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Emmy-Nominated Actress Dies

Mar 24, 2017  •  Post A Comment

An actress and singer who was known as one of the most stylish actresses in Hollywood in the 1950s has died. Lola Albright died Thursday at a home in Toluca Lake, Calif., according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 92.

Albright became a star in feature films in the late 1940s and early 1950s, then transitioned to a long career in television. She is probably best known for her run as the sultry singer Edie Hart on the detective series “Peter Gunn” from 1958-1961. She received an Emmy nomination for the role in 1959.

“While the series was on the air, Albright released the album ‘Dreamsville,’ backed by Henry Mancini’s orchestra (he, of course, composed the theme song for ‘Peter Gunn’), in 1959. She had done an album two years earlier, ‘Lola Wants You,'” THR reports.

Her other TV work included a stint on “Peyton Place,” where she filled in for Dorothy Malone in the role of Constance after Malone suffered a pulmonary embolism. Albright also had a run on “Burke’s Law” in the mid-1960s and a recurring role on “The Bob Cummings Show” in the 1950s, along with guest appearances on “Gunsmoke,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Wagon Train,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and many other shows.

“On the big screen, the blue-eyed blonde was memorable in a leading role as an aging burlesque stripper who seduces a teenager (Scott Marlowe) in ‘A Cold Wind in August’ (1961), and she received the best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for portraying Tuesday Weld’s suicidal mother in ‘Lord Love a Duck’ (1966),” THR reports.

Albright’s other feature film work included a memorable performance in the Kirk Douglas boxing classic “Champion” (1949) and the 1950 film “The Good Humor Man,” in which she played opposite her future husband, Jack Carson.

Here’s a clip of Albright performing “How High the Moon” on “Peter Gunn” …

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