Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker

Date of Birth:

May 28, 1931

Place of Birth:

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA

Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in the adaptation of two Tennessee Williams plays into the film Baby Doll in 1956. In the mid-1960s, as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, Baker became a sex symbol after appearing as a hedonistic widow in The Carpetbaggers (1964). The film's producer, Joseph E. Levine, cast her in Sylvia before giving her the role of Jean Harlow in the biopic Harlow (1965). Despite significant prepublicity, Harlow was a critical failure, and Baker relocated to Italy in 1966 amid a legal dispute over her contract with Paramount and Levine's overseeing of her career. In Europe, she spent the next 10 years starring in hard-edged giallo and horror films, including Romolo Guerrieri's The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), a series of four films with Umberto Lenzi beginning with Orgasmo (1969) and ending with Knife of Ice (1972), and Corrado Farina's Baba Yaga (1973). Baker appeared in supporting roles in several acclaimed dramas in the 1980s, including the drama Star 80 (1983) as the mother of murder victim Dorothy Stratten, and the racial drama Native Son (1986), based on the novel by Richard Wright. Through the 1990s Baker had guest roles in several television series, such as Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law, and Roswell. She formally retired from acting in 2003.

filmography:

The Harem The Harem

1967

The Body The Body

1974

Skeletons Skeletons

1997

Cyber Eden Cyber Eden

1992

On Fire On Fire

1987

Dalva Dalva

1996

Cyclone Cyclone

1978

Ironweed Ironweed

1987

Paranoia Paranoia

1969

Bad Bad

1977

Baby Doll Baby Doll

1956

The Game The Game

1997

Giant Giant

1956

Star 80 Star 80

1983

Harlow Harlow

1965

Baba Yaga Baba Yaga

1973

Bloodbath Bloodbath

1975

Sylvia Sylvia

1965

Native Son Native Son

1986

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