Tom Lisanti

In March 1965, Carol Lynley took her new sex kitten persona to new heights when she posed semi-nude in the pages of Playboy in a pictorial by Sam Shaw entitled “Carol Lynley Grows Up.” She shocked the Hollywood establishment with Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons leading the charge against her calling her ‘young and foolish.” Carol’s response, “What’s all the excitement about? It’s only skin.” Prior to Lynley’s disrobing, actresses who posed for Playboy were either unknown starlets (i.e. Joan Staley, Marianna Gaba, Dolores Wells, etc), buxom fifties blondes of the Jayne Mansfield type, or more free-spirited European sexpots (i.e. Elke Sommer, Ursula Andress, etc.). Carol opened the floodgates and was soon followed by Joanna Pettet, Sharon Tate, Barbara McNair, Sherry Jackson, Alexandra Hay, Lana Wood, and others. More in my upcoming BearManor Media book Carol Lynley: Her Film and TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy and Suspense

One of my favorite Carol Lynley movies (and a staple of ABC’s The 4:30 Movie) was The Pleasure Seekers (1964) a remake of Three Coins in the Fountain. Lynley (a news wire service bureau secretary), Ann-Margret (as a performer) and Pamela Tiffin (a newly arrived tourist) are three lovely gals looking for fun and romance in Spain. Beautifully filmed on location in Madrid and Barcelona, and enhanced with an Oscar-nominated musical score, the film is perfect kitschy 1960s cotton candy entertainment. Also with Tony Franciosa, Brian Keith, Gardner McKay and Gene Tierney. More in my upcoming BearManor Media book Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy and Suspense

Shock Treatment (1964) was Carol Lynley’s first theatrical foray into the realm of suspense. She played a manic depressive afraid of a man’s touch who falls for Stuart Whitman an actor paid to feign madness to find where crazy gardner Roddy McDowall hid the loot after he killed his rich employer. Steely Lauren Bacall runs the nuthouse and loves to use shock treatment on the inmates. It was not a hit. Perhaps if Anthony Perkins who campaigned for the lead was cast, it may have done better. This was the first of many times Carol and Roddy would work together. More in my BearManor Media book Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy & Suspense