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Edie Adams

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 66.167.48.185 (talk) at 22:11, 16 October 2008 (cite AP obit as source for new details). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Edie Adams
Born
Elizabeth Edith Enke
Other namesEdith Adams
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)Ernie Kovacs (1954-1962)
Marty Mills (1964)
Pete Candoli (1972-1989)

Edie Adams (April 16, 1927 – October 15, 2008) was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne.

Biography

Adams was born Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey.[1] She earned a vocal degree from the Juilliard School of Music and then graduated from Columbia School of Drama. In 1950, winning the "Miss U.S. Television" beauty contest led to an appearance with Milton Berle and on his television show.[2]

Adams began working regularly on television with comedian Ernie Kovacs and talk show pioneer Jack Paar. Kovacs and Adams married on September 12, 1954 and remained together until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962. They had a daughter, Mia Susan, who was also killed in a car accident (in 1982) at the age of 22. Kovacs was a noted cigar smoker, and Edie did a long-running series of TV commercials for Muriel Cigars. She remained the pitch-lady for Muriel well after Kovacs' death, intoning in a Mae West style and sexy outfit, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?"[2] Another commercial for Muriel cigars, which cost ten cents at the time, showed the alluring Adams singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me." Kovacs' network, ABC, gave Edie a chance with her own show, Here's Edie, which received five Emmy nominations but lasted only one-season. Edie made sporadic appearances through the decades on television, including on Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote and Designing Women.[2]

Adams married actor-photographer Marty Mills in 1964. He was the father of her surviving child, Josh Mills. The marriage ended in divorce. Her third, and last, marriage was to noted jazz trumpet player Pete Candoli, which lasted from 1972 until their separation in 1977. They divorced in 1989. They toured and performed together, with Candoli serving as her music director.

Adams starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town (1953) opposite Rosalind Russell (winning the Theatre World Award), and as Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner (1956), winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's original 1957 Cinderella broadcast. She played supporting roles in several well-known films in the 1960s, including "Miss Olsen" in The Apartment (1960). In 2003, as one of the last surviving headliners from the all-star movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, she joined actors Marvin Kaplan and Sid Caesar at 40th anniversary celebrations of the movie. She was also a favorite nightclub headliner. Adams "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde".[2]

She died of cancer and pneumonia in Los Angeles, where she resided, aged 81.[2]

Work

References

  1. ^ "Singer, Muriel cigar beauty Edie Adams dies at 81". Associated Press. CNN. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  2. ^ a b c d e Weber, Bruce (2008-10-16). "Edie Adams, Actress and Singer (and Flirt With a Cigar), Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-16.

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