Carol Lynley, best known for her roles in films such as 1959s Blue Denim and 1972s The
Poseidon Adventure, was a blond-haired, blue-eyed actress and former child model who boasted
a tremendous amount of star power in the 1960s in particular.
Sadly, she passed away back in 2019 after suffering a heart attack at her Pacific Palisades
home in Los Angeles.
But even though she is no longer with us, she graced this world for 77 years – and
in that time, she definitely left her mark on the entertainment industry.
Perhaps you're not all that you're familiar with are those two films we just mentioned,
or maybe you recall her appearing in those and other offerings but are curious to learn
what her later career looked like afterward - because, at a certain point it almost seemed
like Lynley fell off the face of the earth.
Join FactsVerse as we take a look back on Carol Lynley's life and career while revealing
what caused her once-thriving career to all but fizzle out.
Lynley Was A Child Model
Carol was born in Manhattan, New York, on February 13, 1942, to parents Frances and
Cyril Jones.
Her father was of Irish ancestry, while her mother's side of the family was English, Scottish,
Welsh, and German.
Lynley took up dance as a child and always had an appreciation for theater.
She learned ballet at the age of seven and became a reasonably successful model by the
time she was ten.
When she was still a child, her parents got divorced.
To make ends meet, Carol's mother worked as a waitress up until the income that Lynley
made as a model was enough to support them.
To earn a little extra cash, Lynley took a job as a teen working for a Sears & Roebuck
department store, but after she became nationally recognized as the 'the Coca-Cola Girl' she
no longer needed to work other jobs to get by.
Carol originally was named Carole Ann Jones, but after discovering that another person
by that same name, who was seven years her elder, was already acting under that name,
she adopted the name Carol Lynley to set herself apart.
Lynley first appeared on local TV when she was 14.
She made subsequent appearances on live national programs such as The Goodyear Television Playhouse,
Danger Route, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
In 1957, at age 15, Lynley appeared on the cover of Life magazine alongside a caption
that read “Carol Lynley, 15, Busy Career Girl”.
Throughout her teenage years, Lynley made appearances in several Pepsodent and Clairol
commercials and advertisements that received national attention.
In 1955, Carol made her first appearance on the Broadway stage in a production of Moss
Hart's Anniversary Waltz.
She went on to play the role of Dame Sybil Thorndyke's granddaughter in the Broadway
production, The Potting Shed.
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Keep watching to learn more about Carol Lynley's life and career.
Lynley's Jump To Film
Early in her career, Lynley set herself apart from other similarly aged actresses by appearing
in both the Broadway and Hollywood screen adaptations of the controversial coming-of-age
drama Blue Denim, in which she and her fellow teenage co-star Brandon deWilde had to deal
with the repercussions of having an unwanted pregnancy and subsequently opting for a risky
and illegal abortion.
For her appearance in that production, she won the Theater World Award for being one
of the most promising new stars of the 1956-67 Broadway Season.
That accolade helped her land a seven-year contract with 20th-Century Fox.
Carol Lynley's film career began in 1958 when she appeared in the Disney feature The Light
in the Forest.
A year later, she appeared in Holiday for Lovers.
Lynley was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the female
category in 1959.
In 1960, she once again received a Golden Globe nod for Most Promising Newcomer for
her performance in Blue Denim.
That same year, she got married to her publicist Michael Selsman.
That marriage produced one child, a daughter named Jill Selsman, who would later direct
short films.
Lynley and Selsman would divorce four years later, in 1964.
A couple other 20th-Century productions that Lynley appeared in include 1959s Return to
Peyton Place and 1963s The Stripper.
The former headlined the burgeoning actress as a best-selling novelist who ends up controversially
divulging a town's darkest scandals and secrets.
Lynley went on to be featured in many 1960s films, oftentimes portraying a 'girl next
door' type.
Aside from Return to Peyton Place, she is best known for appearing in films such as
Under the Yum Yum Tree, Bunny Lake is Missing, The Pleasure Seekers, and The Cardinal.
In 1965, Lynley posed nude for the March issue of Playboy magazine.
That same year she starred in a biopic film of the 1930s Hollywood sexpot Jean Harlow
in its titular role.
While the quality of her movies clearly began to take a hit after the mid-1960s, she still
managed to appear in several warmly-received B-films such as 1967s The Shuttered Room and
1969s Once You Kiss a Stranger.
In 1972 she appeared Irwin Allan's The Poseidon Adventure, which saw her lip-syncing the Oscar
Award-winning song “The Morning After”.
In that film, she portrayed one of the ill-fated passengers who ended up getting thrown in
Davy Jones' Locker.
Variety praised her performance in that film called it 'especially effective'.
Aside from The Poseidon Adventure, from 1967 onward, Lynley predominately appeared in television
offerings, including guest-starring spots in shows such as Mannix, The Invaders, Hawaii
Five-O, and a pilot for a 1972 show called Kolchak: The Night Stalker in which she played
Carl Kolchak's girlfriend.
Other notable credits from this era include turns on The Man from UNCLE, It Takes a Thief,
Night Gallery, Hart to Hart, and Charlie's Angels.
Lynley's Career Continued To Decline
Carol's career began to decline in the late 60s and early 70s.
Around this time, she not only appeared in those B-films we already discussed, but she
also took roles in other low-budget productions such as The Maltese Bippy, The Four Deuces,
Norwood, Bad Georgia Road, and The Washington Affair.
The 80s were a particularly inactive decade for her acting career, but in 1992 she acted
in the low-budget thriller Spirits, in which she played a nun.
In 1997, she appeared in the movie Flypaper, and two years later, she starred in another
low-budget offering titled Drowning on Dry Land.
While she at one point headlined big-screen blockbusters, most of the low-budget and critically
panned films she appeared in during the later years of her acting career were straight-to-video
productions.
In 2000, Lynley gave an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle in which she discussed
how difficult it was for a middle-aged actress such as herself to find roles.
Although she was clearly feeling a bit dejected at that time, she made the prediction that
she would have a career comeback in her old age.
She argued that she was still a very talented actress who had her 'head screwed on straight',
wasn't in rehab and still looked good for her gage.
While that prediction proved to never come to fruition, in 2003, she played a grandmother
in a film called Light in the Forest, which was titled strikingly similar to the one that
had launched her career, The Light in the Forest.
2006 she did appear in a 30-minute film titled VIC, which was co-written and directed by
Sylvester Stallone's son Sage Stallone.
After acting in that all-but-forgotten project, Carol Lynley retired from acting.
Lynley's Death And Enduring Legacy
Lynley, at the age of 77, died of a heart attack on September 3, 2019 at her home in
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
Per her wishes, she was cremated, and her ashes were spread at sea off the coast of
Southern California.
While she starred and co-starred in numerous hit films, Carol Lynley's biggest claim to
fame will likely be remembered as her role in 1972s The Poseidon Adventure.
This adventure-disaster film featured an ensemble cast that included five Oscar winners, including
Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters.
It revolved around the tale of the fictional sea-faring vessel the SS Poseidon.
The boat was an aging luxury cruise liner on her final voyage from New York City to
Athens, after which it was scheduled to be scrapped.
On New Year's Eve, the Poseidon got hit by a massive tsunami capsizing it in the process.
Passengers and crew members were trapped inside as it sunk below the waters while a preacher
attempted to lead a small band of survivors to safety.
The Poseidon Adventure went on to influence other disaster flicks of its era, including
the two 1974 films Earthquake and The Towering Inferno.
In theaters in December 1972, and in 1973, it was the highest-grossing film of the year,
taking in $125 million worldwide.
It was honored with two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, A British Academy Film Award,
and A Motion Picture Sound Editors Award.
Carol Lynley portrayed the character Nonnie Parry but declined to appear in the 1979 sequel
Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, which was universally panned by critics and flopped at the box office.
At the moment, Carol Lynley has yet to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but
we think she definitely deserves one.
Sure, she's no Ava Gardner of Zsa Zsa Gabor, but she unquestionably proved to the world
that she had some serious acting chops and looks to kill.
What's your favorite Carol Lynley film?
And do you think she's received the credit she is due over the years?
Let us know in the comments section down below.
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