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Brooklyn native Connie Stevens is the daughter of musician Teddy Stevens. She
moved with her dad to L.A., where she enrolled at Sacred Professional School,
sang professional, and appeared in local repertory productions. After several
low-budget teen flicks, Stevens was given a break in an A-picture, Jerry Lewis'
Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958). Soon afterward, she was signed by Warner Bros. to play
bouncy nightclub thrush Cricket Blake on the TV detective series Hawaiian Eye.
She also starred in such WB feature films as Susan Slade (1961), and became a
popular recording artist with her rendition of the deathless "Kookie, Kookie,
Lend Me Your Comb." Warners suspended Stevens in 1962 over several bones of
contention, one of which was her snit-fit after being denied a chance to
audition for the lead in the studio's My Fair Lady. She patched up her
differences with Warners long enough to play a Gracie Allen clone in the George
Burns-produced sitcom Wendy and Me (1964). After her flurry of fame in the
1960s, Stevens kept busy with nightclub appearances and summer theater
productions. She appeared in the Broadway production of +The Star Spangled Girl,
guested in such all-star movie efforts as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(1978) and Grease 2, and accepted a regular role on the 1986 TV series Rowdies.
Among Connie Stevens' three husbands were actors James Stacy and Eddie Fisher.
Credit:
starpulse.com
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