Entertainment News: Prolific Movie Star Stella Stevens Dies at 84

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LOS ANGELES – Stella Stevens had a prolific and adventurous career, especially considering all the famous co-stars and directors she encountered over her 60 year run. She began near end of the studio system in the late 1950s, and worked through the first decade of the post millennium. Stevens was 84 years old when she passed away February 17th, 2023, in her native Los Angeles.

Her leading men were as diverse as Glenn Ford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Jason Robards and Ernest Borgnine. The directors included Vincente Minnelli, Peter Bogdonovich, John Cassavetes, Sam Peckinpah and Jerry Lewis (he also directed “The Nutty Professor”).

Stella Stevens in Chicago circa 2011
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Stella was born in Mississippi as Estelle Egglston, and her family moved to Memphis soon thereafter. After an early marriage and divorce, she became interested in acting and modeling while at Memphis State University. After getting rave notices for a stage production of “Bus Stop,” she parlayed it into a contract with 20th Century Fox and her film debut “Say One for Me,” followed by the movie musical “Li’l Abner” (both in 1959). After switching studios to Paramount, she was an early celebrity to do a Playboy photo shoot in 1960, a move she said “wasn’t the best thing I did for my career.”

Her Paramount contract meant featured roles in the Jerry Lewis version of “The Nutty Professor,” alongside Elvis Presley in “Girls Girls Girls!” and Glenn Ford in the film version of “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” directed by Vincente Minnelli and also featuring Ron Howard when he was a child actor. After co-starring with Dean Martin in “The Silencers” in 1966, she moved over to episodic television, but had another memorable film role as a wise cracking survivor in “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972). Desiring to produce and direct, she was frustrated by the patriarchy in Hollywood during her era, but did helm two features, 1979’s “The American Heroine and “The Ranch” (1989).

Stella Stevens died in hospice care, after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. She is survived by her actor/producer son, Andrew Stevens.

In 2011, Photographer Joe Arce took an Exclusive Portrait of Stella Stevens, and Patrick McDonald conducted the following Interview.

HollywoodChicago.com: The film version of ‘Li’l Abner’ (1959) was famous for stories of difficulties. Did you experience a smooth production?

Stella Stevens: It seemed to be, but on that set they weren’t telling anyone what to do … we were all just doing it. I was very young at the time, and now I’m even younger. [laughs]. It was fun and good time for me, just breaking into movies.

HollywoodChicago.com: Who was more disruptive on a movie set, Elvis Presley or Jerry Lewis?

Stevens: Wow, well Jerry Lewis had written, planned and done everything in ‘The Nutty Professor,’ so it had to be perfect. I tried to be as perfect as I possibly could be, and he was very kind to me. On the set he knew exactly what he was doing, and was very proud of it … so again, it was fun and laughing the whole time.

Elvis was okay, I was never sure about him. I didn’t run up to him and say, ‘I love you’ or anything like that, but I wish I had now. [laughs] I wanted to stay professional so he would respect me. He was just so big at the time.

HollywoodChicago.com: Did posing for Playboy in 1960 create a challenge in your early career? How profound was the blowback or did it not effect anything?

Stevens: I thought the pictures were nice and good, but the main reaction I got was Io be called every female insult in the book, and many people made fun of me. I was one of the early ‘names’ to do a Playboy shoot, but if you see the actual photos there was not much shown. I thought it might hurt me, and it did a bit. In the end it was okay, but it wasn’t the best thing I did for my career.

Stella Stevens and Dean Martin in ‘The Silencers’
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

HollywoodChicago.com: You were in a classic blaxploitation film – ‘Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold’ – what do you appreciate about the decision to do the film in the retrospect of now?

Stevens: We shot it in China, and I enjoyed every moment because I got to be bad … it let everything out! [laughs] I was charged up after that. And it was different than anything else I’ve ever done, I still like it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Who was the coolest guy in the great stable of directors you worked with – George Marshall, Vincent Minnelli, Peter Bogdonovich or John Cassavetes, or anybody else?

Stevens: I hate to say just one out of all of those, because I was happy to work with all of them. They were so kind to me, so I have to say all of them.

HollywoodChicago.com: What can you tell us about classic studio actor Glenn Ford that the rest of the world doesn’t know?

Stevens: He was funny and was wonderful to work with, but he had one quirky thing also. He would just sit there and start fake crying. He would do that just for fun. I will never forget that, to see a man start crying.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which person in the industry wouldn’t take “no” for an answer when it came to seeking your charms or company?

Stella Stevens: It depends on what they wanted to do with my ‘charms.’ [laughs] They don’t say that, charms … it was more below the waist. I experienced that a lot, because they assumed I was a slut based on the work that I did. But I can fight, I know how to take care of myself, I simply had to in that environment. No one was hovering around me to protect me, I had to protect myself.

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Critic/Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com