#Connie stevens sixteen reasons series

#Connie stevens sixteen reasons series

hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip, she recorded the hit novelty song ' Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)' (1959), a duet with one of the stars of the program, Edd Byrnes, that reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Īfter making several appearances on the Warner Bros. She had minor single hits with the standards 'Blame It on My Youth' (music by Oscar Levant and lyrics by Edward Heyman), 'Looking for a Boy' (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin), and ' Spring Is Here' (music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart). Stevens' first album was titled Concetta (1958). 'She didn't believe it, but in fact it was Elvis, who invited her to a party and said that he would come to her house and pick her up personally' they subsequently dated. In a televised interview on August 26, 2003, on CNN's Larry King Live, Stevens recounted that while on the set of Hawaiian Eye she was told she had a telephone call from Elvis Presley. Stardom came when she was cast as Cricket Blake in the popular television detective series Hawaiian Eye from 1959 to 1963, a role that made her famous her principal costar was Robert Conrad.įirst televised on December 23, 1960, she appeared (uncredited) in 'The Dresden Doll', Episode 15 of Season 3 of 77 Sunset Strip as her character from Hawaiian Eye, Cricket Blake. She appeared opposite James Garner in an episode of the TV Western series Maverick titled ' Two Tickets to Ten Strike,' which also featured Adam West. Like many Warners contract players, Stevens was kept busy guest-starring on their regular TV shows such as The Ann Sothern Show, Maverick, Tenderfoot, 77 Sunset Strip and Cheyenne. In May 1959, she signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros. and Hawaiian Eye Stevens and James Garner from a 1959 episode of Maverick With Garner in Maverick Robert Conrad and Stevens, 1960 Conrad and Stevens, 1961 Stevens made another film with Damon, The Party Crashers (1958), before Paramount dropped her. Jerry Lewis saw her in Dragstrip Riot (1958), and cast her as his love interest in his 1958 production of Rock-A-Bye Baby, giving Stevens her first big break. In December 1957 Stevens signed a seven-year contract with Paramount starting at $600 a week going up to $1,500 a week. She also was in Eighteen and Anxious (1957) and an episode of The Bob Cummings Show ('Bob Goes Hillbilly'). Her first notable film role was in Young and Dangerous (1957) with Mark Damon, a low budget teen movie. Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father in 1953.

Ĭoming from a musical family, Stevens joined the singing group called The Fourmost with Tony Butala, who went on to fame as founder of The Lettermen. The event traumatized Stevens, and she was sent to live with family friends in Boonville, Missouri. Īt the age of 12, she witnessed a murder while waiting at a bus stop in Brooklyn. Her parents divorced and she lived with her grandparents and attended Catholic boarding schools. She adopted her father's stage name of Stevens as her own. Stevens is of Italian, Irish, German-Jewish and Polish-Jewish descent. Stevens was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingolia in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the daughter of musician Peter Ingolia (known as Teddy Stevens) and singer Eleanor McGinley. Jones, which she also wrote and produced, based partly on elements of her own childhood. In 2009, Stevens made her directorial debut with the feature film Saving Grace B. Stevens' later film roles include in the comedy Tapeheads (1988) and the drama Love Is All There Is (1996). Stevens continued to appear in film and television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as well as performing as a musical nightclub act. She garnered concurrent musical success when her single ' Sixteen Reasons' became a radio hit, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart in 1960. Stevens gained widespread recognition for her portrayal of 'Cricket' Blake on the network television series Hawaiian Eye, beginning in 1959.

She subsequently had a supporting role in the musical comedy Rock-A-Bye Baby (1958) opposite Jerry Lewis, followed by the drama film The Party Crashers (also 1958) opposite Frances Farmer. She began her career in 1957, making her feature film debut in Young and Dangerous, before releasing her debut album, Concetta, the following year. In 1953, at age 15, Stevens relocated with her father to Los Angeles. Born in Brooklyn, New York to musician parents, Stevens was raised there until age 12, when she was sent to live with family friends in rural Missouri after she witnessed a murder in the city. Connie Stevens (born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingolia August 8, 1938) is an American actress and singer.