A former Playboy centerfold from January 1960, Stevens was modeling in her hometown of Memphis when she was discovered and given a screen test by 20th Century Fox. She wound up under contract with Paramount and then Columbia through the ’60s, starring opposite such big names as Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!, Dean Martin in How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life, Bobby Darin in Too Late Blues, Chuck Conners in Synanon and Glenn Ford in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.
She won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for her first film, 1959’s Say One for Me, which starred Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds. Stevens also appeared in Lil Abner that year.
She went on to play Jerry Lewis’ dream girl in The Nutty Professor — which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2004 — and the lippy wife of Ernest Borgnine in The Poseidon Adventure, the star-packed pic that was among the biggest hits of 1972 and helped fuel that decade’s disaster-movie trend.
Her many other film credits include The Silencers, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Sol Madrid, Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! and The Secret of My Success.
Born on October 1, 1938, in Yazoo City, MI, Stevens was also a steady presence on television, appearing in dozens of TV movies and guest-starring in more than 40 series, from Bonanza and Ben Casey in the ‘60’s through The Commish and Arli$$ in the ‘90s.
For two seasons in the early ‘80s, she starred in the primetime soap Flamingo Road and later had recurring roles in Santa Barbara and General Hospital. Reportedly, Stevens came to regret her association with Playboy, finding the sexpot label confining.
“I did the best I could with the tools I had and the opportunities given me,” she was once quoted as saying. “I was a divorced mom with a toddler by the time I was 17. And Playboy did as much harm as it helped. But in spite of that rough start, I did OK.”
Due to her illness, Stella made her last movie in 2010.
Along with her son, Stevens is survived by three grandchildren. She was predeceased by her longtime partner, rock musician Bob Kulick....
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