Tom Lisanti is an award-winning author/film historian specializing in1960s/1970s film and television. He began writing professionally in 1998. His newest book is Ryan’s Hope: An Oral History of Daytime’s Groundbreaking Soap from Citadel Press/Kensington Books released in October 2023. Look for his next book, Dueling Harlows: The Race to Bring the Actress’ Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland & Company in late spring 2024.
Although my Carol Lynley book (it is NOT a bio, as some disappointed folks seemed to believe, but a career retrospective) focuses on her genre work, I do discuss her work in comedies, romances, melodramas, etc. One of her most praise-worthy roles was that of the ill-fated Mona Fermoyle who goes from nice Irish Catholic girl to a tango-dancing prostitute in Otto Preminger’s Golden Globe-winning, multi-million dollar epic The Cardinal (1963). It traced the rise of Steven Fermoyle (Tom Tryon) from parish priest in Boston ca. 1910s to Cardinal in the 1940s. When the runaway Mona is found she is about to give birth and her priest brother must decide to either save the mother or the baby. He chooses the later due to Catholic dogma, and the final scene of Mona being rolled to her death and letting out one final scream, “Steve!” is chilling.