(Above: Lynley in the 1972 hit "The Poseidon Adventure")
BY LEE PFEIFFER
Actress Carol Lynley has died from a heart attack at age 77. She began her career as a child model before gravitating to the movie industry. With her stunning looks, Lynley showed great potential in an era in which studios groomed starlets to become full-blown stars. Lynley gained fine notices for her starring role in the 1959 drama "Blue Denim" in which she and Brandon DeWilde played middle-class teenagers dealing with the secret of her unintended pregnancy in an era in which such scenarios were met with repression instead of compassion. Prominent roles followed including "Hound Dog Man", "Return to Peyton Place" and "The Last Sunset" in which she co-starred with Hollywood icons Rock Hudson and Kirk Douglas. Other major films of the 1960s include "The Stripper", "Under the Yum Yum Tree", "Shock Treatment", "The Pleasure Seekers", "The Maltese Bippy", "Danger Route" and as a memorable villainess in "Once You Kiss a Stranger..." She worked twice with mercurial director Otto Preminger during the decade, first in "The Cardinal" and next in one of her most prominent roles in "Bunny Lake is Missing". By the end of the decade, however, it was clear that her star power had diminished. Lynley came back into prominence with a major role in Irwin Allen's 1972 disaster movie blockbuster "The Poseidon Adventure" but the film didn't jump-start her career.
(Above: Lynley with Robert Vaughn in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
Lynley had always worked simultaneously in television and appeared in many hit shows including "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Run for Your Life", "The Virginian", "The Invaders","The Virginian", "The F.B.I.", "Hawaii Five-0", "Kojak", "Quincy, M.E.", "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", "Charlie's Angels" and the classic TV movie "The Night Stalker". She also appeared in a two-part episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." that was also released as the feature film "The Helicopter Spies". Lynley recently collaborated with Cinema Retro columnist Tom Lisanti on a forthcoming book about her life and career. For more click here.