Stella Stevens, ‘The Nutty Professor’ actress and Elvis Presley’s co-star, dead at 84

Stella Stevens, a ‘60s actress and Playboy Playmate who appeared in films like “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” “The Nutty Professor” and later “The Poseidon Adventure,” has died. She was 84.

The star’s estate announced to The Associated Press that she passed away on Friday in Los Angeles after a long illness.

Stevens was born Estelle Caro Eggleston in Yazoo City, Mississippi, in 1938. She married at age 16 and gave birth to her first and only child, actor/producer Andrew Stevens, in 1955 when she was 17. Stevens divorced two years later.

Stella Stevens’ estate announced that the actress passed away on Friday. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

During her time at Memphis State University, Stevens pursued acting and modeling. She was discovered by 20th Century Fox while performing a college production of “Bus Stop.” The actress would later be dropped by Fox and picked up by Paramount.

VENETIA STEVENSON, ‘THE MOST PHOTOGENIC GIRL IN THE WORLD’ WHO DATED ELVIS, QUIT ACTING FOR THIS REASON

While Stevens made her film debut in a Bing Crosby musical titled “Say One for Me” in 1959, she considered “Li’l Abner,” released that same year, as her first big break.

Her career in Hollywood soon skyrocketed.

“The head of publicity at Paramount basically made me a worldwide sex symbol,” Stevens recalled to FilmTalk in 2017. “He had me doing a lot of layouts with photographers — indoors, outdoors, here and there — being seen in different places, going to the best restaurants, meeting with wonderful actors and directors… those were the golden years of Hollywood. It was a very exciting time.”

In addition to television and movies, Stevens also appeared in Playboy as a Playmate. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

After Stevens won the New Star Golden Globe, she became Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in January 1960. She was featured in pictorials for the men’s lifestyle magazine in 1965 and again in 1968. Stevens was also included on the magazine’s list of “100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century” — she was No. 27.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

In 1962, Stevens found herself starring opposite Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!”. She only agreed to do the film because she was promised a Montgomery Clift movie if she did it. According to Stevens, it was a miserable six days of filming due to director Norman Taurog’s temper. However, Presley was “nice.”

The Clift picture didn’t pan out for Stevens. But the film, John Cassavetes’ “Too Late Blues,” featured Bobby Darin.

Stevens starred alongside Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!” (Paramount/Getty Images)

“Bobby was a very fine actor, but as you can imagine, he was no Montgomery Clift,” Stevens admitted.

Next came 1963’s “The Nutty Professor” with Jerry Lewis. Stevens played Stella Purdy, the comic’s love interest.

MOTHER DOLORES HART EXPLAINS WHY SHE LEFT HOLLYWOOD TO BECOME A NUN: ‘GOD CALLED ME’

“Jerry Lewis had told the bosses at Paramount he wanted to cast the most beautiful ingénue working at the studio — or something like that — and so I got the gig,” she later explained. “We all tried to make the characters he had created in the script special, wonderful, unique — and if you ask me, I do believe that’s why the film still holds up after all those years.”

Stevens charmed the hearts of many as Stella Purdy in “The Nutty Professor” with Jerry Lewis.  (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

At Columbia Pictures, she appeared in “The Secret of My Success” (1965), “The Silencers” (1966) with Dean Martin and “Where Angels Go Trouble Follows” (1968) as a nun opposite Rosalind Russell.

Other notable projects included “Slaughter” (1972) with Jim Brown, the Sam Peckinpah television film “The Battle of Cable Hogue” (1970) and “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), in which she played Linda Rogo, Ernest Borgnine’s character’s wife.

During the ‘70s and ‘80s, Stevens made her mark in television. She appeared in the pilots for “Wonder Woman,” “Hart to Hart” and “The Love Boat. She also kept busy with shows like “Night Court,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Magnum, P.I.”

DIANE MCBAIN, ELVIS PRESLEY’S ‘SPINOUT’ CO-STAR AND ‘BATMAN’ ACTRESS, DEAD AT 81

Stevens starred in 1962’s ‘How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life’ opposite Dean Martin. (Columbia Pictures/Getty Images)

In 2017, Stevens said that her favorite director was Vincente Minnelli from 1963’s “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.”

She later worked behind the scenes. Stevens directed several films, including the 1979 documentary “An American Heroine,” which never got distribution, and 1989’s “The Ranch.” She retired in 2010.

In a 1994 interview, Stevens said that she worried that she didn’t succeed in bringing out the best in her directors and that her ambitions changed.

Stevens, seen here in 2010, is survived by her son and three grandchildren. (Amy Graves/WireImage)

“I wanted to be like my favorite actresses: Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich,” she reflected. “I wanted to be like a burst of youth and then when I got a little crow’s feet or age, I’d be off the screen. But I also had the plan of being a director… I saw (Bob Hope) at 83 cracking jokes and having fun. I said then that I never wanted to quit. I want to be like this man. I want to go on forever. I want to die on a movie set.”

JUNE BLAIR, ‘THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET’ ACTRESS AND PLAYBOY PLAYMATE, DEAD AT 90

Stevens contributed to causes that supported animal rights, Variety reported. She raised horses and llamas in Twisp, Washington. 

Her partner of nearly 40 years, guitarist Bob Kulick, passed away in 2020.

Stevens is survived by her son and three grandchildren.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.