Mysterious 1970 'suicide' of Burt Reynolds girlfriend
Sky
::: Some researchers suggest there may have been foul play
::: involved, because just before her death she had signed a
::: contract to do a new Aaron Spelling series, "The Most
::: Deadly Game"(which eventually flickered to brief life in '70-
::: '71 with Yvette Mimieux as the star). Inger seemed excited
::: about the new project, and had even bought some new
::: clothes in preparation for it. When she was found dead, her
::: phone was not in the living room where it usually was, her
::: bedroom carpet had been pulled back mysteriously, there
::: were abrasions on her arm, and in her system was asthma
::: medication that she didn't ever need. The autopsy revealed
::: that she had over two-dozen pills in her, plus an amount of
::: alcohol that was twice the legal limit. The three scenarios
::: for her death: she was murdered (and the scene was made
::: to look like a suicide), she died accidentally after
::: consuming too much wine and too many pills, or she
::: succeeded in committing suicide...
I know that Burt Reynolds was dating Inger at the time of her
death and was thought to be the last person who had seen her
alive. Inger seems to have been a great person, very caring,
and a talented actress. She was only 35.
Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her
death?
* *Sky
Drinking eight glasses of water a day is a great idea if you work
in a bathroom.
Kris Baker
"Sky" <Sky-Di...@no-dreck-please.comcast.net>
wrote in message news:BbudnTK626A...@comcast.com...
> I know that Burt Reynolds was dating Inger at the time of her
> death and was thought to be the last person who had seen her
> alive. Inger seems to have been a great person, very caring,
> and a talented actress. She was only 35.
>
> Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her
> death?
>
> * *Sky
She had been psychologically troubled for many years, and
had barely survived a suicide attempt a few years previously.
She wasn't really Reynolds' girlfriend; she had been secretly
married to a black musician for several years.
Kris.
mslinda
There's a book called Fallen Angels that has an entire chapter on Inger
Stevens. She may have been dating Reynolds, but she was married to
someone else at the time and had previous problems with alcohol, pills
and depression.
Linda C.
Despised Truth Teller
A white woman married to an African-American dies at a young
age.
How shocking!
bev
photographs showing Burt arriving for an inquest about Inger's murder. (The
inquest was held as it was investigated and found to be murder.)
He was filming "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" at the time and was
supposedly having an affair with Sarah, the woman who was also ordered to go
to the inquest, and was in the movie with Burt. I cannot remember her last
name, but Burt and Sarah were both cleared. There were witnesses to both
alibis.
"mslinda" <msl...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3E4AD498...@earthlink.net...
Tina
and was
supposedly having an affair with Sarah, the woman who was also ordered to go
to the inquest, and was in the movie with Burt. I cannot remember her last
name, but Burt and Sarah were both cleared. There were witnesses to both
alibis. >>
Sarah Miles - a British actress. Wonder whatever happened to her....
Annie RUtahkn2Me
>In "Burt Reynolds: The Unauthorized Biography" There is a chapter with some
>photographs showing Burt arriving for an inquest about Inger's murder. (The
>inquest was held as it was investigated and found to be murder.)
>He was filming "The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" at the time and was
>supposedly having an affair with Sarah, the woman who was also ordered to go
>to the inquest, and was in the movie with Burt. I cannot remember her last
>name, but Burt and Sarah were both cleared. There were witnesses to both
>alibis.
The inquest you're referring to had nothing to do with Inger Stevens' death.
She died in 1970.
"The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing" was released in 1973. It was probably filmed
no earlier than 1971.
During the filming, someone died in a suspicious manner on location. Sorry,
but I don't remember the details.
If you've seen a picture of Burt Reynolds and Sarah Miles arriving for an
inquest, the inquest was about the location death during the filming of "Cat
Dancing".
Does anyone remember details of the suspicious death during the filming of "Cat
Dancing"? It was a very big story at the time.
Annie RU
Just Click and Help Protect the World's Oceans
Please go to: http://oceans.care2.com/
bev
thought it was about Inger. I dont know what happened to sarah miles.
"Annie RUtahkn2Me" <rutah...@aol.comspamnot> wrote in message
news:20030214002624...@mb-mk.aol.com...
su-t...@webtv.net
----------
quotes:
"Sky" <Sky-Di...@no-dreck-please.comcast.net> wrote in message
news:BbudnTK626A...@comcast.com...
I know that Burt Reynolds was dating Inger at the time of her death and
was thought to be the last person who had seen her alive. Inger seems to
have been a great person, very caring, and a talented actress. She was
only 35.
Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her death?
* *Sky
----------
She had been psychologically troubled for many years, and had barely
survived a suicide attempt a few years previously. She wasn't really
Reynolds' girlfriend; she had been secretly married to a black musician
for several years.
Kris.
======
Years ago, I saw a documentary on TV which stated, that Inger had a very
troubled relationship with her husband, that she was in the process of
divorcing him, that she was moving on with her life, ... & that the
husband was Not pleased with this [with her success, her new show, her
love-life/lover (& possibly her new husband-to-be), etc.], & that he was
possibly violent towards her. Then, she was found dead. ???
Susan, Su_Texas my opinions
Lisa Pease
>
> ::: Some researchers suggest there may have been foul play
> ::: involved, because just before her death she had signed a
> ::: contract to do a new Aaron Spelling series, "The Most
> ::: Deadly Game"(which eventually flickered to brief life in '70-
> ::: '71 with Yvette Mimieux as the star). Inger seemed excited
> ::: about the new project,
But it was an acting job. She would have gotten paid for pretending
to be someone else. She didn't play herself on radio talk shows as
Dorothy Kilgallen did. Theories about Kilgallen's fishy death hold
more water and fewer fish.
and had even bought some new
> ::: clothes in preparation for it.
Wow.
When she was found dead, her
> ::: phone was not in the living room where it usually was,
No cell phones then. Many celebrities could afford very long
extension cords. That's the kind Marilyn Monroe used to talk to Joe
DiMaggio Jr. a few hours before she died according to several books,
*not just* the DiMaggio book currently at Waldenbooks.
her
> ::: bedroom carpet had been pulled back mysteriously, there
> ::: were abrasions on her arm, and in her system was asthma
> ::: medication that she didn't ever need.
How do you know she didn't need it? After decades of publicity people
lying about drinking and drug binges, do you think they'd advertise
someone's asthma?
The autopsy revealed
> ::: that she had over two-dozen pills in her, plus an amount of
> ::: alcohol that was twice the legal limit. The three scenarios
> ::: for her death: she was murdered (and the scene was made
> ::: to look like a suicide), she died accidentally after
> ::: consuming too much wine and too many pills, or she
> ::: succeeded in committing suicide...
The first scenario is out. Burt Reynolds was an obscure actor in 1970
on the same level as Peter Deuel.
>
> I know that Burt Reynolds was dating Inger at the time of her
> death and was thought to be the last person who had seen her
> alive. Inger seems to have been a great person, very caring,
> and a talented actress. She was only 35.
Dorothy Dandridge was "a great person, very caring" at age 41, but she
also had problems.
>
> Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her
> death?
Everything that is known has been published already or broadcast on
"Mysteries and Scandals" with A J Benza. That Burt Reynolds has never
discussed Ms. Stevens on camera is totally understandable. He doesn't
discuss Judy Carne, either. Why drag a screwed-up old woman through
the mud? Maybe they hurt themselves or their boyfriends (Inger
attempted suicide after breaking up with Bing Crosby in the late
1950s), but that's much different from harming strangers. Talk about
Lizzie Grubman and Dorothy Kilgallen, but leave Inger Stevens and Judy
Carne alone.
Lisa Pease
You're right. Interracial marriages were taboo in 1970 even for AFTRA
members. Even today only very famous people can get away with it.
Inger wasn't that famous in 1970. Her TV sitcom had been dead for
four years. It never entered syndication. The child actors in it
never got attention for robbing a video store in Nevada or beating up
a transvestite hooker. Nobody would care if they did that. Inger's
jazz musician husband was Isaiah Jones. In the late 1960s jazz fans
and viewers of family sitcoms were totally separate demographics.
Inger and Isaiah's "secret" marriage got exposed in Dorothy
Kilgallen's newspaper column in October 1965, just a few weeks before
Dorothy died. Of course, nobody would have considered murdering
Kilgallen over *that.* She knew jazz.
The fact that Inger might have boinked Burt Reynolds immediately
before she died means little. Casual sex was everywhere on the day
she died. That's a lot different from getting married. It was
shortly after the popularity of the film "Bob And Carol And Ted And
Alice." That film *reflected* changing mores. It didn't instigate
anything. Aging white actresses like Merle Oberon and Jean Seberg,
who wasn't murdered even though stupid people think she was, were
boinking members of the Black Panthers. All this didn't affect
Chattanooga, Tennessee very much, but it did affect California and New
York. Many women in those states ended up wanting commitments they
couldn't get. One Manhattan woman started writing the novel "Sheila
Levine Is Dead And Living In New York" shortly after Stevens died.
>
> Kris.
Lisa Pease
> OK thanks for the correction. I knew he and Sarah had to go to an inquest, I
> thought it was about Inger. I dont know what happened to sarah miles.
In British theatrical circles she is as respected as the Redgraves.
If you look her up at www.imdb.com you'll find details of the several
Italian movies Sarah has made during the last few years. Italians
love to see a woman age gracefully and sexily. One movie starring
Miles was directed by an Italian *woman* at that. Her name is Vanna
Maoli. You don't expect Sarah to get a gig on the Sopranos, do you,
playing an official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service with
a clipped upper Connecticut accent? It would be fun to watch, but you
can't expect Sarah's London agent to stand in line with Lizzie Grubman
or whatever American assholes are begging Sopranos to hire good
actors.
Lisa Pease
Just because Nicole Simpson never OD'd on cocaine doesn't mean other
white wives were incapable of doing it. Gloria Steinem is a better
role model. In 1968, while Inger was married to Isaiah Jones and
Merle Oberon was boinking the Black Panthers, Gloria had a fling with
Cleveland Browns quarterback Jim Brown. Gloria wouldn't take any shit
off him. More than thirty years later he got in the news for harming
his women. Before that he told Parade magazine in an interview that
O. J. is absolutely guilty and should be in jail. "It was his blood,"
Brown told Parade.
Mary Campbell
>
> If you've seen a picture of Burt Reynolds and Sarah Miles arriving for an
> inquest, the inquest was about the location death during the filming of "Cat
> Dancing".
>
> Does anyone remember details of the suspicious death during the filming of "Cat
> Dancing"? It was a very big story at the time.
The man who died was Sarah Miles' business manager. He, Sarah, Burt and
the rest of the cast and crew were all staying at the same motel. There
was an argument between Sarah and the manager when she and Burt came back
to the motel late one night after a party (the implication being that the
manager was jealous of her relationship with Burt).
The next day the manager was found dead in Sarah's room. The official
cause of death was ruled to be suicide from an overdose of pills but the
manager had a cut on the back of his head that, presumably, could have
been caused either by a fall or by being struck.
Part of the scandal, IIRC, was that Sarah's alibi was that she had spent
that night in Burt's room. The story that they gave at the inquest was
that Burt was protecting her from her manager. But it broke up her
marriage with Robert Bolt (although later they remarried).
Sky
news:19730-3E4...@storefull-2134.public.lawson.webtv.net...
: Years ago, I saw a documentary on TV which stated, that Inger
: had a very troubled relationship with her husband, that she was
: in the process of divorcing him, that she was moving on with her
: life, ... & that the husband was Not pleased with this [with her
: success, her new show, her love-life/lover (& possibly her new
: husband-to-be), etc.], & that he was possibly violent towards her.
: Then, she was found dead. ???
I thought I read somewhere that Inger's husband had an alibi,
or wasn't anywhere nearby when she died. Am I remembering
wrong?
* * Sky
"We are not asking for superiority for we have always had that;
all we ask is equality." - Lady Nancy Astor
Lisa Pease
Oops, Inger was married to Isaac Jones, not Isaiah.
Lisa Pease
> > "Sky" <Sky-Di...@no-dreck-please.comcast.net>
> > wrote in message news:BbudnTK626A...@comcast.com...
> > > I know that Burt Reynolds was dating Inger at the time of her
> > > death and was thought to be the last person who had seen her
> > > alive. Inger seems to have been a great person, very caring,
> > > and a talented actress. She was only 35.
> > >
> > > Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her
> > > death?
> > >
> > > * *Sky
> >
> > She had been psychologically troubled for many years, and
> > had barely survived a suicide attempt a few years previously.
> > She wasn't really Reynolds' girlfriend; she had been secretly
> > married to a black musician for several years.
>
> You're right. Interracial marriages were taboo in 1970 even for AFTRA
> members. Even today only very famous people can get away with it.
> Inger wasn't that famous in 1970. Her TV sitcom had been dead for
> four years. It never entered syndication. The child actors in it
> never got attention for robbing a video store in Nevada or beating up
> a transvestite hooker. Nobody would care if they did that. Inger's
> jazz musician husband was Isaiah Jones.
Oops ! His name was Isaac Jones.
Annie RUtahkn2Me
>Annie RUtahkn2Me (rutah...@aol.comspamnot) writes:
Mary, thank you for posting your answer about the death on location during the
filming of "Cat Dancing".
I couldn't remember any details on the death. Not even if it was a man or
woman.
I'd forgotten how totally convoluted the whole situation surrounding the death
was. Can you imagine if the same thing happened today? It would be an even
bigger story. Absolutely HUGE!
mslinda
Are you sure Gloria dated Jim Brown? As I recall, she had a fairly long relationship with Rafer Johnson.
Linda C.
Mary Campbell
>>From: cc...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Mary Campbell)
>
>>
>>The man who died was Sarah Miles' business manager. He, Sarah, Burt and
>>the rest of the cast and crew were all staying at the same motel. There
>>was an argument between Sarah and the manager when she and Burt came back
>>to the motel late one night after a party (the implication being that the
>>manager was jealous of her relationship with Burt).
>
> filming of "Cat Dancing".
>
> I couldn't remember any details on the death. Not even if it was a man or
> woman.
>
> I'd forgotten how totally convoluted the whole situation surrounding the death
> was. Can you imagine if the same thing happened today? It would be an even
> bigger story. Absolutely HUGE!
CNN and Fox would be all-Sarah, all the time!
Annie RUtahkn2Me
> Aging white actresses like Merle Oberon and Jean Seberg,
>who wasn't murdered even though stupid people think she was, were
>boinking members of the Black Panthers.
>
First of all, let me say that I was a fan of Inger Stevens. I thought she was
just beautiful. And, when she was given a chance, she was a fine actress.
My favorite Inger Stevens' roles were in the 1960 episode of "The Twilight
Zone" called "The Hitchhiker" and the 1967 TV movie called "The Borgia Stick".
I was very sad and very shocked when she died. What a terrible shame. I felt
the same way 9 years later when I heard about Jean Seberg's death in France.
I'm aware that Jean Seberg had some involvement with the Black Panthers. But,
she was only about 30 in 1970. Not quite an "aging"actress. She was around 40
at her death.
When she died that sad, sad death in 1979, I felt so sorry for her. She was
much to young with so much to offer.
I was a fan who thought she was just exquisitely lovely in a "all-American girl
next door" kind of way. I always wished I looked like her.
My favorite role of Jean's was in 1958's "Bonjour Tristesse" with Debra Kerr
and David Niven. It was Jean's first film after Saint "Joan". She was only
20.
I saw this movie on tv when I was a young teenager. I remember thinking how
sophisticated and fabulous I thought it was. And, how perfectly wonderful
Seberg was in her role.
I still get sad when I think about Inger's and Jean's deaths. May both their
souls rest in peace.
I have a question concerning your post about Merle Oberon.
Are you sure you're right about Merle Oberon being involved with the Black
Panthers? In 1970, she would have been almost 60 years old.
Plus, she spent her whole life hiding the fact that she was born in India of a
white British father and an Indian mother.
Intermarriage of the races was totally condemned back then and it was thought
that if the public knew Oberon was biracial, her career would be destroyed.
When Merle's Indian mother was living with her, Merle would even tell visitors
that her mother was just her maid. Never letting on that the elderly Indian
woman was really her mother.
Because of Merle's hidden racial ancestry, I just can't imagine her being
involved with the Black Panthers. It would have brought about too much
attention and too many questions that might have exposed her secret racial
background.
Are you sure it was Merle Oberon who was involved with the Black Panthers?
Did you mean to name some other actress?
GO8GO
But,
she was only about 30 in 1970. Not quite an "aging"actress. She was around 40
at her death. >>
What was this involvement? At the time she was pregnant, Joyce Haber, a Rona
Barrett clone for the LA Times, strongly suggested that Seberg was pregnant
with a baby that had a Black Panther father. That baby was miscarried and the
entire story was eventually and totally discredited. Haber lost her LA Times
gig and virtually her entire career because of that item.
Tina
Black Panthers? >>
Annie....you're dealing with another resident nutcase on this ng. The thought
of a 60 year old Merle running around with Black Panthers is too amusing for
words and I too doubt Bucketbrains knows what she's talking about. She rarely
does. Just don't get her started about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward....
mslinda
Seberg was friends with some BPs and spoke out in their defense at a time when
such a stand was unpopular.
Linda C.
Paulena
> In "Burt Reynolds: The Unauthorized Biography" There is a chapter with
some
> photographs showing Burt arriving for an inquest about Inger's murder.
What murder. I thought it was a suicide?
Annie RUtahkn2Me
I'm afraid I can no longer keep track of who's a nutcase and who isn't. There
are just too many of them.
So, I try to be polite to everyone.
I just like to keep my gossip on the straight and narrow. And, as factually
truthful as possible.
Happy Gossip to one and all of you out there in AGC Land!
Lisa Pease
Yes. The source is "Books of Lists: The 90s Version" by David
Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace et al. If it's not still in print you can
get it at many libraries. Look at Steinem in the index. It says she
had an affair with Jim Brown, *not* Rafer Johnson, in 1968. That was
when Gloria was an editor for New York magazine working on
non-feminist articles like one about the time Ho Chi Minh, then a
major figure in the Vietnam War, had spent in New York. New York
magazine was new in 1968. Gloria wasn't famous. Maybe your source on
her boinking Rafer Johnson is correct, too. She could have had a lot
of fun before she became famous in 1972, losing some of her privacy.
>
> Linda C.
Lisa Pease
Los Angeles residents a little older than that pioneered the sexual
revolution. My only source is a mass communications professor at
Virginia Commonwealth University named Wilma Wirt. She worked on the
rewrite desk of the Washington Post at the time of the JFK
assassination. Sometime later in the 60s she moved to the rewrite
desk of the Fort Worth Star Telegram where she stayed until the mid
70s. I realize those jobs might not have made her privy to gossip
about Merle Oberon.
The story could be false. If you call or E mail Wilma out of the blue
she probably won't get angry. I haven't communicated with her in
several years because she assigned me to write articles about various
scientific topics I wasn't qualified to discuss. Who knows about
these aging female newspaper veterans ? Maybe their minds are still
stuck in the glory days of hot lead type and verbal gossip. Maybe
that mindset makes them think any smart-looking young man wearing
glasses can program a computer and engineer a bridge. That's what
Wilma had in mind for me. Maybe her memories of never-printed stories
remain strong and accurate.
If I've libeled you in death, Ms. Oberon, I'm sorry. I *don't*
attribute women's problems to the absence of a Prince Charming.
Journalism ain't the same as it was during your heydey, Merle.
Lisa Pease
> Annie RU wrote:<< Are you sure it was Merle Oberon who was involved with the
> Black Panthers? >>
>
> Annie....you're dealing with another resident nutcase on this ng.
How together is YOUR shit ? See explanation below.
The thought
> of a 60 year old Merle running around with Black Panthers is too amusing for
> words and I too doubt Bucketbrains knows what she's talking about.
As I say in another post I just finished typing, the story could be
false. My source is Wilma Wirt, aging professor of mass
communications at Virginia Commonwealth University. I haven't had
contact with her in several years precisely because of her screwy
thinking on most matters not involving grammar, spelling or
punctuation. She worked for the Washington Post rewrite desk in the
first part of the 60s, then switched to the Fort Worth Star Telegram
around the time the Black Panthers became popular.
How those jobs allowed Wilma to learn unpublished stories about Merle
Oberon is questionable. You can find her E mail or phone number if
you want and get an explanation from the horse's mouth. She's still
at VCU. Either divert your attention to Wilma or drop the subject,
please. I'm telling you what I heard from someone who ignores Usenet.
Lots of people do. AGC is for discussing public figures. It ain't
for discussing the discussers.
She rarely
> does. Just don't get her started about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward....
What about the other posters who gave credibility to observations
about them ? I got my shit together emotionally. I'm coping with the
blizzard now paralyzing half the United States. If you're there, then
get your shit together. If you're in another part of the world, learn
about something called empathy. What about a possible war with Iraq ?
bev
book called "Burt Reynolds: The UNAUTHORIZED Biography" At least some of the
details are right, at least I tried to answer the question the best I could
based on the info I had. Correct all you want but just because somebody
tries you just want to bash them and call them nutbags.
"Annie RUtahkn2Me" <rutah...@aol.comezdzyz> wrote in message
news:20030216085215...@mb-mk.aol.com...
Tina
the info out of a
book called "Burt Reynolds: The UNAUTHORIZED Biography" At least some of the
details are right, at least I tried to answer the question the best I could
based on the info I had. Correct all you want but just because somebody
tries you just want to bash them and call them nutbags.
>>
Ummmmm I wasn't referring to YOU as the nutbag but Lisa Pease aka Bucketbrains.
Her signature is "bucket of brains". Sorry for the confusion
Thanks for sharing the info about Burt Reynolds and Inger Stevens. I read about
it in one of those Hollywood Babylon books years ago and thought it was sad.
bev
"Tina" <lisa...@aol.comspamIam> wrote in message
news:20030218144744...@mb-fp.aol.com...
Lisa Pease
> Before any of you guys call me a nutbag, all I did was get the info out of a
> book called "Burt Reynolds: The UNAUTHORIZED Biography" At least some of the
> details are right, at least I tried to answer the question the best I could
> based on the info I had. Correct all you want but just because somebody
> tries you just want to bash them and call them nutbags.
>
> "Annie RUtahkn2Me" <rutah...@aol.comezdzyz> wrote in message
> news:20030216085215...@mb-mk.aol.com...
> > >From: lisa...@aol.comspamIam (Tina)
>
> > >Annie RU wrote:<< Are you sure it was Merle Oberon who was involved with
> the
> > >Black Panthers? >>
> > >
> > >Annie....you're dealing with another resident nutcase on this ng. The
> thought
> > >of a 60 year old Merle running around with Black Panthers is too amusing
> for
> > >words and I too doubt Bucketbrains knows what she's talking about. She
> rarely
> > >does. Just don't get her started about Paul Newman and Joanne
> Woodward....
> > >
> >
> > I'm afraid I can no longer keep track of who's a nutcase and who isn't.
> There
> > are just too many of them.
If you tried to keep track of them you would be discussing the
discussers instead of discussing gossip. Annie conveniently ignores
my attribution of the Merle Oberon - Black Panthers story to Wilma
Wirt, a professor of mass communications. She uses E mail a lot.
Tina
next time. >>
NOt a problem Bev.....we've all hit that send button too quickly before -
myself included. :-)
stefan20...@yahoo.com
> From a website about Inger:
>
> ::: Some researchers suggest there may have been foul play
> ::: involved, because just before her death she had signed a
> ::: contract to do a new Aaron Spelling series, "The Most
> ::: Deadly Game"(which eventually flickered to brief life in '70-
> ::: '71 with Yvette Mimieux as the star). Inger seemed excited
> ::: clothes in preparation for it. When she was found dead, her
> ::: phone was not in the living room where it usually was, her
> ::: were abrasions on her arm, and in her system was asthma
> ::: alcohol that was twice the legal limit. The three scenarios
> ::: for her death: she was murdered (and the scene was made
> ::: to look like a suicide), she died accidentally after
> ::: consuming too much wine and too many pills, or she
> ::: succeeded in committing suicide...
>
> death and was thought to be the last person who had seen her
> alive. Inger seems to have been a great person, very caring,
> and a talented actress. She was only 35.
>
> Anybody have any details, info, speculation, whatever about her
> death?
>
> * *Sky
> in a bathroom.