eating a favorite sandwich. She had had sex within the last 8 hrs and had an IUD still in place. Who commits suicide, but right before uses birth control and fixes themselves a sandwhich which is half eaten?? there were pills scattered all over the liiving room floor that were asthma meds. Inger didnt have asthma. They reacted in a very dangerous/deadly way to the sedatives that were in her bloodstream.

My hunch is the husband came over late the night before, they had sex and then Inger told him she wanted a divorce. Ike reacted in furry and saw his mealticket ending and killed her by forcing her to swallow the pills. I know it sounds far fetched but you have to look for motive. Inger wasnt suicidal and the circumstances dont point to suicide. Reynolds had no motive to kill her. Terrible terrible police work, typical of the LAPD at that time.

Reynolds liked "fucked-up kooky types (Judy Carne)"??? Carne was a lesbian, so I'd say Burt liked lesbians.

Inger Stevens was a fucked up bi-polar mess. That explains all of it.

Why did you bump this thread, r51?

No one killed Inger Stevens. She committed suicide.

[quote] Tried to commit suicide many times

Where do you get that from?

She once very cooly escaped from a burning jet that exploded seconds after she got off.

R54, it was in the newspaper when she died in 1970, I read it. Once she drank cleaning fluid in a suicide attempt. She was mentally ill and it was only a matter of time before she succeeded. You people try to romanticize all of this shit - the stuff of aimless teenagers trying to find something to obsess over.

Romanticize what? I asked a fucking question because I never heard about it before, I didn’t write a Sir Walter Scott-like book on the life & times of Inger Stevens.

I just saw her in a movie with Bing Crosby recently, Man On Fire. Stevens was so beautiful..Crosby was a shit in that movie. I think he played his true self. His sons hated him. I think they all committed suicide..

R57 = aimless teenager

Crosby was a thorough going asshole. Stevens was probably not a walk in the park around relationships but was well-liked by everyone who worked with her.---I wouldn't call her batshit crazy or assume she was bipolar. Dorothy Kilgallen was the bigger than a breadbox person, not Kitty Carlisle who was much more droll and on a different quiz show.

The original intro to the 1st episode of the Farmer's Daughter is online! I feel a little embarrassed for Inger--they did progressively get rid of the accent over the course of the show and she had her emmy already, so it was obvious that she could act. The cool blonde thing was passing by 1970, she would have had problems in the future with her career and I'd probably want to drink lye after dinner with the Spellings, esp. if there was a contract involved.

It's poo shoes, R53. I wouldn't be surprised if 2/3 of the posts in this thread are hers.

The cadaverous and creepy Philip Coolidge, who did a lot of Hitchcock was written out after season one.

[quote]She had had sex within the last 8 hrs and had an IUD still in place. Who commits suicide, but right before uses birth control

IUDs are put in by doctors and left for months, maybe years. She wouldn't have done any planning or inserting if she had an IUD, it would have just been there.

The old Inger Stevens website mentions a previous suicide attempt on New Year's Day 1960, which apparently made the papers, so you can surely look up more info if you need.

Sex and the Spellings--lye with vodka would sound good.

Anthony Quinn was reportedly the love of her life.

I don't recall where, but I read that Inger refused to convert to Catholicism for Crosby. If true, that may explain why he chose someone else. She also was so young. Only 22 yo to Bing's 50 or something close. Glad she didn't end up with him.

R58, I also enjoyed Man on Fire. Decent film and Inger is very appealing in it. No reason for her to be so in love with Bing in that film, but she was good nonetheless.

Given that he had the now hideous Kathryn Grant in the wings, it may not have mattered if she wanted to convert.

"I wouldn't call her batshit crazy or assume she was bipolar."

WHY? Liked by co-stars does and being bipolar are not mutually exclusive, dumb dumb.

Batshit crazy people usually have trouble managing all aspects of their lives. Mania, esp. tends to create problems at work. Know the parameters, "dumb, dumb"