Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens
Stevens in 1962
Background information
Birth name	Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia
Born	August 8, 1938 (1938-08-08) (age 73)
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Traditional pop
Occupations	Actress / Singer
Years active	1955 – present
Labels	Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Pete McRae

Connie Stevens (born August 8, 1938) is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.

Early life

She was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Peter Ingoglia (known as musician Teddy Stevens) and singer Eleanor McGinley.^[1]

She adopted her father's stage name of Stevens as her own. Her parents were divorced and she lived with grandparents. and attended Catholic boarding schools.^[1] Actor John Megna was her half-brother. At the age of twelve, she witnessed a murder in Brooklyn and was sent to live in Boonville, Missouri, with family friends.^[2]

Coming from a musical family, she joined the singing group called The Foremost,^[3] in which the other three vocalists — all males — went on to fame as The Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father. When she was 16, she replaced the alto in a singing group, The Three Debs.^[3] She enrolled at a professional school (Georgia Massey's School of Song and Dance in the San Fernando Valley), sang professionally and appeared in local repertory theater.

Career

Stevens started working as a movie extra. After she'd appeared in four B movies, Jerry Lewis saw her in Dragstrip Riot and cast her in Rock-A-Bye Baby.^[4] Soon after that, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

She played 'Cricket Blake' in the popular television detective series Hawaiian Eye from 1959 to 1962,^[5] a role that made her famous. Her principal costar was Robert Conrad. In a televised interview on August 26, 2003, on CNN's Larry King Live, Stevens recounted that while on the set of Hawaiian Eye she was told she had a telephone call from Elvis Presley. "She didn't believe it, but in fact it was Elvis, who invited her to a party and said that he would come to her house and pick her up personally", and they subsequently dated.^[6]

With James Garner in Maverick (1959)

Her first album was titled Concetta (1958). She had minor single hits with the standards "Blame It On My Youth" (music by Oscar Levant and lyrics by Edward Heyman), "Looking For A Boy" (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin), and "Spring Is Here" (music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart). She appeared opposite James Garner in a comedy episode of the TV Western series Maverick entitled "Two Tickets to Ten Strike," and after making several appearances on the Warner Bros. hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip, she recorded the hit novelty song "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb" (1959), a duet with one of the stars of the program, Edward Byrnes,^[1] that reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. She and Byrnes also appeared together on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. Stevens also had hit singles as a solo artist with "Sixteen Reasons" (1960), her biggest hit, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and a minor #71 hit "Too Young to Go Steady" (1960) (music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Harold Adamson). Other single releases were "Why'd You Wanna Make Me Cry?", "Mr. Songwriter", and "Now That You've Gone".

She later starred as Wendy Conway in the television sitcom Wendy and Me (1964–1965) with George Burns, who also produced the show and played an older man who watched Wendy's exploits upstairs on the TV in his apartment,^[1] periodically commenting to the viewers about what he saw. Her other Wendy and Me costars were Ron Harper, James T. Callahan and character actor J. Pat O'Malley.

She starred in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Star-Spangled Girl with Anthony Perkins in 1966.^[7] She appeared in stage productions in summer stock, including The Wizard of Oz, Carousel Theatre, California and Any Wednesday, Melodyland, Anaheim, California.^[8]

In the 1970s, Stevens started singing the Ace Is The Place theme song on Ace Hardware TV commercials in Southern California and was a guest on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast a few times. Her risque 1976 action movie Scorchy has never been released on DVD. In the spring of 1977, Stevens appeared in one of the two pilots for The Muppet Show. She also was seen numerous times on the Bob Hope USO specials, including his Christmas Show from the Persian Gulf (1988).

Other projects

With James Garner

Among her charitable works, she founded the Windfeather project to award scholarships to Native Americans,^[1] and supports CancerGroup.com. In 1991, Stevens received the Lady of Humanities Award from Shriners Hospital and the Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Sons of Italy in Washington, DC.^[9]

Stevens developed her own cosmetic skin care product line, Forever Spring,^[1] and in the 1990s opened the Connie Stevens Garden Sanctuary Day Spa in Los Angeles.

In 1994, she issued her first recording in several years, Tradition: A Family at Christmas, along with her two daughters.^[1]

In 1997, Stevens directed, wrote, and edited a documentary entitled A Healing, about Red Cross nurses who served during the Vietnam War.^[8] The following year it won the title of Best Film at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival.

She has also made nightclub appearances and headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms.^[8] She was an occasional guest panelist on Match Game.

Her feature-length directorial debut, Saving Grace B. Jones, was released in 2009.^[2]

Personal life

Connie Stevens has been married twice: to actor James Stacy (married 1963–divorced 1967) and singer Eddie Fisher (married 1967–divorced 1969).^[1] She is the mother of actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.^[10]

She maintains homes in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs, and New York City.

Stevens has a star on the Star Walk in Palm Springs^[11], a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6249 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood and a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada^[12].

On September 23, 2005, Stevens was elected secretary-treasurer of the Screen Actors' Guild. This is the union's second-highest elected position. She succeeded James Cromwell, who did not seek re-election. Stevens began serving her two-year term on September 25.^[13]

Stevens has contributed thousands of dollars over the years to the Republican Party, including donations to the Republican Congressional Committee and to both of Arizona Senator John McCain's runs for president.^[14]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Connie Stevens

• Connie Stevens at the Internet Movie Database
• Connie Stevens at the Internet Broadway Database