K. T. Stevens

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K. T. Stevens
actress
Years active1921–1994
Spouse
(m. 1946; div. 1968)
Children2, including Chris Marlowe
Parent

K.T. Stevens (born Gloria Wood;[1] July 20, 1919 – June 13, 1994) was an American film and television actress.

Early years

Born in Hollywood,[2] Stevens was the daughter of film producer and director Sam Wood.[3] She made her first film appearance when she was just two years old in her father's second silent film, Peck's Bad Boy (1921).

As an adult, she changed her name to K.T. Stevens to distance herself from her father's fame. She initially called herself Katherine Stevens, which people often shorted to Katie, leading to the final version with the initials K.T.[4]

Stage

Stevens gained theatrical experience by doing

summer stock theatre in Skowhegan, Maine.[4] Her Broadway credits include The Land Is Bright, Yankee Point, Nine Girls and Laura.[5]

Film

Stevens appeared in a number of films in the 1940s and 1950s, including Kitty Foyle (1940, directed by her father) with Ginger Rogers, The Great Man's Lady (1942) with Barbara Stanwyck, Address Unknown (1944), Port of New York (1949) with Yul Brynner, Harriet Craig (1950) with Joan Crawford and Vice Squad (1953) with Edward G. Robinson. She also appeared as Phyllis in the 1969 hit movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Her last film role before her death from lung cancer was in the 1994 Whoopi Goldberg film Corrina, Corrina.

Television

Stevens acted on episodic television in such series as Crossroads, The Rebel, The Brothers Brannagan, and appeared on the daytime soap operas General Hospital as part of the original cast (1963–1965), portraying Peggy Mercer who was engaged to Dr. Steve Hardy, Julie Olson's mother-in-law Helen Martin (1966–1967, 1969) on Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless (1976–1981) as the veiled, facially burned Vanessa Prentiss. In the episode "New Neighbors" of the sitcom I Love Lucy, she played opposite Hayden Rorke as television actors who Lucy Ricardo mistakenly believes are foreign secret agents.

Stevens appeared in 1957 and again in 1961 in different roles on The Real McCoys. In 1959, she made her first of three guest appearances on Perry Mason as murder victim Ethel Garvin in "The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom." In 1962, she played Margit Bruner in "The Case of the Ancient Romeo," and in 1965, she played Alice Munford in "The Case of the Hasty Honeymooner." In this episode, she was featured as the wife of murderer Guy Munford, played by her then husband Hugh Marlowe. In 1961, she played Ada Kihlgren in "The Broken Wing", one of the latter episodes of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre. The same year, she appeared as Lorraine Miller in "A Great Day for a Scoundrel" on The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Between 1960 and 1963, she guest-starred five times on The Rifleman.[citation needed]

She portrayed Lieutenant Harriet Twain in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Return of the Fighting 69th".

Personal life

Stevens married actor Hugh Marlowe on May 7, 1946, in San Francisco.[6] They had two sons, Jeffrey and Christian.[1] The couple divorced in 1968.[citation needed]

Stevens and Marlowe acted in the Broadway production of Laura in which, credited as "A Girl" so as not to alert the audience, she played the title role (acted by Gene Tierney in the 1944 film Laura).

Stevens died at her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on June 13, 1994, aged 74, after battling lung cancer.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1921 Peck's Bad Boy Henry's Sweetheart
Don't Tell Everything Cullen's niece Lost film
1940 Kitty Foyle Molly
1942 The Great Man's Lady Girl Biographer
1944 Address Unknown Griselle Eisenstein aka Griselle Stone
1949 Port of New York Toni Cardell
1950 Harriet Craig Clare Raymond
1953 Vice Squad Ginny
Tumbleweed
Louella Buckley
1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Liza Season 2 Episode 5: "None Are So Blind"
Jungle Hell Dr. Pamela Ames
1958 Missile to the Moon The Lido
1962
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Alice Season 1 Episode 10: "Day of Reckoning"
1969 Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Phyllis
1970 Adam at 6 A.M. Uncredited
1973 Pets Mrs. Daubrey
1984 They're Playing with Fire Lillian Stevens
1994 Corrina, Corrina Mrs. Morgan

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "K. T. Stevens, 74, Actress and Unionist". The New York Times. June 22, 1994. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  2. . Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  3. ^ "Son Born to K. T. Stevens". The New York Times. United Press. July 8, 1948. p. 19. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  4. ^
    Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ "("K.T. Stevens" search)". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  6. ^ "K.T. Stevens Wed on Coast". The New York Times. United Press. May 8, 1946. p. 42. Retrieved June 2, 2023.

External links