Carol Lynley

Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in Manhattan, the daughter of Frances (née Felch) and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh, and German ancestry. She studied dance in her childhood.[1] Lynley's parents divorced when she was a child, and her mother worked as a waitress until Lynley's income from modelling was enough to sustain the family.[2]

She had first appeared on a local television show and at the age of 14 she was signed as a child model. She then appeared on live TV shows, the Goodyear Television Playhouse, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Danger Route.[1]

She began her career as a child model under the name Carolyn Lee. She appeared on the April 22, 1957, cover of Life identified as "Carol Lynley, 15, Busy Career Girl." at age 15.[3][4] When she started acting, she discovered that child actress Carolyn Lee (born Carolyn Copp, 1935)[5] had already registered the name in the Actors' Equity union. She modified it by using the final syllable of Carolyn and fusing it with Lee to make Lynley.[6]

In her teenage years Lynley appeared in several Clairol and Pepsodent advertisements that were publicized across the country.[1]

In 1955, she made her first stage appearance in Moss Hart's Broadway stage hit, Anniversary Waltz.[1] At the age of 15, she played the role of Dame Sybil Thorndyke's granddaughter in the Broadway play The Potting Shed.[1]

Early on, Lynley distinguished herself on both the Broadway stage and in Hollywood screen versions of the controversial drama Blue Denim (1959), in which the teenaged characters played by Lynley and co-star Brandon deWilde had to deal with an unwanted pregnancy and (then-illegal) abortion.[7] She won the Theatre World Award as "one of the most promising personalities for 1956-57" for her performance in Blue Denim.[1] This recognition helped her get a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox.[1]

Lynley as Jean Harlow in the film Harlow (1965)

She started her film career in 1958 with the Disney's film The Light in the Forest followed by Holiday for Lovers (1959).[8] In 1959, Lynley was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female.[9] In 1960 she was again nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female for the film Blue Denim.[9]

She acted in 20th Century Fox, productions, Holiday for Lovers, Blue Denim (film), Hound-Dog Man, Return to Peyton Place and The Stripper (1963). The Stripper was based on the play A Loss of Roses written by William Inge.[1]

Lynley appeared in many films, often portraying the blonde-girl-next-door gone bad.[1] Lynley is best known for her film roles in Return to Peyton Place, sex comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree, thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing, The Pleasure Seekers, drama The Cardinal, and The Poseidon Adventure, in which she lip synced the Oscar-winning song "The Morning After" (although her singing voice was dubbed by studio singer Renee Armand).[10][11]

The Hollywood Reporter reported that she was on the peak of her career in the year 1965.[1] Lynley posed nude at age 22 for the March 1965 edition of Playboy magazine (pp. 108–115).[12][13] She played the role of the mother of a kidnapped child in the thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). Lynley took the role of the blonde bombshell Jean Harlow in the biopic titled Harlow (1965).[1]

She appeared in the pilot television movies for Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Fantasy Island.[11] Her many other series appearances include The Big Valley, Mannix, It Takes a Thief, Night Gallery, The Invaders, Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, Hart to Hart, and Charlie's Angels.[8][14] Lynley appeared in the fourth season of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in the two-part episode "The Prince of Darkness Affair".[15]

The decline in her career started in the late 1960s and '70s. She did smaller roles, guest appearances and appeared in low-budget productions like The Maltese Bippy, Norwood, The Four Deuces, The Washington Affair and Bad Georgia Road. In 1992, she acted in a low-budget thriller Spirits, as a nun. She acted in Flypaper (1997) followed by the low-budget film Drowning on Dry Land (1999).[1] Many of the low-budget movies she acted in during the later part of her career were direct-to-video.[11]

In 2000, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Lynley discussed the difficulty faced by middle-aged actresses in finding roles. She predicted she'd have a comeback in old age, stating, "I don't mean to sound conceited, but I am a very talented actress, and I have my head screwed on right." And she added "I'm not going to drug clinics, I look good, and I've got all my marbles. So I really believe I'll be back."[11]

In 2006, she appeared in a 30-minute film, Vic, co-written and directed by Sage Stallone, the late son of Sylvester Stallone.[8][14]

In 1960, she married publicist Michael Selsman. The marriage produced one child, Jill Selsman (a director of short films), and ended in divorce in 1964.[1][8]

Lynley had an 18-year intermittent affair with English broadcaster and writer David Frost.[16]

Lynley died aged 77 of a heart attack on September 3, 2019, at her home in Pacific Palisades, California.[1][8]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carol Lynley.

• Carol Lynley on IMDb
• Carol Lynley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Carol Lynley at AllMovie
• Carol Lynley at the TCM Movie Database
• Carol Lynley (Aveleyman)