Inger Stevens: 2021

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Inger's Publicity Tour to Fort Worth

Inger talks with Mrs. Flint Key at the Six Flags press luncheon.

With the premiere of The Farmer's Daughter looming in the fall of '63, Inger Stevens traveled to U.S. cities far and wide to drum up excitement for the show. On Saturday, September 7, 1963, Inger's stop was in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Press Club of Fort Worth had moved to a new 21st floor penthouse at the Blackstone Hotel and citizens celebrated its opening with special events beginning on Thursday, September 5th and ending on Saturday, September 7th. Hundreds of people, including many local political and legal notables, attended a champagne opening on Thursday evening. Friday evening's celebration focused on music provided by the Freshman Adams Combo.

Inger is interviewed by Bob Brock for the local CBS TV-Extra program.

Saturday was TV Night. With ABC-TV stars Gene Barry, Jason Evers and James Westerfield, Inger attended Saturday's Press Club events. Gene Barry's starring role in Burke's Law was set to premiere that fall of 1963 and the show would end in 1966, as The Farmer's Daughter would. James Westerfield's new series Hazel would also endure for three seasons and end in 1966. Jason Evers was in Fort Worth to promote his new series Channing, in which Evers would star as a college professor and war veteran. Channing would not survive its first season.

Gene Barry, star of Burke's Law, looks on as Inger signs the
guestbook at the Press Club.

Saturday, September 7th was a long day of press and mingling for Inger. She was at Six Flags fulfilling press luncheon obligations and signing autographs for fans from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. That evening Inger attended the dinner party at the Press Club's new location in Blackstone Hotel.

Inger at the Press Club event on Saturday evening.

The following Monday, columnist Elston Brooks wrote that when he introduced himself to Inger, he blurted, "Miss Stevens, it's only fair that I mention I've been in love with you ever since I saw you in Man on Fire."

Inger shook hands with Brooks then turned to his wife and said, "I'm so delighted to know you. I feel we should be introduced since your husband's love, though appreciated, is unrequited."

Following the long weekend's festivities and its stars' departures, Fort Worth citizens continued to celebrate what Mayor Bayard Friedman proclaimed Press Club of Fort Worth Fortnight through September 22nd.

On Friday, September 20, 1963, the first episode of The Farmer's Daughter premiered. And how did it fare? Writer Rick Du Brow wrote:

The premiere turned out a good deal better than I expected. It was very low-key...real family warmth and a bit of poignancy with the usual overbusy father and a son wanting to be closer to him. Miss Stevens radiated warmth, intelligence and loveliness as the idealistic governess who takes the congressman's son on a tour of historic Washington sites; and William Windom was excellent as the ambitious father, as was Mickey Sholdar as his boy who worships him. It is a situation show, so one shouldn't expect much—but situation shows have been much worse.

Sources:

"Big-Time Reached by Faith." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 8, 1963.

Du Brow, Rick. "Du Brow on TV." El Paso Herald-Post. September 21, 1963.

"Elston Brooks: Hearty Handshake Payoff for Unrequited Lover." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 9, 1963.

"Nite Notes." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 6, 1963.

"Press Club to Hold Dallas Night Opening." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 6, 1963.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Indomitable Inger and Her 'Post' Remarks

In early 1964, Richard Warren Lewis wrote a two-page feature on Inger that primarily focused on the challenges Inger had faced in her life up to that point.

On her family:

I witnessed an awful lot of fighting in my family. I got used to keeping things to myself and never really saying what was on my mind. I was always afraid of hurting somebody.

On her 1955 marriage to agent Anthony Soglio:

[The wedding day] was the worst day of my life. I wanted to be anyplace but where I was. I married him for a lot of the wrong reasons. I had been dating him for about eight months, and he was the only person I knew in New York. For me the whole marriage proved pretty much of a nightmare. The experience made a lasting impression on me. I still have a fear of marriage.

On her 1959 suicide attempt:

It was such a relief. At that moment I thought it was the most rational thing I'd ever done in my life. For a long time I had nobody to talk to, including the man I had been with. When I began trusting the analyst, everything came out too fast. I felt lonely and sorry for myself. I felt like I didn't quite belong in the film world, that I wasn't good enough. I was constantly getting depressed. I had made a complete mess of my emotional life by trying to be very giving to a man because I was hoping he would do the same to me. I was just screaming out for somebody to love me. I kept searching for some kind of peace and tranquility. The more I searched for it, the more holocaust there was around me. It kept getting worse. [At a New Year's Eve party] Everyone was drinking, and it became more and more depressing. Everything seemed so distorted. I felt I was on the outside looking in. All of a sudden there was only emptiness. I needed someone to talk to, but there was no one left. Then everything exploded.

On her personality:

Once I felt that I was one person at home, and the minute I stepped out the door I had to be somebody else. I had a terrible insecurity, an extreme shyness, that I covered up with coldness. Everybody thought I was a snob. I was really just plain scared...I always used to jump into friendships and give too much. You can't do that. You end up like Grand Central Station with people just coming and going. And there you are, left behind...Sometimes I wonder if being an actress is really going to be enough for me. When you're sixteen, being in show business is a very romantic notion. You dream about your pictures all over the magazines. But what you think at sixteen and what you think at twenty-nine are two different things. If I took a test, I would probably find I'm in the wrong field.

In his biography of Inger, Patterson wrote that Inger, upon learning a new word, would write the word and its definition on an index card. On the back, she would use it in a sentence. On an index card for the word 'indomitable', Inger wrote:

Inger is indomitable because of her courage and her pride.

The Oxford English Dictionary (personal sidenote: Hi, Chuck!) defines 'indomitable' as:

1. That cannot be tamed; untameable.

2. Of persons, etc.: That cannot be overcome or subdued by labour, difficulties, or opposition; unyielding; stubbornly persistent or resolute.

From her earliest days in America, attempts were made to tame Inger. A father and stepmother, both possessing more force than love, started the trend of Inger's life. That disapproving look Inger saw in her father's eyes quickly transferred to the eyes of her first husband who, too, wanted her to bend to his rule. Then came studio executives whose attempts to silence a stubbornly vocal Inger—and her independent views on Hollywood—continued for the rest of her life. In spite of this resistance—not to mention the lovers who let her down along the way—Inger took a firm stance. She remained that wonderfully unique girl named Inger Stensland.

Just two weeks before her 1959 suicide attempt, Inger told a reporter, "I just don't want to be a second anybody, only myself." At that time, another reporter in Allentown, Pennsylvania had the pleasure of meeting with Inger and wrote:

Young and pretty, and undoubtedly talented, Miss Stevens has a lot more and that is an innate intelligence that makes her a very interesting conversationalist. There was none of the vapid, trite remarks—inspired by the press agent—which so frequently provide so small a gamut of conversation with actresses and actors. Miss Stevens has very definite ideas on many things and is most convincing, too.

In a 1963 article "Inger Stevens' Dim View of Stardom and Gold," Inger criticized stars saying they "do everything for the mythical career." She elaborated:

Some people sacrifice everything to get on top of the heap. They sacrifice friendship, their own individuality, and become a slave to a career...Why kill yourself and your identity reaching for something that's not there? It's not going to make you more accepted.

As the 1960's progressed, Hollywood higher-ups maintained their efforts to keep the unyielding Inger down and columnists relentlessly pursued her in an attempt to expose a life she intended to keep private. Still, Inger, through her intelligence and generosity, made large contributions to society throughout her life and continues to impact us today. I cannot think of a person more worthy of being called indomitable.

Sources:

Finnigan, Joseph. "Inger Stevens' Dim View of Stardom and Gold." Press and Sun-Bulletin. November 24, 1963.

"Indomitable." The Oxford English Dictionary. Second Edition. Clarendon Press, 1989.

Kohl, John Y. "The Curtain Rises." The Morning Call. December 21, 1958.

Lewis, Richard Warren. "TV's Farmer's Daughter has battled death, fickle suitors, and self-doubts." Saturday Evening Post. January 4-11, 1964.

Mendlowitz, Leonard. "Wants to Be Self." Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. December 16, 1958.

Patterson, William. The Farmer's Daughter Remembered. 2000.

Friday, October 8, 2021

Inger Birthday Giveaway

In honor of the upcoming anniversary of Inger’s birth, I'm giving away 1 new paperback copy of The Farmer’s Daughter Remembered by William T. Patterson and 1 new Blu-ray disc of The World, The Flesh, and the Devil to a lucky winner! Entering the giveaway is easy. Just head over to the Inger Facebook page at Inger Stevens: A Blog Celebrating Her Life and Career | Facebook and comment on the giveaway post with the title of the Inger performance that has had the most impact on you. One winner will be selected at random and announced on Inger’s birthday (October 18). Entries accepted through October 17. Only one entry per person.

Thanks for making this online space for Inger such an enjoyable place to be!

Emily

Thursday, September 2, 2021

What Remains Behind: In Memory of Jerry Lem and the Inger Stevens Memorial Site

If you're like me, you learned new details of Inger Stevens' life through Jerry Lem's original Inger Stevens Memorial Site, first launched in 1997 by site owner Fenelon. Sadly, Jerry passed away on December 23, 2017, and his Inger website disappeared from its hosting site shortly thereafter. Currently, the only way to view Jerry's tribute to Inger is via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine; it preserves some of Jerry's work, but much of the original content cannot be accessed due to broken links and other issues.

After reading brief, often inaccurate details about Inger in books and before reading William Patterson's biography The Farmer's Daughter Remembered, it was Jerry's website that provided me with the photos and information about Inger I so desperately sought. Losing Jerry and his site in such an untimely manner was a tragic affair. The yearning I felt for his lost site was one of the catalysts to my creation of a new space for Inger online. I never knew Jerry personally, only admired his dedication to Inger from afar; however, Inger fan and Jerry's friend Steve Folkes created two Youtube videos talking about both Jerry and Inger's legacies. You can watch those and learn more about the wonderful Mr. Lem here: Part 1 and Part 2.

The Wayback Machine is a useful resource for browsing past updates of the original Inger Stevens Memorial Site, but can prove to be a bit tricky and time-consuming to navigate. As an act of admiration and gratitude to the late Jerry Lem, I wanted to include some of the photos—I was only able to save them in low resolution—as well as that site's biography on Inger here so that fans can easily discover Jerry's steadfast dedication and diligent work surrounding Inger's life. All of the photos below were originally on the Inger Stevens Memorial Site and none of them belong to me; I am only sharing them here in memory of and with abundant respect for Mr. Lem. (To any Inger fans who may have shared their collection with Jerry: If one of these photos belongs to you and you do not want me to share it here, please contact me and I will remove it.)

Click here for a PDF file of Jerry's Biography on Inger circa 2012. If you have trouble viewing the PDF online, you should be able to click the download icon at the top and view it that way.