ACTING CAREER
Inger worked in film, television, and theater. Learn more about her work here.
DANCE
Inger ran away from home and joined burlesque as a teen but returned to her high school, extracurricular clubs, and home months later. She would dance again in between graduation and getting her first acting work. This photo is from 1954 when Inger was 20 and appeared on the cover of Reveille magazine.
"At 16, I ran away to join burlesque. I never thought of it being bad, so, because I didn't think bad, nothing that happened to me was bad...Nothing shocked or disgusted me because I could see nothing bad in the world."
THEATER
Inger worked in summer stock productions of popular plays throughout 1954 and 1955.
Glad Tidings (1954)
The Women (1954)
Picnic (1955)
Hide and Seek (1955)
Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1955)
From 1956-1962, Inger appeared in four Broadway productions.
Debut (1956)
Roman Candle (1960)
Voice of the Turtle (1962)
Mary, Mary (1962)
“I was on Broadway for six months without actually being there. I opened in a play at the Holiday Theatre called Debut. It lasted four days and was a dismal failure. The theatre closed, but my name remained in lights on the marquee until the theatre reopened six months later.”
TV
Inger's first television work was a 1954 commercial for Vel detergent.
Interviewer: Didn't you get your start on tv by fibbing?
Inger Stevens: Yes. It was for a Vel commercial and to this day I've never seen it. You see, in order to get a Screen Actors Guild card, you have to have a job. However, in order to get a job, you have to have a SAG card. I naturally had had no job on TV so I had no SAG card. I thought, 'This is ridiculous' and read for the part anyway. I got the job. Of course, I'd had to tell them I had done all sorts of things, had been in a lot of plays. It took a lot of nerve!
Source: Movie Mirror (April 1965)
"Goodyear Playhouse presented an uneven play called Thunder of Silence, but gave star billing to an exciting new actress, Inger Stevens. Blonde, fragile, and hauntingly attractive...her big-eyed silences were more eloquent than all the speeches of her fellow actors."-Time, 1954.
TV 1954-1959
Goodyear Playhouse: Thunder of Silence (1954)
Armstrong Circle Theatre: The Contender (1954)
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Danger: Treasure of the Argo (1954)
Mister Peepers: The Rumor (1954)
Kraft Television Theatre: Strangers in Hiding (1954)
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Studio One: Sue Ellen (1954)
Robert Montgomery Presents: A Night for Dreaming (1955)
Mama: The Girl from Minnesota (1955)
Studio One: The Conviction of Peter Shea (1955)
Studio One: The Day Before the Wedding (1955)
Matinee Theatre: Another Sky (1956)
Crunch and Des: Salt Water Daffy (1956)
Crusader: The Girl Across the Hall (1956)
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Conflict: Captain without a Country (1956)
The Millionaire: The Betty Perkins Story (1956)
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Playhouse 90: Eloise (1956)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Brother, Richard (1957)
Climax!: The Giant Killer (1957)
Playhouse 90: Diary of a Nurse (1959)
The Joseph Cotten Show: Law is for the Lovers (1956)
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Sunday Showcase: The Indestructible Mr. Gore (1959)
"I truly felt being nominated was honor enough...Being voted one of the five best actresses of the year is quite an accolade in itself."
-Inger on her 1962 Emmy nomination for The Price of Tomatoes
TV 1960-1963
Zane Grey Theatre: Calico Bait (1960)
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Moment of Fear: Total Recall (1960)
Checkmate: Interrupted Honeymoon (1960)
Hong Kong: Pearl Flower (1960)
The Twilight Zone: The Hitchhiker (1960)
The Twilight Zone: The Lateness of the Hour (1960)
Route 66: The Beryllium Eater (1960)
The DuPont Show of the Month: The Prisoner of Zenda (1961)
Adventures in Paradise: Angel of Death (1961)
The Aquanauts: The Margo Adventure (1961)
The Detectives: Song of the Guilty Heart (1961)
Route 66: Burning for Burning (1961)
Follow the Sun: Cry Fraud (1961)
Follow the Sun: The Girl from the Brandenburg Gate (1961)
Golden Showcase: Saturday's Children (1962)
The Dick Powell Show: Price of Tomatoes (1962)
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The Eleventh Hour: The Blues My Babe Gave to Me (1962)
Sam Benedict (1962); Episode: The Target over the Hill
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The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Forecast Low Clouds and Coastal Fog (1963)
The Nurses: Party Girl (1963)
The Dick Powell Show: The Last of the Big Spenders (1963)
Empire: Duet for Eight Wheels (1963)
"It's the most exciting year of my life and I'm loving every minute of it."
Inger, 1964
THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER
1963-1966
Please visit my detailed Farmer's Daughter page by clicking here.
THE MOST DEADLY GAME
1970
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 died shortly after a promotional reel for the show was filmed. 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.
MOVIES 1957-1964
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Cry Terror! (1958)
The Buccaneer (1958)
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
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MOVIES &
TV MOVIES
1967-1970
The Borgia Stick (1967)
A Guide for the Married Man (1967)
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Madigan (1968)
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Hang 'Em High (1968)
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House of Cards (1968)
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The Mask of Sheba (1970)
Run, Simon, Run (1970)
