Stella Stevens: We Remember for You (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] this is the actress stella stevens you'll recognize her as hildy in the ballad of cable hogue with jason robarts and linda rogo in the poseidon adventure not to mention robin gantner in girls girls girls with elvis stella stevens was born estella carro eggleston in yazoo mississippi on october the first 1938. her parents thomas and dovey carl eggleston moved to memphis tennessee when stella was four years old thomas was an insurance saleman and dovey worked as a nurse stella is an only child here she is sitting on the porch at 328 carrington road a few doors east of south highland in memphis she'll begin school at st anne's catholic on south highland stella is the third from the front seated next to the blackboard and later she will attend sacred heart on jefferson avenue in 1953 and 54. at this time she's still known as estelle eggleston here she is on her way to school at sacred heart on december the 1st 1954 at the age of 16 estella married her boyfriend 19 year old noble hermann stevens jr who worked as a memphis electrician within a year of their marriage estella and noble stevens will have a child a son they named herman andrew stevens being married and becoming pregnant she attended night classes her last year at memphis tech high school and graduated in 1955. now i graduated from memphis tech in 1962 and remember them having adult classes at night i also remember walking past sacred heart every day on my way to tech only a few blocks away after graduation she attended classes at memphis state there she became interested in acting and modeling here she is in the college play bus stop the memphis press inventor gave her a favorable review and at the same time she was modeling at the goldsmith department store tea room the story goes that a press agent from united artists told her if you could get to new york while he was still there he would introduce her to executives at 20th century fox her parents had hoped that she would get acting out of her system and settle down in memphis like she was supposed to by this time in 1957 estella had filed for divorce from noble stevens on the grounds of mental cruelty it wasn't as bad as it sounded in those days mental cruelty was commonly used for divorce there was no such thing as a non-contested divorce by 1959 now calling herself stella stevens appeared in a minor role as the chorus girl and say no for me a musical production by and starring being crosby although debbie reynolds was a star stella made a good enough impression to earn the golden globe award for new star of the year she had been given a screen test by actor dick powell who helped her secure a six-month contract with 20th century fox at 250 dollars per week her party and say no for me helps get the part of opposanada von climex in little abner it'll be the part that gets her noticed in hollywood she said that no one told her to pick up a work card so at the end of six months she couldn't show that she had worked at all so fox terminated her contract now that same year she signed a seven-year contract with paramount who had promised her a role in harlow about the actress jean harlow the role later went to carol baker in january that same year stella represented the hollywood at the inauguration of the governor of oklahoma her parents flew out to meet her in oklahoma so that she'd have a brief meeting with her son andrew stella's ex-husband noble stevens had gained custody of injury because he wanted him to have a normal life in memphis instead of hollywood in may of 1959 stella flew at night to memphis and took her son back to california she said i'm keeping him with me no matter how much trouble it causes me in july stella heard a commotion outside of andy or andrew's window and found footprints stella had the beverly hills police keep a 24-hour watch on the house nine months later on the 25th of april 1960 stella told beverly hills police that five-year-old andy was abducted from her front yard by two men in a vehicle two days later stella learned that andy was taken by his dead and was now back in memphis where he had legal custody seller made plans to fight for custody in tennessee her attorney in memphis was concerned because she had just appeared in playboy as playmate of the month in january 1960. the local paper the press senator wrote a scathing article about her appearing nude playboy had paid her 500 and promised her 2500 more if she would serve as hostess at their parties she refused in august 1961 after a two-year battle stella won custody of her now six-year-old son in tennessee court the courts gave mr stevens liberal visitation riots to see his son in 1961 through 1966 stella appeared as jane hancock in the tv show ben casey where her character emerged from a 15-year coma and formed a romance with dr casey played by vince edwards stella appeared in 153 episodes while working on being casey stella was offered the part of robin gantner in girls girls girls with elvis presley she turned the part down and paramount threatened fire for not wanting to work with elvis she eventually did the film but she said i never watched it she spent six days filming in hawaii stella said she didn't like the idea of two girls after elvis and he picks the other girl in 1962 and 63 stella did an ad for coppertone suntan lotion that gave her further magazine exposure in 1963 stella will be dolly daily in the courtship of eddie's father with glenn ford shirley jones and ronnie howard in the movie eddie ronnie howard thinks it's time that his dead glenn ford get married but he didn't like his choice of women also in 1963 stella will star with comedian jerry lewis in the nutty professor where a nutty professor discovers a brew that turns him into a suave handsome romeo when stella purdy stella stevens falls in love with the professor jerry lewis the concoction wears off at the wrong time well that's what i've been trying to get you to understand actually i've never had uh how that is uh uh what i mean is uh the next year 1964 stella along with glenn ford will be in advance to the rear a lighthearted western comedy about a union ragtag misfit group of soldiers assigned to protect the u.s treasury transport complicating their plans is martha lou williams stella stevens a confederate agent pretending to be a lady of the evening you don't know anything about me i know you're a spy that's a lot to know about somebody these days now i know where you are when i decide to marry also in 1964 stella was signed a contract with columbia pictures in april 1965 stella purchased his new home for herself and her son a gravestone at 2180 coldwater canyon drive in the exclusive district of beverly hills also in 65 and 68 stella will again be published in playboy during the 1960s stella stevens was the most photographed woman in the country during the 60s stella hired a cook and maid who called herself kitten navadoo after leaving stella's employment kitten avedu become an actress and porn star in 1966 stella will be in matt helm movie the silencers with dean martin where a retired spy is persuaded to return back to work goodbye goodbye [Music] oh please forgive me i'm sorry oh i'm sorry oh and he picks me a bloody mary with real blood in 1966 you will again appear in another movie with dean martin it's called how to save your marriage and ruin your life [Music] of course you got to tell her the way to rush color in the morning how to save a marriage and ruin your life well i don't know why i bothered to stay on as your mistress you are not my mistress it's over i sent you that note i am not a public utility you can turn off with a note just stop yelling you wanted me you've got me until i'm ready to call it off in 1969 stella will star in the mad room with her real life lover actor skip ward their romance began in 1967 and lasted one year after the mad room and will end in 1970. also in 1969 stella will send her son andy back to his grandparents in memphis until police find the killer of sharon tate and her house guests hollywood stars was all in a panic thinking they might be next things went back to normal after charles manson and the manson family was arrested and prosecuted the next year in 1970 stella played hildy in one of my favorite movies the ballad of cable hogue with jason robarts this time director sam peckenpaul steps out of his usual gender of western violence to a comic trail about a hobo prospector who's left in the desert for dead while crawling out of the desert he discovers water more valuable than gold ain't had no water since yesterday lord getting a little thirsty just thought i'd mention it amen hildy the town prostitute becomes more than the usual hooker with a good heart she becomes the first woman live west of the pecos and the scene where cable traps his old enemies struther martin and lq jones and a hole and throws rattlesnakes in on them is priceless where is he well why in the hell don't you take a look now what's he up to oh my god [Music] i'm leaving this place not without me hold up there boys and paul filmed the movie cable hogue in the nevada desert when they were unable to film because of bad weather they would all go to the local bar and ran up a 70 thousand dollar bar bill the filming went 19 days over schedule and three million dollars over budget warner brothers fired pecking paul without knowing that cable hogue will eventually make money and peck and paul will be praised for his direction it will also become one of jason robarts and stella stevens best pictures stella said that the boys were disappointed when the girls cast arrived in the desert they wanted to drink all night and work all day they wanted to smoke drank chew and pee out the window to show how macho there was so the girls had to all stay together in a group in 1972 zela will play linda rogo in the poseidon adventure a story about passengers on the ocean ladder that turns upside down from an underground earthquake that's just one more door and we're home there it is mr robo just like i told you come on bastard was right [Music] the director made sure he filmed stella climbing a ladder with everyone looking up in 1975 stella played as lucky in las vegas lady with stuart whitman as vic lucky and two girlfriends plan a heist from a las vegas casino this will be the first of four films that stella will be in with her son andrew stevens andrew in real life becomes an executive producer actor and director he'll be president of an entertainment group that will produce over 200 films in 1978 andrew met actress kate jackson he was 23 and she was 29. stella said that kate seemed to love her son and i know he loves her however the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1981. in 1976 stella bought a 101 acre ranch in metro valley on eastern edge of the cascade mountains near the town of twist washington although stella's name through her career has been connected romantically with several actors in 1983 while working on a film she met her long-time love rock guitarist and producer bob kolick they will live together in stella's beverly hills home over the next 30-something years in 1988 stella will sell her ranch in washington and in 1989 she will direct her son andrew in the ranch when jack played by andrew quits the agency things haven't been quite the same now they want him back and this time he's going after the man responsible for ruining his life even if it kills him in the process also in 1989 through 1990 stella will play the part of phyllis blake in 66 episodes of the tv soap opera santa barbara the next year on april the 12th stella's 80 year old dad thomas eggleston passed away leaving his wife debbie his daughter stella and grandson andrew stella will continue to act for the next few years but she took small parts and didn't have the interest that she once had on may the 1st 2002 stella will lose her mother dovey estella carroll eggleston three years after losing her mother stella will receive the real cowboy silver spur award for her contributions to westerns sometime around 2011 or 12 stella began having problems speaking and putting her thoughts into words as time went on her problems got worse bob kolick took care of her as long as he could but it became a 24-hour seven-day-a-week job she had been diagnosed with dementia and alzheimer's in early 2015 her beverly hills home that she had owned since 1965 was sold stella was placed by her family in a facility in los angeles that specialized in memory loss her greatest fear they said was that she might wander off and not know how to get back or just walk into the traffic along with her son andrew and family bob kolick visited stella often until his death in 2020 at the age of 70. although estelle cargo eggleston actress stella stevens is in the throes of the dreaded disease of alzheimer's she's unaware of her many achievements that she made in the movie business but we her many fans who still watch and enjoy her films we will remember you and remember for you stella stevens [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 186,466

Keywords:

Id: JWh2pSBx5bU

Length: 21min 58sec (1318 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 31 2022