Lola Albright

Lola Albright (born July 20, 1924) is an American singer and actress.

She was born Lois Jean Albright in Akron, Ohio, and worked as a model before moving to Hollywood. She began her motion picture with a bit part in the 1948 film The Pirate, and followed it with important role in the acclaimed 1949 hit Champion. For the next ten years, she appeared in secondary roles in over twenty films, including several 'B' Westerns. Albright also acted in guest roles on several television series.

In 1958, she gained the part of Edie Hart in the trend-setting Peter Gunn, a television detective series produced by Blake Edwards and directed by Robert Altman, with the theme music that made Henry Mancini famous. Albright played a nightclub singer who was the romantic interest of Peter Gunn, played by Craig Stevens. In 1959 she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series. Her role required singing and led to the 1957 release of her music album Lola Wants You, as well as her album 1959 Dreamsville, in which her songs were accompanied by Henry Mancini and his orchestra.

Albright's popularity led to several major film roles, including Elvis Presley's 1962 film, Kid Galahad, with Alain Delon, Jane Fonda's in the 1964 French film Les Felins by director René Clément, and the epic western The Way West. She appeared as Duff Daniels in the episode "Sticks and Stones Can Break My Bones" with her former Peter Gunn co-star Craig Stevens in his short-lived 1967 CBS drama Mr. Broadway.

In 1968, Albright appeared in The Impossible Years, with David Niven and Christina Ferrare, and in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? with Doris Day. She also appeared in the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour.

Albright temporarily replaced Dorothy Malone as Constance Mackenzie on the hit primetime soap opera Peyton Place, when Malone unexpectedly underwent emergency life-saving surgery. She continued to perform both in films and as a television guest actor until her retirement in the early 1980s.

Family life

Albright married three times - to Tony Martin, Jack Carson (1951-58), and Bill Chadney (1960-75).^{[citation needed]} She had no children. Chadney played the Jazz pianist in Peter Gunn as part of the house band that backed Albright's character.

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

External links

• Lola Albright at the Internet Movie Database
• Lola Albright at Allmovie