Venetia Stevenson

Infobox Actor
name = Venetia Stevenson


birthname = Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson
birthdate = birth date |1938|3|10
birthplace = Flagicon|England London, England
deathdate =
deathplace =
spouse = Russ Tamblyn (1956-1957) (divorce) Don Everly (1962-1970) (divorced)
children = Stacy Everly and Erin Everly

Venetia Stevenson (b. March 10, 1938), born Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson in London, is a motion picture actress.

Family

Stevenson is the daughter of Oscar nominated director Robert Stevenson and actress Anna Lee. She was born in London in 1938, but moved to Hollywood within a year when her father signed as a director for David Selznick. [Fredda Dudley, "The Beautiful British", Photoplay / Movie Mirror, May 1943] She was educated in exclusive private schools."Dream Girl Venetia's Career Is Nightmare", Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1959, Page E1.] When her parents divorced in 1944, she stayed with her father and new stepmother, Mrs. Frances Stevenson. "Film's Venetia Stevenson Wins Divorce, Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1957, Page B1] Still, her theatrical debut 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. ["Lamas, Dahl Praised For Iliom", Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1955, Page 15]

Private life

Stevenson married MGM actor-dancer, Russ Tamblyn, on Valentine's Day in 1956. She was 17 when they wed in the Wayfarers Chapel in Palos Verdes. ["Actor-Model To Wed On Valentine's Day", Long Beach Independent-Press-Telegram, February 12, 1956, Page 12.] She was divorced from Tamblyn in April 1957,but the two remained friends. ["Hedda Hopper Hollywood", The Lima News, July 4, 1959, Page 19.] 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.

Venetia married Don Everly of the singing Everly Brothers in 1962 and she retired from acting. The couple had two daughters, Stacy Everly and Erin Everly both actresses, and a son Edan Everly, a musician. She divorced Don Everly in 1970 and has not remarried.

Movie and television actress

Stevenson was under contract to RKO Pictures in November 1956."Grossinger News-Notes", New York Times, November 11, 1956, Page 175.]

Hedda Hopper named Stevenson to her list of top movie newcomers in January 1957. Some others selected were Jayne Mansfield, Don Murray, Hope Lange, Jean Seberg, Carroll Baker, and John Kerr. Hopper said of Stevenson, then 18, she is "the most purely beautiful of all the new crop of stars." ["Hedda Hopper Names Top Movie Discoveries During 1956", Los Angeles Times, January 6, 1957, Page E1.] In March 1957 Stevenson was in the cast of the CBS Playhouse 90 production of "Charley's Aunt". Tom Tryon, Jackie Coogan, and Jeanette MacDonald are some of the other actors in the television movie. ["Terhune Stories Will Be TV Series", New YorkTimes, March 13, 1957, Page 63.] Stevenson plays "Peggy McTavish" in "Darby's Rangers (1958 film)", a Warner Bros. release where she is 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. ["Screen: Amorous G.I.'s" New York Times, February 13, 1958, Page 23.] The western drama, "The Day of the Outlaw" (1959), features Robert Ryan as a rugged cattleman and Tina Louise as his mistress. Stevenson is among the supportingcast along with Nehemiah Persoff. ["Day of the Outlaw Snowbound Western", September 10, 1959, Page C15] Stevenson is in the English film "Jack The Ripper" (1960. The melodrama features Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall, and Eddie Byrne. ["5 Films Will Open Here During Week", New York Times,February 15, 1960, Page 22.] 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. ["Columbia To Back Italian Producer", New YorkTimes, December 14, 1960, Page 51.]

In addition to Playhouse 90 Stevenson is in episodes of Cheyenne (TV series) (1957), Colt .45 (TV series) (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). 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" (1960), and "The Sergeant Was a Lady" (1961).

Trivia

Venetia Stevenson is a former Miss Los Angeles Press Club as are Marilyn Monroe, Myrna Hansen, and Marla English. ["Mayor Will Crown Miss Press Club", Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1961, Page G10.]

Stevenson enjoys riding horses as an activity"Louella Parsons", Lincoln Evening Journal, July 26, 1959, Page 18.] 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. ["Venetia's Only In Love With Riding Horses", Los Angeles Times, November 3, 1957, Page F1.]

External links

*imdb name|id=0829067|name=Venetia Stevenson

References