Carol Lynley

Carol Lynley (born Carole Ann Jones; February 13, 1942 – September 3, 2019) was an American actress known for her roles in the films Blue Denim (1959) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).

Lynley began her career as a child model before taking up acting. She won the Theatre World Award as "one of the most promising personalities for 1956–57" for her performance in The Potting Shed. Lynley started her film career in 1958 with the Disney film The Light in the Forest, followed by Holiday for Lovers (1959) and Blue Denim (1959). In 1959, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female for the film The Light in the Forest. A year later, she was again nominated for the same award for the film Blue Denim.

Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Frances (née Felch) and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. She studied dance in her childhood. Her parents divorced when she was a child, and her mother worked as a waitress until Lynley's income from modeling was enough to sustain the family.

Lynley had first appeared on a local television show and at the age of 14 she was signed as a child model. She then appeared on live TV shows, the Goodyear Television Playhouse, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Danger Route.

She began her career as a child model under the name Carolyn Lee. When she started acting, she discovered that child actress Carolyn Lee (born Carolyn Copp, 1935) had already registered the name in the Actors' Equity Association. She modified it by using the final syllable of Carolyn and fusing it with Lee to make Lynley. She appeared on the April 22, 1957, cover of Life identified as "Carol Lynley, 15, Busy Career Girl" at age 15.

In her teenage years, Lynley appeared in several Clairol and Pepsodent advertisements that were publicized across the country.

In 1955, Lynley made her first stage appearance in Moss Hart's Broadway stage hit Anniversary Waltz. At the age of 15, she played the role of Dame Sybil Thorndyke's granddaughter in the Broadway play The Potting Shed (1957).

Early on, Lynley distinguished herself on both the Broadway stage and in Hollywood screen versions of the controversial drama Blue Denim (1959), in which the teenaged characters played by Lynley and co-star Brandon deWilde had to deal with an unwanted pregnancy and (then-illegal) abortion. She won the Theatre World Award as "one of the most promising personalities for 1956–57" for her performance in Blue Denim. This recognition helped her get a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox.