Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysHalloween PicksScary Good HorrorHispanic Heritage MonthMAMISTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Stella Stevens(1938-2023)

  • Actress
  • Director
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000284
Stella Stevens
Home Video Trailer from DEJ
Play trailer0:51
Glass Trap (2005)
17 Videos
99+ Photos
The early film career of Stella Stevens could be said to mirror that of Marilyn Monroe. She began by playing a succession of sensuous, blond glamour girls, from naïve virgins and funny coquettes to precocious or briny-tongued floozies. Her early maturity on screen may have reflected her own turbulent private life: she was married at 15, had a child at 16 and was divorced a year later. At 21, Stella, having a child to support and no money, posed for a celebrated Playboy centerfold (she was Playmate of the Month for January 1960) which did her subsequent movie career no harm whatever. Voted by Playboy as among the 100 sexiest women of the 20th Century, she then also became one of the most photographed stars of the 60s.

The voluptuous, blue-eyed Stella was born Estelle Caro Eggleston to one of the oldest families in Yazoo, Mississippi. A myth, which had her hailing from the quaintly named town of Hot Coffee was purely an invention by Hollywood publicists. Her father, Thomas Ellett, was an insurance salesman, her mother, Estelle, a nurse. The family moved to Memphis when she was four. In her early childhood, Stella was nicknamed 'Bootsie'. Impatient to grow up, she took to watching movies at every opportunity. It became her main passion. Graduating from high school in 1955, Stella spent two years attending Memphis State University where she was 'discovered' during a production of Bus Stop in the role of aspiring nightclub singer Chérie (famously played by Marilyn in the film version). Borrowing some money, Stella made her way to the bright lights of Los Angeles and was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1959. She made only three films for the studio during a six months spell before her contract was dropped, her debut being a bit part in Frank Tashlin's saccharine comedy-drama Lainahöyhenissä (1959). Her role won her a Golden Globe Award as Most Promising Newcomer. That same year, she was picked up by Paramount and made her first breakthrough on the screen as the vampish Apassionata von Climax in the film version of the hit Broadway musical Tytöt jahdissa (1959), based on Al Capp's comic strip.

Stella then alternated motion pictures with television appearances, displaying a perhaps unexpectedly wide range as an actress in both dramatic and comedic roles. She stood out in films like Hämärän lapset (1961) and Puuhakas puhemies (1963), both under greatly contrasting directorial styles. In the classic disaster epic S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972), she was more or less typecast as the proverbial hooker with the heart of gold. Above all, Stella saw herself not as a sex icon but as a comedienne. She once said "I want to be remembered for whatever made people laugh the most." Unafraid to do physical comedy in the manner of Lucille Ball she was also often lauded for her comic timing in films like Matt Helm - agenttiässä (1966) (a James Bond-style spoof, co-starring a sleepy-eyed Dean Martin) and Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968). In the 70s, her best role was as a warmhearted prostitute in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western Balladi Cable Hoguesta (1970). The respected writer and critic Roger Ebert wrote of her performance "There are few enough actresses who can be funny and feminine at the same time, but she is certainly one of them."

Like many film careers, hers too experienced a fair share of hiccups along the way, often due to typecasting: duds like Slaughter (1972), Stand Up and Be Counted (1972), Las Vegas Lady (1975), Paholaisloitsu Manitou (1978), and others. However, Stella proved resourceful enough to diversify and go behind the camera, both as producer and director of a feature-length documentary, The American Heroine (1979). She co-authored a novel entitled 'Razzle, Dazzle' (published in 1999), about the rise and fall of a glamorous rock star. Also at this time, she unveiled her own range of women's and men's fragrances, called 'Sexy'.

During the 80s and 90s, Stella concentrated primarily on television and enjoyed lengthy tenures on the glossy soaps Flamingo Road (1980) and Santa Barbara (1984), in addition to many guest appearances in shows as diverse as Poliisin silmin (1973), Hotel (1983), Alfred Hitchcock esittää (1985) and Yön kuumuudessa (1988). In 1976, she briefly forsook the glamour of Beverly Hills and set up home on a 27-acre ranch on the edge of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State and then proceeded to operate an art gallery and bakery in a nearby town. By 1983, she had returned to her Beverly Hills home where she lived with her partner (the rock guitarist Bob Kulick), until the home was sold in 2016. Afflicted by Alzheimer's disease, Stella Stevens spent her remaining years in an assisted living home in California and passed away in Los Angeles on February 17 2023 at the age of 84.
BornOctober 1, 1938
DiedFebruary 17, 2023(84)
BornOctober 1, 1938
DiedFebruary 17, 2023(84)
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000284
  • Awards
    • 1 win & 1 nomination

Photos160

Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, and Jack Albertson in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, and Carol Lynley in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley, Pamela Sue Martin, and Arthur O'Connell in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
Stella Stevens and Bobby Darin in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens and Cliff Carnell in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens and Bobby Darin in Hämärän lapset (1961)
Stella Stevens and Bobby Darin in Hämärän lapset (1961)

Known for:

Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Leslie Nielsen, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O'Connell, and Eric Shea in S/S Poseidonin seikkailu (1972)
S/S Poseidonin seikkailu
7.1
  • Linda Rogo
  • 1972
Dean Martin in Matt Helm - agenttiässä (1966)
Matt Helm - agenttiässä
5.9
  • Gail Hendricks
  • 1966
Jerry Lewis and Stella Stevens in Tri Jerry ja Mr. Hyde (1963)
Tri Jerry ja Mr. Hyde
6.6
  • Stella Purdy
  • 1963
Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968)
Where Angels Go Trouble Follows!
6.3
  • Sister George
  • 1968

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Megaconda (2010)
    Megaconda
    3.2
    Video
    • Mary Jane
    • 2010
  • Dante's Inferno: Abandon All Hope (2010)
    Dante's Inferno: Abandon All Hope
    4.6
    Short
    • Speaker: 8th Circle - The Thieves
    • 2010
  • Twenty Good Years (2006)
    Twenty Good Years
    5.9
    TV Series
    • Martha
    • 2006
  • Popstar (2005)
    Popstar
    2.5
    • Henrietta
    • 2005
  • Hell to Pay (2005)
    Hell to Pay
    4.2
    • Mary Potter
    • 2005
  • Glass Trap (2005)
    Glass Trap
    3.1
    • Joan Highsmith
    • 2005
  • Heather Graham and James Purefoy in Blessed (2004)
    Blessed
    4.2
    • Betty
    • 2004
  • The Long Ride Home (2003)
    The Long Ride Home
    4.9
    • Fiona Champyon
    • 2003
  • Lindsay Felton and Magda Harout in Size 'Em Up (2001)
    Size 'Em Up
    6.8
    Short
    • Stella
    • 2001
  • By Dawn's Early Light (2001)
    By Dawn's Early Light
    6.8
    TV Movie
    • Eli
    • 2001
  • Julie Brown stars in Comedy Central's "Strip Mall"
    Strip Mall
    6.7
    TV Series
    • Doreen Krudup
    • 2001
  • Maurice Benard, Ingo Rademacher, Julie Berman, Steve Burton, Tyler Christopher, Nancy Lee Grahn, Rebecca Herbst, Kelly Monaco, Kirsten Storms, Laura Wright, Dominic Zamprogna, and Chad Duell in General Hospital (1963)
    General Hospital
    6.6
    TV Series
    • Jake
    • 1996–1999
  • Jeff Kaake, Heather Medway, Joe Nipote, and Dawn Stern in Viper (1994)
    Viper
    5.8
    TV Series
    • Lorraine
    • 1998
  • The Christmas List (1997)
    The Christmas List
    6.7
    TV Movie
    • Natalie Parris
    • 1997
  • Don Johnson and Cheech Marin in Nash Bridges (1996)
    Nash Bridges
    6.8
    TV Series
    • Suzie Dupree
    • 1997

Director

  • Tosi liemessä (1989)
    Tosi liemessä
    5.1
    • Director
    • 1989
  • The American Heroine
    • Director
    • 1979

Producer

  • The American Heroine
    • producer
    • 1979

Videos17

Trailer
Trailer 2:13
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:59
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:55
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:48
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:11
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:49
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:04
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:01
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:04
Official Trailer
The Nutty Professor
Trailer 2:16
The Nutty Professor
The Manitou
Trailer 2:16
The Manitou
Advance to the Rear
Trailer 2:59
Advance to the Rear

Personal details

Edit
  • Official site
    • Official Site
  • Height
    • 1.65 m
  • Born
    • October 1, 1938
    • Yazoo City, Mississippi, USA
  • Died
    • February 17, 2023
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(alzheimer's disease)
  • Spouse
    • Noble Herman Stephens Jr.December 3, 1954 - July 10, 1956 (divorced, 1 child)
  • Children
    • Andrew Stevens
  • Parents
      Thomas Ellett Eggleston
  • Relatives
      Sam Stevens(Grandchild)
  • Other works
    (6/02) Stage: Appeared (as "Dee Dee West") in "Follies", a musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman. Wadsworth Theater, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 2 Interviews
    • 3 Articles
    • 33 Pictorials
    • 7 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Turned down the role of Hot Lips on the M*A*S*H* television series to focus on her film career. She has said she has since regretted the decision.
  • Quotes
    I did the best I could with the tools I had and the opportunities given me. My life was screwed up early by getting pregnant at 15 and married, then a baby at 16, then divorced at 17. But in spite of that start, I've done all right.
  • Trademarks
      Platinum blonde hair
  • Salary
    • Kreisiä, kreisiä
      (1982)
      $25,000

FAQ15

Powered by Alexa
  • When did Stella Stevens die?
  • How did Stella Stevens die?
  • How old was Stella Stevens when she died?

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
List
The Best New Shows and Movies in November
See our picks
Production art
Photos
Radical On-Screen Transformations
See the gallery

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of Stella Stevens’s work you have seen. Go to your list.

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.