Venetia Stevenson
Encyclopedia
Venetia Stevenson born Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson is a retired film and television actress.
and actress Anna Lee
. Her brother is actor Jeffrey Byron
. She was born in London, England, in 1938, but moved to Hollywood within a year when her father signed as a director for David Selznick. She was educated in exclusive private schools in California. When her parents divorced in 1944, she stayed with her father and new stepmother, Frances . Her theatrical debut, however, was with her mother in Liliom
, a play produced by the Sombrero Theater, in Phoenix, Arizona
, in April 1955 and also with the husband and wife team of Fernando Lamas
and Arlene Dahl
.
, on Valentine's Day
in February 1956. She was 17 when they wed in the Wayfarers Chapel
in Palos Verdes
. She was divorced from Tamblyn in April 1957, but the two remained friends. A widely-reproduced photo shows Stevenson calmly walking down a Los Angeles street, seemingly unaware that Tamblyn is doing a spectacular backward aerial handspring a few inches away from her.
Stevenson married Don Everly of the singing Everly Brothers in 1962 and retired from acting. The couple had two daughters, Stacy Everly and Erin Everly both actresses, and a son Edan Everly
, a musician. She divorced Everly in 1970 and has not remarried.
in November 1956.
Hedda Hopper
named Stevenson to her list of top movie newcomers in January 1957, alongside Jayne Mansfield
. Hopper said of Stevenson, then 18, she is "the most purely beautiful of all the new crop of stars."
In March 1957, Stevenson was in the cast of the CBS
Playhouse 90
adaptation of Charley's Aunt
. Tom Tryon
, Jackie Coogan
, and Jeanette MacDonald
were some of the other actors in the television movie. Stevenson played Peggy McTavish in Darby's Rangers
, a Warner Bros.
release in which she was paired off with Peter Brown
. She is one of the women who is pursued by actors cast as members of an American unit of the same name during World War II
. The movie stars James Garner
and is directed by William Wellman.
She appeared in the western drama The Day of the Outlaw (1959), starring Robert Ryan
and Tina Louise
. Stevenson is in the English film Jack The Ripper (1960. The melodrama
features Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall, and Eddie Byrne
. The Studs Lonigan
trilogy by James Farrell
was brought to the screen in December 1960. Stevenson has a primary role, as do Frank Gorshin
and Christopher Knight. Among the other motion pictures in which she appears are Island of Lost Women (1959), Jet Over The Atlantic (1959), The Big Night (1960), Seven Ways from Sundown
(1960), The City of the Dead aka Horror Hotel, (1960), and The Sergeant Was a Lady (1961).
Stevenson appeared on television, in episodes of Cheyenne
(1957), Colt .45
(1958), Sugarfoot
(1957-1958), 3 episodes, 77 Sunset Strip
(1958), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
(1958), Lawman
(1958), The Millionaire (1959), The Third Man (1959), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1960).
, Myrna Hansen
, and Marla English
.
Stevenson enjoys riding horses as an activity and also playing table tennis
. She won $300 in prizes at a horse show and participated at the National Horse Show at the Cow Palace
in San Francisco in November 1957.
She is also the face of Sweetheart Stout, which marked its 50th anniversary of using her image used on the cans and bottles in 2008.
Family
Stevenson is the daughter of Oscar nominated director Robert StevensonRobert Stevenson (director)
Robert Stevenson was an English film writer and director. He was educated at Cambridge University where he became the president of both the Liberal Club and the Cambridge Union Society....
and actress Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
. Her brother is actor Jeffrey Byron
Jeffrey Byron
Jeffrey Byron is an American actor and writer of screenplays. Bryon has acted in both film and television, and co-wrote one movie script ....
. She was born in London, England, in 1938, but moved to Hollywood within a year when her father signed as a director for David Selznick. She was educated in exclusive private schools in California. When her parents divorced in 1944, she stayed with her father and new stepmother, Frances . Her theatrical debut, however, was with her mother in Liliom
Liliom
Liliom is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was very famous in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.- Plot :...
, a play produced by the Sombrero Theater, in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, in April 1955 and also with the husband and wife team of Fernando Lamas
Fernando Lamas
Fernando Álvaro Lamas was an Argentine-born actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early life and career:...
and Arlene Dahl
Arlene Dahl
Arlene Carol Dahl is an American actress and former MGM contract star, who achieved notability during the 1950s. She is the mother of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early years:...
.
Private life
Stevenson married MGM actor-dancer, Russ TamblynRuss Tamblyn
Russell Irving "Russ" Tamblyn is an American film and television actor, who is arguably best known for his performance in the 1961 movie musical West Side Story as Riff, the leader of the Jets gang....
, on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
in February 1956. She was 17 when they wed in the Wayfarers Chapel
Wayfarers Chapel
Wayfarers Chapel, also known as "The Glass Church" is located in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. It is noted for its unique modern architecture and location on cliffs above Pacific Ocean...
in Palos Verdes
Palos Verdes
Palos Verdes is a name often used to refer to a group of coastal cities in the Palos Verdes Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S...
. She was divorced from Tamblyn in April 1957, but the two remained friends. A widely-reproduced photo shows Stevenson calmly walking down a Los Angeles street, seemingly unaware that Tamblyn is doing a spectacular backward aerial handspring a few inches away from her.
Stevenson married Don Everly of the singing Everly Brothers in 1962 and retired from acting. The couple had two daughters, Stacy Everly and Erin Everly both actresses, and a son Edan Everly
Edan Everly
Edan Donald Everly is a guitarist, musician, singer songwriter. He is the son of Don Everly and nephew to Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers. His mother is actress Venetia Stevenson. Edan's siblings are sisters Erin Everly and Stacy Everly...
, a musician. She divorced Everly in 1970 and has not remarried.
Movie and television actress
Stevenson was under contract to RKO PicturesRKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
in November 1956.
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
named Stevenson to her list of top movie newcomers in January 1957, alongside Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
. Hopper said of Stevenson, then 18, she is "the most purely beautiful of all the new crop of stars."
In March 1957, Stevenson was in the cast of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
adaptation of Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
. Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon was an American film and television actor, best known for playing the title role in the film The Cardinal and the Walt Disney television character Texas John Slaughter...
, Jackie Coogan
Jackie Coogan
John Leslie Coogan , known professionally as Jackie Coogan, was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Many years later, he became known as Uncle Fester on 1960s sitcom The Addams Family...
, and Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
were some of the other actors in the television movie. Stevenson played Peggy McTavish in Darby's Rangers
Darby's Rangers (1958 film)
Darby's Rangers is a 1958 war film starring James Garner as William Orlando Darby, World War II commander of the 1st Ranger Battalion. The movie was shot by Warner Brothers Studios in black and white to match wartime stock footage included in the production and was directed by William...
, a Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
release in which she was paired off with Peter Brown
Peter Brown (actor)
Peter Brown is an American television actor known for his role as Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell in the 1958 Warner Bros. western series Lawman.-Early life:...
. She is one of the women who is pursued by actors cast as members of an American unit of the same name during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The movie stars James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and is directed by William Wellman.
She appeared in the western drama The Day of the Outlaw (1959), starring Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
and Tina Louise
Tina Louise
Tina Louise is an American actress, singer, and author. She is best known for her role as the "movie star" Ginger Grant on the television situation comedy Gilligan's Island .-Early life:...
. Stevenson is in the English film Jack The Ripper (1960. The melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
features Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall, and Eddie Byrne
Eddie Byrne
Eddie Byrne was an Irish actor. Outside Ireland he is probably best known for his minor role as General Vanden Willard in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but fans of cult sci-fi might also remember him as the skeptical Inspector Mulrooney in The Mummy and as the kindly Dr. Reginald Landers in...
. The Studs Lonigan
Studs Lonigan
Studs Lonigan is the title of a novel trilogy by American author James T. Farrell: Young Lonigan, The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the Studs Lonigan trilogy at 29th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.The...
trilogy by James Farrell
James Farrell
James Farrell or Jimmy Farrell may refer to:* James Gordon Farrell , Anglo-Irish writer of historical novels, better known as "J.G. Farrell"* James T. Farrell , American socialist novelist* James A...
was brought to the screen in December 1960. Stevenson has a primary role, as do Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
and Christopher Knight. Among the other motion pictures in which she appears are Island of Lost Women (1959), Jet Over The Atlantic (1959), The Big Night (1960), Seven Ways from Sundown
Seven Ways from Sundown
Seven Ways from Sundown is a 1960 Western film about an inexperienced Texas Ranger, played by Audie Murphy, who is sent to bring in a dangerous, if charming, outlaw played by Barry Sullivan. It is based on the novel of the same name by Clair Huffaker, who also wrote the script...
(1960), The City of the Dead aka Horror Hotel, (1960), and The Sergeant Was a Lady (1961).
Stevenson appeared on television, in episodes of Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
(1957), Colt .45
Colt .45 (TV series)
Colt .45 is an American Western television series shown on ABC between 1957 and 1960. The half-hour show derives from the 1950 Warner Brothers film of the same name starring Randolph Scott and formed part of the William T...
(1958), Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...
(1957-1958), 3 episodes, 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
(1958), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
(1958), Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
(1958), The Millionaire (1959), The Third Man (1959), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
(1960).
Trivia
Stevenson is a former Miss Los Angeles Press Club as are Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, Myrna Hansen
Myrna Hansen
-Education:She graduated from Carl Schurz High School in Chicago, Illinois, in June 1953. Prior to competing in the1953 Miss Universe contest, Hansen planned to study animal husbandryin Colorado...
, and Marla English
Marla English
Marla English is a motion picture actress from San Diego, California who made movies in the 1950s.English was originally signed to a contract by Paramount Pictures after winning a San Diego beauty pageant...
.
Stevenson enjoys riding horses as an activity and also playing table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
. She won $300 in prizes at a horse show and participated at the National Horse Show at the Cow Palace
Cow Palace
Cow Palace is an indoor arena, in Daly City, California, situated on the city's border with neighboring San Francisco, notable as a sporting arena.-History:...
in San Francisco in November 1957.
She is also the face of Sweetheart Stout, which marked its 50th anniversary of using her image used on the cans and bottles in 2008.