Inger Stevens in Sweden (1965)

I had the chance to watch the 1965 documentary Inger Stevens in Sweden in the Library of Congress archives last year. Actually, I watched it twice—once for pleasure and once more for pleasure and note-taking so that I could share a full summary with you. To be honest, I would have enjoyed watching it a thousand times. Some of the photographs from my collection that I'm using in this post are in full color, but the video itself is in black and white. I have added some of my own observations and extra information and placed those in parenthesis throughout the summary.  Following the summary, you'll find behind-the-scenes facts and press responses.

The Documentary

Inger exits a plane and remarks that "the world is smaller than ever. Our understanding between people is more important now than ever before." As she introduces the film, Inger says she was only twelve years old when she left Sweden. (She was actually nine years old when she arrived in America in July 1944.)

Inger takes direction from Don Taylor during filming.

Walking down the cobblestone streets of the old town, Inger says, "People say these streets put their arms around you. I agree." Inger hears the chimes of St. Gertrude and travels down Priest Street. She notices that many of the businesses have closed so that the owners can go fishing and explains that in Sweden, "Time to live is more important than time to make money." Inger then has coffee with a local woman named Vera Siocrona, who helped preserve the town's history. As they sit at an outdoor cafe, they discuss Queen Christina and how she gave away houses to her lovers. On the street, the camera zooms in and Inger humorously reflects on the conservative fashion choices of the male and female residents.

Next, Inger is sitting poolside with boxer Ingemar Johansson outside of a Stockholm hotel. She asks him for his opinions on America and American women. When Ingemar responds that American women are "spoiled", Inger asks "In what way?" "Now you really got me!", Ingemar laughs as he explains that he finds it odd that men must wait for women to exit elevators first and that women expect men to open their car doors. When Ingemar says women shouldn't wait for a man to open the door, Inger smiles and responds much like Katy Holstrum with a Swedish "Ja? Why not?" She lights up and responds, "That's right" about women exiting elevators first. Showing she enjoys American customs, Inger states, "I like that you wait. I mean there are so few nice things left." (A girlish and charming Inger saying "I mean there are so few nice things left" is my favorite line of the film. I cannot tell you how many times I've used it in my own conversations since. I cannot emphasize just how charming, kind, and friendly appears in each of her conversations throughout the documentary.)

Inger and Ingemar talk about American and Swedish customs.

When asked whether he prefers Swedish or American girls, Ingemar answers that Swedish girls are superior. Inger quickly asserts that she is very much a Swedish girl. (Later, Inger would say that she “would’ve preferred to discuss Swedish men but that wasn’t in the script.”) Inger says, "It's wonderful to be back in Sweden...a peaceful feeling. Sweden represents all the inside feelings." Curiously, Inger also shares, "My family is here. I have no family that live in the United States." (Inger, of course, had many relatives including her mother and siblings in Sweden. But she also had a father, stepmother, brother, and half-sister that lived in America. Though she had strained relations with her father and stepmother, it was still shocking to hear her erase her connection to her family in America.)

In the hotel scene with Ingemar, Inger recalls her Swedish childhood. She says that she lived just three blocks from the hotel as a child and thought that the hotel was enormous, too grand for her. She shares that she was more comfortable in the farm and country and always "longed to be up in the woods."

At one point, Inger asks Ingemar if he thinks "In US they say things they don't mean or words become meaningless?" (Inger often brings this point about insincerity up in interviews throughout her career. Typically, she remarks on this insincerity permeating the culture of entertainers.)

Inger waits to shoot a scene.

In the scene that follows, Inger looks at sculptures in Millesgården. (She later remarked, "The day we spent filming there is one I’ll never forget. It’s almost incredible loveliness is difficult to put into words.") Inger then boards a water taxi. The boat's tour guide is sixteen-year-old Peter who works on his summer break. Peter takes a seat by Inger and tells her he would like to become a psychiatrist. Inger asks if he hopes to help people and he answers that he does plus he'd like the money associated with it. The money answer makes Inger laugh. Inger is amused when Peter tells her he has ten girlfriends, all in different locations and unaware of each other's existence.

Inger amused with tour guide Peter's answers

Actor Max von Sydow joins Inger for a car ride to the Royal Palace. We learn that the royal family only lives in the palace during the Christmas season. They stroll through a garden then enter the Drottingholm Theater which Max explains is now "used as storage for a lot of unimportant things." Inger is awed by the theater. As they speak, Inger cannot keep her eyes from taking in the magnificent ceiling, exclaiming breathlessly, "Oh, it's amazing!" (Inger was equally awed by Max, writing in a letter that he was "that kind of man, a Prince Charming, but nothing put on. He is entirely simple, gentle and direct and interested in you. There is a wonderful purity to him. He's terribly sexy, too.")

In a brief transition, Inger can be seen eating a hot dog while wearing an evening gown as she talks about nightlife in Sweden.

In daylight, Inger watches kids play in a park. All the kids gather round as Inger shares a story in Swedish (months before, she had told reporters that she hoped to read a Swedish fairytale) and teaches them to say in English, "I want a drink of water."

Inger visits the workshop of artist Bo Besko. Besko shows Inger his stained glass and they remark that making your own glass is like making pancakes. Inger tells Bo that they have a special connection: Bo's father, when a clergyman, actually confirmed her mother. Inger and Bo take a look at fish being sold from the fish peddler's truck and discuss Sweden's history. They look at a castle's ruins and Bo asks, "You want to keep Sweden the way it is, don't you?" and Inger answers, "Oh, yes."

Inger with Bo Besko

Following the art segment with Mr. Besko, Inger sits down with Prime Minister Tage Erlander who served as the country's leader from 1946 to 1969. They converse about his policies and hope for the future. Erlander states that he regrets Inger left the country and Inger, almost apologetically, relays the oft-told story, "My father received a Fulbright scholarship and went to America. I was only twelve years old." (In truth, Inger's father did come to America for academic study, but the Fulbright scholarship did not exist until several years after his arrival. As mentioned earlier, Inger often changes her age of arrival in America. In this documentary, Inger says that she was twelve. In reality, she was just nine years old.) As she speaks with the Erlander, Inger stands by her decision to remain in the United States, stating, "I think it is very nice that Swedes are all over the world."

Inger in Sweden

Dalarna

Inger explores her home county of Dalarna. Admiring children in traditional garb, Inger trades in her high heels for a pair of wooden shoes. She rides a bicycle through the woods, where, as a child, she learned "the wonder of nature. I loved the sounds and music of the forest." Inger passes a waterfall that she recalls was "her sanctuary" and then enters the school she attended as a girl. In an emotionally moving scene, Inger walks into a small church and recalls Christmas services she attended with her family. She remembers that there was "always an inner warmth, a warmth I'll never forget of the whole family being together at Christmas." The documentary ends with Inger concluding that home will always be Dalarna.

Inger in the Dalarna nature scenes at Lake Siljan.

Behind the Scenes

The shoot was exhausting for Inger. In letters, she wrote of her lack of sleep, that they filmed seven days a week, and that everything seemed to go wrong. Rain ruined much of the shooting schedule and any fun that could have taken place on the weekends. Scenes with Max von Sydow had to be reshot when they realized there had been no film in the camera. Her professional hair dryer mysteriously disappeared from the hotel and a mouse kept her awake.  In letters, Inger wrote:

Life after work is rather normal—shove food down, fall exhausted into bed, get up and sit in the living room since you can't get to sleep and boom!—there's a mouse behind the wastebasket.

Most things that can go wrong have gone wrong, including the worst offense in "filmdom"—no film in the camera. 

It's no wonder that an exhausted Inger was sick with pneumonia as soon as she returned to the U.S. She was a trooper though, calling the situations "exasperating, but you learn to shut yourself off. And when you really boil, hunt for something funny—it's the only saver."

Much of the travelogue focuses on the interesting personalities of the Swedish people. This pleased Inger, who said she felt "more like a peasant girl than a sophisticated American." She said, "I really want to tell about the people. I think some Americans still believe we're going about in costumes at home. We hope to get away from that level if possible."

Inger speaks to her mother upon arrival in Sweden.

Inger had serious reservations about the reception she would receive by her family, who she'd only visited a handful of times since her childhood, and the Swedish people. She said:

I felt a little funny about it, too. After being in America for so long and then coming over to do a special on Sweden—they could have resented that, I think, but they didn't. I cried a little when I saw my mother. Then all the photographers wanted me to cry for them. How do you cry when you have already finished crying?...I was hoping to take my mother to Paris or London on weekends, but bad weather forced us to work whenever the sun came out, so there wasn't any vacation.

While I was walking with Max von Sydow at the old theater the other day, I looked up and saw a young man with two children. He was pushing a baby carriage. "Hey!" I hollered and jumped over a hedge and grabbed him. It was my brother. I've been so busy I haven't had time to see him. He was just on his way to the market and didn't know I was anywhere around. Whenever my family wants to see me, they wander around until they see the lights and they know that's where I am. The other day we were shooting at one of the big squares and a woman came up and said, "Hello, Inger." I didn't know her, of course. She turned out to be a lady who used to be my baby sitter—that is, she sat with me when I was a baby.

The nature scenes in Dalarna included the unique challenge of wooden shoes: 

It is not easy to ride a bicycle in wooden shoes. The guy driving the camera truck didn't know what he was doing and I had to pedal like the very devil and keep up with him and then slow down and smile and contemplate nature and then pump like crazy to catch up again. This went on for four days. 

Also, there was a slight misrepresentation of location in the Dalarna scenes. The scenes of Inger's hometown were filmed in Boda and Tällberg, but Inger actually grew up in Mora, a city in the Dalarna province. Boda and Tallberg are both in Dalarna County but on different points of Lake Siljan. Inger lived in Bromma, Stockholm until 1938 when her family relocated to Mora, Dalarna.

Hometown scenes were shot in Boda and Tallberg,
but Inger actually grew up in Mora.

The Response

The travelogue was a trend at the time and Inger's tour of her homeland followed Jackie Kennedy's White House tour, Elizabeth Taylor's exploration of London, and Princess Grace's tour of Monaco. The documentary was well-received by critics, who deemed it a "beautifully photographed travelogue” worth watching for its “picture postcard views” and “brought to life by the lovely Miss Stevens in short, interesting interviews." Inger was called a "perky guide" and praised for highlighting modern Sweden as equally as its historical monuments.

For me, viewing the TV special confirms several points. One, that my admiration for Inger is reaffirmed (though it was never doubted). The charm and intelligence Inger shows in the varied interviews are unique. Her voice modulates to reflect the wonder, excitement, and warmth she experiences throughout her Swedish exploration. In fact, Inger is so poised and appealing, a person can’t help but imagine her hosting a successful talk show or writing clever bestsellers. She is utterly lovable. 

Secondly, I realize more than ever how isolated Inger must have felt throughout her life. A Swedish girl whose parents left her behind while pursuing their own lives and making new families with other partners. A child pushed from her homeland to be reunited with a father who she'd not seen for years, far away, in a strange country. A child eager to please her father but never able to feel the closeness she desired. A Swedish teenager desperate to shed her traditional, dated clothing to be accepted by her American peers. And, in a matter of years, an independent woman, outwardly American in accent and prospective, traveling back to her European birthplace to visit with family she hadn't seen since childhood. Not wholly belonging in either Sweden or America; not feeling a desired kinship with either parent in their separate places. 

Inger's favorite aspect of filming the show was the positive response she received from the Swedish people. Inger would later say:

The nicest thing about the show for me personally is that when I arrived there the people treated me as one of their own.

Inger in Sweden

Sources:

Daily Press. February 21, 1965.

Inger Stevens in Sweden.  Associated Arts, N.V. ; 1965. Reference print 2 reels : sd., b&w ; 16 mm.

Patterson, William T. The Farmer's Daughter Remembered. 2000.

Portland Press Herald. February 26, 1965.

The Reporter Dispatch. February 26, 1965.

The State February 26, 1965. 

Inger Stevens: No Hayseed

The article "Inger Stevens: No Hayseed" was written by Susan Smith and originally published in the Miami Herald on December 10, 1963. Here are excerpts:

Actress Inger Stevens gets irritated with lazy actors, dislikes drinking beer from cans and thinks women who wear high heels with slacks look terrible.

When she has free time, Inger takes long walks and paints. "And I read everything, even J. Edgar Hoover. I just finished Jessica Mitford's book about the high cost of dying and I was horrified. What a racket, and those people having 'vaultburgers.' Vaultburgers! What kind of taste is that?"

Her own taste includes simple, tailored clothes. She thinks "junk" jewelry is "for the birds."

Unlike most amateur painters, she won't keep a painting of her own. "If I did, I'd sit and look at it and think of all the ways it could be improved." Her paintings are mostly impressionistic and most given away to friends. 

She denies being a perfectionist, but friends say Inger remembers to a fraction of an inch exactly where she should stand for each line of a scene. 

"In movies you have more time, especially between scenes, to knit or read or make paper dolls or whatever, but in TV we are doing one show per week now, and the pace moves."

Every two years or so Inger returns to her native Sweden for a visit. "All my family is over there now, and they all want to come live with Inger," she says ruefully.

Inger's "First Impression"

Inger was featured in numerous game and quiz shows during the 1960's, including The New Truth and Consequences, Your First Impression, You Don't Say, and Personality. Inger was known for her quick, clever responses and she learned much about her fellow man through observation. In August 1962, Inger was a guest columnist for UPI and wrote about what she'd learned through her appearances as a panelist. The complete essay by Inger reads:

In the last several months I've learned that actors are selfish people (as if I didn't already know that); that some of the happiest married couples really hate each other; that hardly any stimulating conversation exists anymore.

This possibly startling data comes from some on-the-job training as an analyst-panelist on television shows. My analysis sans couch should have provided me with enough experience to hang out my own shingle and start psyching people. Heaven help them.

It isn't easy to guess the mystery guest on "Your First Impression," the show that throws questions and gets answers back with the speed of a computer. Once, I did get a clue to a guest's identity. She said a word that I knew was a unique part of her vocabulary. 

Actors are the hardest to guess. They're trained to react quickly to say at times what they wish to believe instead of what might be the strict truth. One of the prime traits that come out in this free association quiz is—selfishness. Some actors reveal, without knowing it, a trait which makes you feel sorry for them—their loneliness.

Another segment of "Your First Impression" deals with husbands and wives. From the answers they give such as "If we had to do over again, we'd never get married," you wonder how they've stayed "happily" married for 20 years. It's mostly the men who seem to wish they were free souls. 

I find it stimulating to do panel shows because I'm out there on my own fending for myself against some very sharp wits and it gives me a fine mental workout.

It makes me realize that people don't really know how to talk anymore. Everybody is so busy talking about his own work or being so diplomatic that the conversation has no bones to it. If you start a discussion, all the straw people run away because they think you're trying to start a fight.

There's a paradox here somewhere. The very medium which has stifled, nay killed, conversation is the only place left where one can get a chance to talk.

Note from Emily:

Although I've found some clips of the game shows online, I've yet to find a clip featuring Inger. I remain eternally optimistic that I will unearth one of Inger's episodes in time. 

Source:

"Inger Stevens Discovers Actors are Selfish People." Portland Press Herald. August 30, 1962.

George Maharis and Inger Stevens: An Enduring Friendship

George and Inger during the filming of the
1961 Route 66 episode "Burning for Burning".

When asked about the great actors and actresses he worked with in the past, actor George Maharis listed Inger first. In 2021, Maharis told Rock Goldschmidt of ReMIND Magazine, “I got to work with some wonderful actors and actresses including Inger Stevens, Boris Karloff and Buster Keaton."

George, who recently died at the age of 94 on May 24th, became close friends with Inger after she guest starred in "The Beryllium Eater" episode of Route 66 in 1960. I cannot help but think that Inger would have lived much longer had she possessed more friends as true as George during her lifetime.

George told Inger's biographer William Patterson:

I liked her humanness and warmth. But, at first, she seemed almost afraid of me. Knowing I was a bachelor, she thought that I might be on the make, eager to make a conquest rather than a friend.

George was attracted to Inger's "stubby nose, a crooked mouth, freckles, and listening eyes." Three years after their first episode together (the second would be 1961's "Burning for Burning"), George described Inger as "a marvelous woman, really" and added:

I like Inger. She has a heart as big as the world. I've always had the feeling she needs me. She's the kind of girl who haunts you. You get up in the morning thinking of her and how sweet she is. You want to do things for her. It's a great feeling. Inger and I never went out to fancy places, we just sat around and talked. She's the kind of girl who listens with her big, blue eyes. She gives me the feeling that's she's a sort of trusting child to whom you can say, 'I have four legs,' and she'd believe you. 

George and Inger in the 1960
Route 66 episode "The Beryllium Eater".

After filming "Burning for Burning" in 1961, Inger and George didn't work together again until 1970, but the two remained good friends due to their mutual respect for and understanding of each other. In 1964, George and Inger attended Young Citizens for President Johnson' barbecue party for Luci Baines Johnson in Beverly Hills, California. The photos below show them speaking with Steve McQueen.

George and Inger had many traits in common. As George said after Inger's death in 1970, a major shared characteristic was "falling in love with the wrong people...it's usually harder on a woman, though." 

Both lived without regrets. In 1970, George said:

Everything I do is on the spur of the moment. I've made a lot of rash decisions and mistakes in my lifetime. But I don't regret any of them for one minute. I've never lost any sleep over them. My creed is, do what you think is right, do the best you can, and the heck with it.

Years earlier, Inger shared a similar philosophy:

I hate the word mistakes...I regard life as a series of steps. Maybe I've stumbled on some of those steps. Lots of young people do. But I don't regret it. Everything that has happened to me has helped make me the person I am.

Although both Inger and George valued the artistic rewards of acting, neither were smitten with the business itself. George stated:

I'm only interested in artistic endeavors. The rest you can have. I don't care about business. I don't want to be a millionaire. I tell my manager just to put the money working so people won't tread on me and I won't be a nuisance to other people or to the state when I get old, if I do.

Inger talked about the business of Hollywood, too, sharing:

I was afraid of the people who were handling me at the time. They gave me so much advice contrary to my own ideas...The more I tried to follow their advice, the less inner peace I found.

This town has a tendency to swallow you up...Sometimes people here do everything for the mythical career. Some people sacrifice everything to get on top of the heap. They sacrifice friendship, their own individuality, and become a slave to a career.

Like George, Inger, in 1969, insisted she would never be a nuisance to others. She said:

They'll never hold a benefit for me. And the only reason I'll ever go to the motion picture country home is to entertain the old timers out there.

To maintain privacy surrounding their individual romantic lives, George and Inger cited their busy work schedules on popular television shows.

George answered why he hadn't settled down by stating:

This TV series has given me countless opportunities for that sort of thing but the heavy work schedule, the constant moving around have prevented me from doing very much about it.

Though she was already married to Ike Jones at the time, Inger responded:

Yes, I want to get married, but it will take a very special understanding man to put up with my schedule. I have to be up at 5 a.m. to leave for the studio, and I usually don't get home until 8:20 at night. I never have a day off in the series, and when I do, I have to shoot commercials or photographs.

If they found themselves hemmed in by their public images, Inger and George turned to painting as an outlet of free expression. 

Inger commented:

I like to paint for relaxation. I think the reason that actors and actresses paint is that it's the one thing that they can do that other people really don't tamper with.

George echoed this sentiment in 2021:

I have always loved painting, as you are free to do what you want to do. Just me, the paint and the canvas!

In 1970, after starring in Aaron Spelling's television movie Run, Simon, Run, Inger signed on to costar with George Maharis and Ralph Bellamy in the forensic crime drama Zig Zag (soon renamed The Most Deadly Game). Inger and George worked together preparing promotional videos of the show in the months leading up to her death. 

George recalled learning of Inger's death:

I heard about it at home. Aaron Spelling phoned me. Inger had appeared to be in good spirits, in good health. We had had several conferences on the series. We had just made some promotional films together. It was a great shock...Inger was a personal friend of mine. I loved her and the idea of working with her. We both liked all the elements. It was going to be a great combination. 

After Inger's death, the female lead in The Most Deadly Game was played by Yvette Mimieux and the show did not last its first season. Though we were robbed of watching Inger and George costar once more, the promotional video still exists. 

Zig Zag (1970)

Zig Zag (1970)

Zig Zag (1970)

Thank you, Mr. Maharis, for the indelible mark you left in the world of television and movies. Thank you for enhancing the soundtrack of the 1960's with your smooth, swinging recordings. Thank you most of all for treating our Inger with the kindness and respect she deserved from all of her peers and for continuing to speak her name and share her talents until the end of your life.

Sources:

Boston Globe. October 4, 1970.

Cincinatti Enquirer. October 23, 1970.

Daily News. December 18, 1960.

Miami Herald. August 26, 1962.

Orlando Evening Star. July 3, 1970.

Photoplay. January 1962.

San Francisco Examiner. July 26, 1970.

The Farmer's Daughter Wedding Episode

Inger rests on a slant-board as not to wrinkle
Katy's wedding dress.
Source: TV Guide. October 23, 1965.

As she prepared for a long day of filming the long-awaited wedding of Katy Holstrum, Inger felt jittery:

I'm so nervous you'd think it was the real thing. I had a hard time sleeping last night and was at the studio before 6 o'clock this morning. I had nightmares of tearing the dress or dropping coffee on it. I'd certainly like a tranquilizer. But I really think they want me to be nervous.

Director Bob Claver agreed, "We want you to be a trembling bride for the camera."

Inger said that she was surprised that "all of us could be so nervous...I'm disgusted with myself." Upon seeing her stylist and costumer tremble while placing the tiara on her head, Inger joked, "You two are worse than I am. Here, let me help."

Even actor Walter Sande (Papa Holstrum) admitted that rehearsing the walk down the aisle was emotional for him, because of his love for Inger:

Once more and I'm afraid I would have cried. My emotions kept building. This is strange for an actor, but I love that girl so much.

The only actor seemingly unfazed by the affair? Bill Windom appeared cool and completely at ease throughout the filming.

Sleepy Bill during rehearsals.
Source: TV Guide. October 23, 1965.

Inger and Bill chat over hair and makeup at 6 a.m.

The television wedding cost the studio approximately $75,000, including a purchase of 40 bags of rice. Costume designer Joie Hutchinson rightly selected Autumn-appropriate dresses for the maid of honor and bridesmaids since the wedding was set to air in November; however, in July when the episode was filmed the actresses were overly warm in velvet tops, satin skirts, and petal headdresses. 

Inger does a final makeup and hair check.

Inger and Cathleen Nesbitt behind the scenes.

During filming, actress Elizabeth Montgomery walked over from the Bewitched set to congratulate Bill and Inger. Real wedding presents arrived for the fictional bride! Inger received an album of classical flamenco guitar recordings from actor David Lewis, who knew of Inger's interest in guitar. Inger also was gifted the set of engagement-wedding rings she wore in the series.

According to Eddie Foy III's original Day Out of Days schedule for the show, the cast and crew rehearsed for the episode (production #3807) on July 26 before filming for four days from July 27 through July 30, 1965. 

A beautiful bride

Inger seemed excited about the possibilities a marriage might bring to The Farmer's Daughter,  stating: 

I hope we will be able to show that a married couple can be sophisticated—yes, and even sexy. After all, he found her attractive and appealing enough to marry her. Why should we try to hide their love just because they're married?

Inger knew that network television was perhaps still not ready to be too sexy. After all, in the honeymoon episode William Windom's character was allowed to say he asked for double accommodations, but not a double bed. Inger commented:

The use of the word 'bed' was absolutely forbidden. It looked as if the show would have to be abandoned. But he was allowed to substitute 'accommodations' with only a glance at the bed. If the audience wants to read something into the glance, it may.

Inger was also looking forward to donning a new wardrobe in the third season:

Katy wears more sophisticated clothes now and her hair is shorter and more stylish. I think that's only natural. It shows that he has an effect on her.

A shot of the making of the wedding scene.

"To Have and To Hold" was certainly one of the most anticipated and celebrated television events of the season. Yet the network and sponsors' interest in the show appeared to be waning even before the wedding episode aired.  The episode, already heavily promoted to air Monday, November 1, was postponed the week of airing when The Farmer's Daughter was suddenly switched from Mondays to Fridays—reportedly to give Peyton Place a more advantageous time slot. The wedding would air on Friday, November 5. You can watch the full episode on Youtube thanks to the William Windom Tribute Site by playing the embedded video below or clicking here.

There were also reports that Clairol, the show's main sponsor, was ready to pull out at the end of season two, but maintained sponsorship after Screen Gems VP John Mitchell promised to marry the lead characters and uniquely promote the event in season three. That unique promotion took the form of a party hosted by former ambassador, noted socialite, and later television host Perle Mesta.

Inger in a promotional shot from Screen Gems.
Source: Scan from my collection

Host Perle Mesta smiles as Inger feeds William Windom
a slice of wedding cake.
Source: Pittsburgh Press. November 2, 1965.

The studio's last minute switch in airing "To Have and To Hold" four days late caused a bit of a headache for party host Perle Mesta since the party was scheduled to take place in conjunction with the premiere on Monday, November 1. The plan was to screen "To Have and To Hold" and then guests would greet "Mr. and Mrs. Morley" and enjoy a wedding cake. Mesta shrugged off the switch saying the party, which took place in Mesta's penthouse complex overlooking the Washington Monument, was "all just for fun anyway." Over 100 people, including ambassadors and officials, attended the party where they danced, drank pink champagne, and ate wedding cake.

Inger arrived at the party wearing a gold dress, with scooped neckline, covered in white beads. Mesta told reporters that she "nearly dropped over" at Inger's congeniality; Inger requested the guest list before the party, memorized facts about each guest, then showed up able to chat personally with each person.

Although the Holstrum-Morley wedding brought new publicity to the show and is still a beloved television event to viewers today, it proved not enough to save the show long-term. By the end of the third season, the show's plot grew stale for viewers and the network didn't seem willing to revive it. Inger saw the end of the show as an opportunity to re-enter films and enbraced portraying a variety of characters again. You can learn more about The Farmer's Daughter on my TFD page by clicking here.

Finally, I'm including this shot of Inger because I love her profile (even in a bad quality newspaper picture) and it was included in an article about the fictional nuptials.

Inger.
Source: Indianapolis News. February 20, 1965.

Sources: 

Beale, Betty. “Picked Up Tab, Perle Insists.” The Pittsburgh Press. November 14, 1965. 

Lanahan, Frances. Perle Packs Them In-Wedding or No Wedding.” Rapid City Journal. November 5, 1965. 

Leonard, Vince. “Perle Hosts ‘Farmer’s Daughter.’ The Pittsburgh Press. November 2, 1965. 

Lowry, Cynthia. "Farmer's Daughter Wedding a Bit Shaky." Dayton Daily News. August 7, 1965. 

“Perle Rises to Occasion of Make-Believe Vows.” The Wichita Eagle. November 3, 1965.

Thomas, Bob. "Inger Stevens to be Sexy in New 'Farmer's Daughter.'" Hattiesburg American. October 2, 1965. 

Thomas, Bob. "Katy, Morley To Get Married?" The Indianapolis News. February 20, 1965.

Inger on the Advantages and Disadvantages of Beauty

Inger in TV and Movie Screen, August 1964.

When asked by fan magazine writer M.P. Todd what it felt like to be beautiful, Inger responded:

You sincerely meant that last compliment, didn't you? I could tell. So I'll give you a serious answer. Today I never think about how I look. Maybe it's because for too many years I thought of myself as ugly. You know the type. I had straight hair, teeth that went in all directions, and I was the shape of a string bean that had been left out in the sun too long. By the time I grew up to look like what I am now, I had already developed the feelings inside of a girl who does not consider herself pretty. I'll tell you a secret, if I am attractive today it is because my face—all of me on the outside—reflects an inner security I have never possessed before. 

What was it like as a girl being treated like a Hollywood beauty? Inger shared:

At first, the attention, the compliments are wonderful. Later, often too much later, the beauty discovers that people, especially males, flocked around her mainly because it gave their egos a boost to be seen with her. At first, innocently, the beauty trusts too much. She believes all the excess adjectives. She delights in all the conquests  she makes merely by existing. But then it begins to catch up with her. If, along the way, she hasn't taken the time to develop her mind, her personality, her character, then she usually winds up alone. She's confused. Unable to cope with the situation. She becomes bitter, miserable. She realizes all too late that she's been used like a pet—a toy—to be exhibited then put back on the shelf. 

Perhaps that's why I searched so long to try and find the right way for me to live my life. There was a period where I, too, received and reveled in the flowery adjectives and the phony attention that actually wasn't directed at the real me but at what my surface supposedly represented. When I finally understood—it was a painful period. I won't discuss it, except to tell you that that I finally hit upon a solution. Now I don't allow myself to rely or depend upon outside words of praise from others. This leads only to self-deception and pain, believe me. Today I have learned to rely only on myself to judge my own true worth. I see my weaknesses and I try to correct them. I see my strengths and I try to preserve them. 

Source: 

Todd, M.P. "A Brand-New Inger Stevens." TV and Movie Screen. August 1964.

The Journeys That Shaped Inger

Inger Stevens poses at LaGuardia Airport
bound for Washington, D.C., October 1965.

Official records and lists may appear to be dull reading material; however, when the records involve Inger Stevens and can be paired with stories of her experiences, a warm profile of a lively woman emerges.

I've set out to match records I've discovered with anecdotes found in various articles about Inger as well as in William Patterson's book The Farmer's Daughter Remembered.

A Star is Born

On Thursday, October 18, 1934 in a Stockholm hospital, Inger Stensland was born to parents 21-year-old Per and 20-year-old Lisbet. Inger was the first child of Per and Lisbet, who were married six months prior to her birth.  According to Patterson, Inger was named for the Norse princess Ingebjørg. I've highlighted Inger's entry in the Swedish Birth Index. Listed as adöpt (döpt meaning christened or baptised), Per Stensland and Lisbet Potthoff are indexed to the right.

Inger's entry in the Swedish Birth Index in 1934

Per to America

Following a separation from Lisbet, Per traveled to America as an academic fellow in 1940. (Inger and her brother Ola would be left behind in the care of their family maid before moving in with their aunt and uncle.) That same year the American-Scandinavian Foundation of New York City released the following inquiry regarding the status of fellows stranded in the United States due to World War II. Per would not return to Sweden. In 1944, Per, with a new bride and a baby on the way, would request that his two eldest children join him in America.

Inger's father began a fellowship in America in 1940.

A Lonely Journey to America

9-year-old Inger and younger brother Ola arrived in America from Sweden in July 1944. The children were chaperoned by a family friend and traveled on the SS Margaret Johnson for six weeks before docking in New Orleans on July 15, 1944. Leaving family and country would be difficult for a person of any age, but little Inger and Ola's journey included additional challenges that would remain painful memories for Inger for the duration of her life. For example, all freighter passengers were inspected by German troops during a stop in Denmark and the freighter was even followed by a German U-boat during a portion of the journey. 

To make the experience even more frightening, Inger's father Per was not in New Orleans to meet his children. Biographer Patterson writes that Per was too busy working on a thesis paper to meet Inger and Ola, neither of whom could speak English. Instead of being reunited with the father they had not seen in four years, the Stensland siblings were met by the Travelers Aid Society and escorted by a Salvation Army representative on a train to New York City. When they reached New York City, Per was still not there to greet his children. Inger was told he was busy with his academic work in Cape Cod and the children were placed in separate rooms of a New York City hotel. The next morning Inger and Ola boarded a train for Cape Cod where they were finally reunited with their father.

Inger would later tell reporters that Per "couldn't afford to meet us." She would recall the terror she faced aboard the ship and on arrival in America. 

New York seemed to us then like a city of revolving doors. Every time we went through one, I was sure I'd lose Ola...After dinner, the Travelers Aid Society member took me to the thirteenth floor of the hotel and put Ola somewhere else; mine was a tiny green room that looked like a cell. Have you ever been on the thirteenth floor during a thunderstorm? I was sure I'd be killed before morning. 

Inger would share that she and Ola expected to see cowboys and indians on arrival. Instead:

When our freighter docked at New Orleans after being trailed by a German U-boat for almost a week, the Travelers Aid Society brought us to New York. Two days after our arrival, a hurricane struck Cape Cod and partially demolished our little house. I was terrified. I begged to go back to Sweden. I'd been prepared to face Indians, but I didn't dream life in America could be so violent.

In 1965, Inger said:

I still feel like the same girl who got off the boat from Sweden. Maybe a little taller and a little more money, that's all. But I'm not changed inside. 

Inger and Ola Stensland (highlighted) arrive in New Orleans on July 15, 1944.

Although Per is listed as the relative they will be joining in America,
it took days of lonely travel for Inger and Ola to reach their father.

Crunch and Des in Bermuda

A passenger manifest dated October 27, 1955 shows Inger embarking from Bermuda on return to New York. Inger traveled to Bermuda to play the part of 'The Actress' in a Crunch and Des episode entitled Salt Water Daffy. Although filmed in 1955, Salt Water Daffy was not released on television until 1956. In his book on Inger, Patterson shares a letter that Inger wrote to a friend about her Bermuda experience:

I saw how people actually lived which is something I could never have seen if I didn't do it on my own...I wanted to be in and around the water every minute because it is so beautiful. The water wasn't blue; it was a rich green, but crystal clear and as we flew in over Bermuda the sight of the water alone was breathtaking. Under the water you could see the coral reefs, which looked like black sleeping animals, from the sky. Since I worked all the time, I didn't get to swim or enjoy it the way I would have wanted to, but Tony and I hope to go there together sometime.

(Note: Tony is Anthony Soglio, Inger's agent whom she married in summer 1955 and divorced in 1958.) 

Inger is listed on a 1955 passenger manifest. She was filming
an episode of Crunch and Des in Bermuda.

A Beauty Judges Beauty

On November 20, 1959, Inger landed in Los Angeles on a Pan Am flight. For promotional purposes, she served as a judge at the Miss Colombia Beauty Contest at the Hotel Tequendama in Bogata, Colombia, and made her way home via Panama.

Inger returns to L.A. from Colombia by way of Panama.

Traumatic Landing in Lisbon

On April 4, 1961, Inger embarked on a vacation that started in Paris and included stops in London, Madrid, and Rome with her hairstylist and friend Leslie Blanchard. After Leslie returned to America, Inger visited family in Sweden in May. In the final days of her trip, Inger boarded a Boeing 707 that stopped in Lisbon on June 15th. As it landed, the plane's nose gear collapsed creating a fire. Immediately after Inger and her fellow passengers exited the plane, it exploded. All passengers and crew were physically unhurt, but all were certainly shaken by the close call.

Source: The Star Press. June 17, 1961.

Source: Morristown Gazette. June 27, 1961.

Inger reportedly discussed the incident with columnist Cynthia Lowry in February 1963, saying:

I still hate to talk about it. The plane started burning and I thought I would be burned alive. And I put on my coat, of all things, and curled up on the floor. Somehow I escaped and now I feel as if I were on borrowed time, that the worst is over and it's clear sailing. But it is reassuring to know you continued to function under pressure and didn't give in to hysteria.

William Patterson writes that Inger was so rattled by the event that she chose to forego air travel, returning to America by boat. However, a passenger list for Pan American flight No. 153 shows Inger boarded a flight in Lisbon and arrived in New York by plane on June 20th.

Inger returns from Lisbon after a near-death experience.

Secret Honeymooners 

Six months after her widely reported Lisbon flight, Inger and her new husband Ike Jones managed to fly under the press's radar—although not for as long as we have been led to believe, but that deserves its own post on another day. On December 29, 1961, Inger arrived back home in Los Angeles after a trip to Mexico City. Browsing the flight's passenger list, I found the record for Inger's husband Ike Jones, who was also on the CMA flight on the 29th. (CMA was an affiliate of Pan American that provided non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Mexico City.)

Ike Jones in November 1959, two years before
his wedding to Inger Stevens.

Ike was a producer for Nat King Cole's Kell-Cole Productions as well as a film producer and actor. Inger and Ike met at a Hollywood party in September 1960. A little over a year later, in November 1961, Inger and Ike privately married in Tijuana. After a quiet celebration for two at a small restaurant and motel, the couple returned to Los Angeles. A month later, Inger and Ike traveled to Mexico City for a secret honeymoon. 

Although their relationship was far from the best-kept secret in Hollywood, the general public would not be fully aware of Inger's marriage to Ike until after Inger's death.

Inger returns to Los Angeles after a secret honeymoon in Mexico City.

Ike Jones, Inger's husband, listed on the same flight from Mexico City.

While this post includes a small sampling of her travel records, the documents represent major experiences—her Swedish birth, arduous immigration to the U.S., early television filming and film promotion work, dangerous Lisbon landing, and private marriage—that would shape Inger's life and worldview in significant ways.

Inger in a late-1950's travel photo.

Sources:

Documents were retrieved via Ancestry and Familysearch.

"Ex-UCLA Star Named to Belafonte's Harbel Film Co." Jet. November 5, 1959.

http://files.lib.byu.edu/family-history-library/research-outlines/Scandinavia/Sweden.pdf

Hopper, Hedda. "Inger Too Busy for Romance." The Los Angeles Times. May 18, 1958.

Lowry, Cynthia. "Not the Girl Next Door?" The Akron Beacon Journal. February 12, 1963.

Patterson, William T. The Farmer's Daughter Remembered. Xlibris. 2000.