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Sue Lyon

Suellyn Lyon (July 10, 1946 – December 26, 2019) was an American actress who is most famous today for playing Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film adaptation of Nabokov's eponymous novel, for which she was awarded a Golden Globe.[1]

Sue Lyon
Lyon in the film Tony Rome (1967)
Born
Suellyn Lyon

(1946-07-10)July 10, 1946
DiedDecember 26, 2019(2019-12-26) (aged 73)
Alma materLos Angeles City College
Santa Monica College
OccupationActress
Years active1959–1980
Spouses
(m. 1963; div. 1965)
Roland Harrison
(m. 1971; div. 1972)
Cotton Adamson
(m. 1973; div. 1974)
Edward Weathers
(m. 1983; div. 1984)
Richard Rudman
(m. 1985; div. 2002)
Children1

Lyon's early career flourished with appearances in such high profile films as John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964), John Ford's 7 Women (1966), the Frank Sinatra detective flick Tony Rome (1967), and the George C. Scott comedy The Flim Flam Man (1967), but her career dropped off in the 1970s and she retired from acting after making Alligator, which was released in 1980.

In 1991, Lyon featured prominently on the artwork for Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers single 'Stay Beautiful'.

Early life edit

Suellyn Lyon, called Sue, was born on July 10, 1946, in Davenport, Iowa.[2] She was the youngest of five children of Sue (Karr) Lyon and her husband; the father died before the girl's first birthday. Sue worked as a child model[3] in Dallas. Her mother soon took the family to Los Angeles, where she thought there would be more opportunity. [4]

Playing Lolita edit

With only two acting credits, at the age of 14, Lyon was cast in the role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze in Stanley Kubrick's film Lolita (1962).[5] She was chosen for the role[6] from 800 teenagers. Lyon co-starred with James Mason, then aged 53.[7] Nabokov, who wrote the novel and much of the screenplay, described her as the "perfect nymphet".[7]

Lyon got the role as the original choice, British actress Jill Haworth, was unavailable. Haworth had co-starred in Otto Preminger's 1960 film adaptation of Leon Uris' novel Exodus, and was under contract to him. Preminger refused to allow Haworth to play Lolita.[8] The role was then offered to child star Hayley Mills, but her father John Mills refused permission for her to do it.[9] Hayley Mills was under contract to studio owner Walt Disney, who not only refused his permission for her to appear in the film, but told the press that he did not want her to see the finished film.[10][11] Other young actresses considered for the role were Joey Heatherton and Sandra Dee.

The film trade magazine Variety reported on August 10, 1960 that James Mason was set for the part of Humbert Humbert and that Tuesday Weld was "likely" to be cast in the title role. On September 28, 1960, the Los Angeles Times reported the casting of Lyon.[10]

Lyon's age edit

Although Vladimir Nabokov originally thought that Sue Lyon was the right selection to play Lolita, years later Nabokov said that the ideal Lolita would have been Catherine Demongeot, a young French actress who had played the child Zazie in Louis Malle's Zazie in the Metro (1960). The tomboyish Demongeot was four years younger than Lyon.[12]

In Nabokov's novel, the character Lolita is 12 years old.[13] Lyon was 14[3]–15[13] during most of production, and a month shy of her 16th birthday when the film premiered.[14][13][15] Although Kubrick raised the age of Lolita to dampen down the backlash from censors and pressure groups in a time when the Production Code was still in force, his Lolita was still considered one of the most controversial films of the day because of the scandalous relationship at its heart.[16]

In the opening paragraphs of the novel, Nabokov writes, "She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock." The adolescent Sue Lyon was 5'3 inches tall (160 centimeters) and had a developed bust, whereas the Lolita in the novel is a flat-chested 12 year old and likely pre-pubescent. Kubrick was counseled by people at the Production Code Administration that he had to cast an actress with developed breasts or he would run afoul of the Hays Code.

Producer James B. Harris explained that 14 year-old Sue Lyon looked older than her age: "We knew we must make [Lolita] a sex object [...] where everyone in the audience could understand why everyone would want to jump on her." He also said, in a 2015 Film Comment interview, "We made sure when we cast her that she was a definite sex object, not something that could be interpreted as being perverted."

Harris said that he and Kubrick, through casting the older Sue Lyon, changed Nabokov's book as "we wanted it to come off as a love story and to feel very sympathetic with Humbert."[17]

Sue Lyon was cast so that the relationship of the onscreen Humbert Humbert and Lolita would not look sexually perverse. Ironically, months after Lolita was released, the Hays Code was amended in October 1962 to allow "sex aberrations" on screen.[10]

Critical reaction edit

Stanley Kubrick's Lolita had its world premiere on June 13, 1962 at Loew's State Theatre in New York City, two days after its press screening.[18][19] Lolita was released in West Germany on June 21 and had its London premiere on September 6. It was released in France on November 5.[20]

 
Lolita (1962) theatrical release poster featuring Sue Lyon in heart-shaped sunglasses 

West Side Story was number one at the box office that week, and would be succeeded by the Cary Grant-Doris Day comedy That Touch of Mink the week of June 27. In an article published in The New York Times on June 24, a fortnight after he had reviewed Lolita, Bosley Crowther compared it to That Touch of Mink, arguing that both films emphasized cruelty towards men.

In Crowther's original New York Times review, he noted that the screenplay of film changed the tenor of the story, and Lyon was not the child of the book. It became a more conventional tale of an older man and younger woman. He wrote, "She looks to be a good 17 years old, possessed of a striking figure and a devilishly haughty teenage air." He went on, "The distinction is fine, we will grant you, but she is definitely not a 'nymphet.'"[14]

Dwight McDonald, in a review in the September 1962 issue of Esquire Magazine, called the film disappointing.[21]

Pauline Kael defended the casting of Sue Lyon in the part, noting that American girls in the early 1960s often looked much more physically mature for their age than did girls of comparable age in the past. A fan of Kubrick's adaptation, Kael wrote, "The surprise of Lolita is how enjoyable it is; it's the first new American comedy since those great days in the 40's when Preston Sturges recreated comedy with verbal slapstick.... At times it's so far out that you gasp as you laugh.[22]

A contemporary review in Variety was dismissive of the production in its opening lines, "Vladimir Nabokov's witty, grotesque novel is, in its film version, like a bee from which the stinger has been removed. It still buzzes with a sort of promising irreverence, but it lacks the power to shock and, eventually, makes very little point either as comedy or satire."[23]

The Variety staff review ended with an appraisal of Lyon:

"Sue Lyon makes an auspicious film debut as the deceitful child-woman who'd just as soon go to a movie as romp in the hay. It's a difficult assignment and if she never quite registers as either wanton or pathetic it may be due as much to the compromises of the script as to her inexperience."

In 1962, MGM Records released a 7" vinyl single recorded by Lyon, singing the lyrics "Ya ya" in Nelson Riddle's Lolita Ya Ya, a send up of yé-yé singers. The B-side had her singing "Turn off The Moon".[24] Both songs were co-written by producer James B. Harris' brother, J. Robert Harris. Neither song charted.

Sue Lyon attended the 35th Academy Awards. The picture's sole nomination was Vladimir Nabokov for Oscar for Best Screenplay Adapted From Another Medium, but he lost to Horton Foote, who adapted To Kill a Mockingbird for the screen.

Effect on Sue Lyon's psyche edit

Sue Lyon was 15 when the film premiered in June 1962,[14] too young to watch the film in a theater.[7] She became an instant celebrity and won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer—Female.[25]

Though Lyon rarely entered the public realm after the end of her film career in the 1980s, in 1996 she made an appearance. During this she said, "My destruction as a person dates from that movie. Lolita exposed me to temptations no girl of that age should undergo.[26] I defy any pretty girl who is rocketed to stardom at 14 in a sex nymphet role to stay on a level path thereafter."[26][27][28]

According to her daughter Nona Harrison, Sue Lyon suffered from bipolar disorder.[29]

Post-Lolita career edit

In 1960, Lyon was bound to a seven-year professional services contract to Kubrick, Lolita producer James B. Harris and production company Seven Arts Productions, when she accepted the part in Lolita.[30][31]

The Night of the Iguana (1964), in which she appeared opposite Richard Burton, was a Seven Arts picture. Lyon was featured on the theatrical release poster, embracing Burton. The movie was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which Seven Arts had a deal with, as was 7 Women (1967), in which Lyon co-starred with first-billed Oscar-winner Anne Bancroft, to whom Lyon received second-billing. Lyon also was second-billed to George C. Scott in The Flim-Flam Man (1967) and Frank Sinatra in Tony Rome (1967).

After the Kubrick-Harris-Seven Arts contract expired, she did not again appear in A-list motion pictures. She appeared in the 1969 low-budget spaghetti western Four Rode Out, top-billed over former Bonanza star Pernell Roberts, whose career was in eclipse. In 1969, she also appeared in a TV version of Arsenic and Old Lace that starred Bob Crane of Hogan's Heroes and Helen Hayes. She also made the first of her two appearances on the TV comedy Love American Style that year, which is indicative of the drop-off in her acting career.

In the 1970s, her career likely was negatively impacted by an interracial marriage to African American football player Roland Harrison in 1971 and a subsequent marriage to imprisoned murderer Cotton Adamson in 1973. Racial intermarriage between white and Black people was rare in 1971, the year she co-starred with George Hamilton in Evel Knievel, a higher end B-movie. State laws banning interracial marriage were not declared unconstitutional in the United States until the Supreme Court's 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision.

Lyon and Harrison had a daughter, Nona Merrill Harrison, who was born in Los Angeles in 1972.[32][33]

A minor hit at the box office, taking in $4 million in rentals[34][35] (equivalent to approximately $30,093,673 in 2023[36]) against a $450,000 budget,[37] Evel Knievel was the last significant motion picture Lyon starred in. After her marriages to Harrison and Adamson, Lyon worked in supporting roles in B-movies, television movies and guest spots on TV series.

Grade Z movie star edit

Towards the end of the 1970s, she began appearing in Z movies, including two produced by Charles Band. In her first movie for Band, Crash! (1977), Oscar-winner Jose Ferrer played her husband, who is trying to kill her. She retaliates by using her occult powers to manipulate objects to kill him.

In her second film for Band, Lyon played the wife of Christopher Lee's astrophysicist character in the sci-fi movie End of the World, which received poor reviews after it was released in 1977 as part of a double-bill with another low budget sci-fi flick.[38] Lee later lamented his participation in the film, claiming he was misled as to the quality of the picture by producer Band.[39]

Lyon followed this up with a part in The Astral Factor, which was also known as The Astral Fiend on its initial release in 1978. Yet another low budget sci-fi flick, the Astral movie went through three directors. She then graced Towing, a low-budget comedy film based on newspaper columnist Mike Ryoko's expose of unethical vehicle towing companies. Also known as Who Stole My Wheels? and Garage Girls, the Chicago-based movie featuring one of the first appearances of actor Dennis Franz got one and one-half stars from critic Roger Ebert.[40]

She ceased working in the entertainment industry after a bit part in the 1980 B-movie Alligator. In 1984, a recut version of The Astral Factor re-titled Invisible Strangler was released, making it the last time Sue Lyon appeared in a motion picture.

Personal life edit

In California, Lyon was friends with Michelle Gilliam, who was two years older than her. Gilliam would achieve fame as Michelle Phillips, after marrying John Phillips and becoming part of the pop music quartet the Mamas and Papas. According to Phillips, she shared the controversial novel Lolita with Lyon in 1960, the year before she auditioned for the part.[41] (In a 1962 interview with German TV as part of the film's promotion, Lyon said she and her mother had read it and discussed the novel after she was cast in the part.) In the year after Lyon’s death, Phillips alleged that her friend had lost her virginity to Lolita producer James B. Harris.[28]

Early in her career, starting in 1965, Lyon had a relationship with Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan.[42]

Lyon was married five times: briefly to Hampton Fancher, actor and filmmaker;[43][33][44] photographer and football coach Roland Harrison, with whom she had a daughter;[45] Gary D. "Cotton" Adamson, a convicted murderer;[46][47][45] and Edward Weathers. She married Richard Rudman, an engineer, in 1985. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2002.[7]

Her third marriage, in 1973, to Adamson, took place in a Colorado state prison, where he was incarcerated.[48] He had been convicted of robbery[49] and second-degree murder. The union was contentious and ended in 1974.[45] She said at the time that people in the film industry had told her he had a negative effect on her career.[45]

Discussing her divorce from Adamson, Lyon said, "I've been told by people in the movie business, specifically producers and film distributors, that I can't get a job because I'm married to Cotton. Therefore, right now we can't be married."[50]

Allegation of underage affair with producer edit

In 2020, Michelle Phillips told journalist Sarah Weinman that producer James B. Harris became emotionally involved with Sue Lyon during her stay in England to shoot Lolita and that Harris had become her first lover when she was 14 years old. When contacted by Weinman, the 92-year-old Harris refused to respond to the allegation with an affirmation or denial. At the time Stanley Kubrick's Lolita was in production, the age of consent in the UK was 16 years old and 18 in Lyon's home state of California.[51] Harris was nearly 18 years older than Lyon, and a married man.

Death edit

Lyon died in West Hollywood on the morning of December 26, 2019, at the age of 73.[52] While no specific cause of death was given, she was reported to have been in poor health "for some time".[4]

"To be pretty and to stay pretty are two different things. You can't take anything for granted, and it's foolish to think you can. You have to think ahead of how to build health and happiness. You have to learn to avoid what is going to hurt you or someone else." — Sue Lyon, 1967[52][33]

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year[53] Title Role Notes[54]
1962 Lolita Dolores "Lolita" Haze Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer
1964 The Night of the Iguana Charlotte Goodall
1966 7 Women Emma Clark
1967 The Flim-Flam Man Bonnie Lee Packard
Tony Rome Diana Pines
1969 Arsenic and Old Lace Elaine Dodd TV movie
Four Rode Out Myra Polsen
1970 But I Don't Want to Get Married! Laura TV movie
1971 Evel Knievel Linda
1973 Murder in a Blue World Ana Vernia
Tarot Angela
1976 Smash-Up on Interstate 5 Burnsey TV movie
Crash! Kim Denne
1977 End of the World Sylvia Boran
Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready Wendy Sutherland TV movie, made in 1969
1978 The Astral Factor Darlene DeLong Re-released in 1984 as The Invisible Strangler
Towing Lynn
1980 Alligator NBC Newswoman (Final film role)

Television edit

Year Title Role Notes
1959 Letter to Loretta Laurie 1 episode ("Alien Love"[55])
as Suellyn Lyon
1960 Dennis the Menace Blonde with Valentine Card (uncredited) 1 episode ("Miss Cathcart's Sunsuit")[56]
1969–1974 Love, American Style Barbara Eric
Julie
2 episodes ("Love and the Extra Job/Love and the Flying Finletters/Love and the Golden Worm/Love and the Itchy Condition/Love and the Patrolperson",
"Love and the Medium/Love and the Bed[57]/Love and the High School Flop-Out")
1970 The Virginian Belinda Ballard 1 episode ("Experiment at New Life")
1971 Men at Law Bunny Phillips 1 episode ("Marathon")
Night Gallery Betsy 1 episode ("The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes/Miss Lovecraft Sent Me/The Hand of Borgus Weems/Phantom of What Opera?")
1978 Police Story Caroline 1 episode ("River of Promises")
Fantasy Island Jill Nolan 1 episode ("Reunion/Anniversary")

References edit

  1. ^ Weinman, Sarah (October 24, 2020). "The Dark Side of Lolita". Air Mail. No. 67. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  2. ^ Olsen, Mark (December 28, 2019). "Sue Lyon, actress who portrayed Lolita in scandalous 1962 movie, dies at 73". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Kilkenny, Katie (December 27, 2019). "Sue Lyon, Teenage Star of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita,' Dies at 73". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (December 27, 2019). "Sue Lyon, Star of 'Lolita,' Is Dead at 73". The New York Times. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  5. ^ Archer, Eugene (September 28, 1960). "Schoolgirl Gets Lead in 'Lolita,'; Sue Lyon, a Model and TV Actress, Signed for Film". The New York Times. p. 33. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  6. ^ . Time. October 10, 1960. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d
    • "Sue Lyon, Kubrick's Lolita, dies aged 73". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. December 29, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
    • Bergan, Ronald (December 31, 2019). "Sue Lyon obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  8. ^ Lisanti, Tom (2001), Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker, Beach, and Elvis Movies, McFarland, p. 71, ISBN 978-0-7864-0868-9
  9. ^ Vagg, Stephen (March 19, 2022). "Movie Star Cold Streaks: Hayley Mills". Filmink.
  10. ^ a b c "AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Lolita (1962)". afi.org. American Film Institute. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  11. ^ "Lolita (1962)". tcm.com. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  12. ^ Boyd, Brian (1991). Vladimir Nabokov: the American years. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 415. ISBN 9780691024714. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  13. ^ a b c Hoffman, Jordan (December 28, 2019). "Sue Lyon, Star of Lolita, Dies at Age 73". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Crowther, Bosley (June 14, 1962). "Screen: 'Lolita,' Vladimir Nabokov's Adaptation of His Novel:Sue Lyon and Mason in Leading Roles". The New York Times. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  15. ^ Leaf, Earl (1962). "Sue Lyon sips a milkshake after the movie premiere of Lolita at Sandpipers in Los Angeles,CA". Getty Images. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  16. ^ Tallerico, Brian. "Foreground Material: "Stanley Kubrick: The Masterpiece Collection"". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  17. ^ Green, Steph. "The troubling legacy of the Lolita story, 60 years on". BBC. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  18. ^ "Lolita (1962)". tcm.com. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  19. ^ "This Day In History: Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita" released". history.com. History Channel. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  20. ^ "Lolita: Release info". IMDb. Retrieved August 4, 2023.[unreliable source?]
  21. ^ McDonald, Dwight. "Of Nymphets and Monsterettes". Esquire Magazine. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  22. ^ Phillips, Gene D. "'LOLITA'; A Cinematic Classic (Letter to the Editor)". The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  23. ^ "Lolita". Variety. January 1962. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  24. ^ "Lolita Ya Ya: Sue Lyon". vinylheaven.com. Vinyl Heaven. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  25. ^ "Winners & Nominees 1963". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  26. ^ a b Fenwick, James (October 29, 2021). "The exploitation of Sue Lyon: Lolita (1962), archival research, and questions for film history" (PDF). Feminist Media Studies. 23 (4): 1786–1801. doi:10.1080/14680777.2021.1996422. ISSN 1468-0777. S2CID 240267605. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  27. ^ Ritzenhoff, Karen A.; Metlić, Dijana; Szaniawski, Jeremi (2022). "Introduction". Gender, Power, and Identity in The Films of Stanley Kubrick. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003208174-1. ISBN 978-1-003-20817-4.
  28. ^ a b "How Filming 1962's Lolita Destroyed Actress Sue Lyon's Life". Grunge. August 11, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  29. ^ "What happened to Sue Lyon? Little is known about the 'Lolita' star at age 73 -- but her estranged daughter offers some insights". September 27, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2023 – via AOL.
  30. ^ Fenwick, James (2023). "The exploitation of Sue Lyon: Lolita (1962), archival research, and questions for film history". Feminist Media Studies. 23 (4). London: 2. doi:10.1080/14680777.2021.1996422.
  31. ^ "The Tragic Life and Death of Sue Lyon (Lolita)". factsverse.com. Facts Verse. September 13, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  32. ^ Sue Lyon. glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  33. ^ a b c "Lolita actress 'could keep people guessing'". The Sydney Morning Herald. The Washington Post. January 3, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  34. ^ "Updated All-time Film Champs", Variety, 9 January 1974, pg 60.
  35. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-8357-1776-2. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  36. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  37. ^ Flynn, Charles; McCarthy, Todd, eds. (1975). Kings of the Bs : working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism. E. P. Dutton. p. 140.
  38. ^ Mosely, Stephen (2022). Christopher Lee: The Loneliness of Evil. Baltimore: Midnight Marquee Press, Inc. ISBN 978-1644301289. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  39. ^ "End of the World (1977)". moirareviews.com. Moira: Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy Reviews. November 14, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  40. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Towing". rogerebert.com. Roger Ebert Estate. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
  41. ^ "California Dreamgirl". Vanity Fair. November 20, 2007. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  42. ^ "Donovan", waybackattack.com.
  43. ^ "Sue Lyon attends a party with Hampton Fancher in Los Angeles". Getty Images. 1962. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  44. ^ "Sue Lyon, actress who portrayed Lolita in scandalous 1962 movie, dies at 73". The Washington Post. December 29, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  45. ^ a b c d "Notes on People". The New York Times. November 15, 1974. Retrieved June 17, 2023. Actress Sue Lyon, who married Colorado State Penitentiary inmate Gary (Cotton) Adamson in Nov '73, says she is divorcing him because people ...
  46. ^ "Actress Released From Hospital". The Lincoln Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. June 25, 1976. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via archive.org.
  47. ^ "1973 Press Photo Sue Lyon marry Colorado State inmate Gary Adamson". Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via eBay.
  48. ^ Cupp, David (February 27, 1974). "Manier & Cotton Adamson in Adamson's cell. Wall had pix of Adamson's wife". The Denver Post. Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via Getty Images.
  49. ^ "Creamery robbery leads to murder". Michael Carrigan for Denver DA. January 20, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  50. ^ Olsen, Mark (December 28, 2019). "Sue Lyon, teenage star of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita,' is dead at 73". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  51. ^ Weinman, Sarah. "The Dark Side of Lolita: Sue Lyon was 14 when she starred in the film; The producer slept with her anyway". Airmail. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  52. ^ a b Olsen, Mark (December 28, 2019). "Sue Lyon, teenage star of Stanley Kubrick's 'Lolita,' is dead at 73". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  53. ^ "Sue Lyon". TV Guide. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  54. ^ "Sue Lyon". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  55. ^ The Loretta Young Show. "S7 E6 : 'Alien Love'". Retrieved June 17, 2023 – via YouTube.
  56. ^ Wheat, Lorraine (December 28, 2019). "'Lolita' Star Sue Lyon Dies at 73". Variety. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  57. ^ "LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE - "Love and the Bed" - Season One - Sue Lyon and Roger Perry starred in a story about the battle for the ownership of a brass bed". Getty Images. December 29, 1969. Retrieved June 17, 2023.

External links edit

lyon, confused, with, susan, lyons, suellyn, lyon, july, 1946, december, 2019, american, actress, most, famous, today, playing, vladimir, nabokov, lolita, stanley, kubrick, 1962, film, adaptation, nabokov, eponymous, novel, which, awarded, golden, globe, lyon,. Not to be confused with Susan Lyons Suellyn Lyon July 10 1946 December 26 2019 was an American actress who is most famous today for playing Vladimir Nabokov s Lolita in Stanley Kubrick s 1962 film adaptation of Nabokov s eponymous novel for which she was awarded a Golden Globe 1 Sue LyonLyon in the film Tony Rome 1967 BornSuellyn Lyon 1946 07 10 July 10 1946Davenport Iowa U S DiedDecember 26 2019 2019 12 26 aged 73 Los Angeles California U S Alma materLos Angeles City CollegeSanta Monica CollegeOccupationActressYears active1959 1980SpousesHampton Fancher m 1963 div 1965 wbr Roland Harrison m 1971 div 1972 wbr Cotton Adamson m 1973 div 1974 wbr Edward Weathers m 1983 div 1984 wbr Richard Rudman m 1985 div 2002 wbr Children1 Lyon s early career flourished with appearances in such high profile films as John Huston s The Night of the Iguana 1964 John Ford s 7 Women 1966 the Frank Sinatra detective flick Tony Rome 1967 and the George C Scott comedy The Flim Flam Man 1967 but her career dropped off in the 1970s and she retired from acting after making Alligator which was released in 1980 In 1991 Lyon featured prominently on the artwork for Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers single Stay Beautiful Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing Lolita 2 1 Lyon s age 2 2 Critical reaction 2 3 Effect on Sue Lyon s psyche 3 Post Lolita career 3 1 Grade Z movie star 4 Personal life 4 1 Allegation of underage affair with producer 5 Death 6 Filmography 6 1 Film 6 2 Television 7 References 8 External linksEarly life editSuellyn Lyon called Sue was born on July 10 1946 in Davenport Iowa 2 She was the youngest of five children of Sue Karr Lyon and her husband the father died before the girl s first birthday Sue worked as a child model 3 in Dallas Her mother soon took the family to Los Angeles where she thought there would be more opportunity 4 Playing Lolita editWith only two acting credits at the age of 14 Lyon was cast in the role of Dolores Lolita Haze in Stanley Kubrick s film Lolita 1962 5 She was chosen for the role 6 from 800 teenagers Lyon co starred with James Mason then aged 53 7 Nabokov who wrote the novel and much of the screenplay described her as the perfect nymphet 7 Lyon got the role as the original choice British actress Jill Haworth was unavailable Haworth had co starred in Otto Preminger s 1960 film adaptation of Leon Uris novel Exodus and was under contract to him Preminger refused to allow Haworth to play Lolita 8 The role was then offered to child star Hayley Mills but her father John Mills refused permission for her to do it 9 Hayley Mills was under contract to studio owner Walt Disney who not only refused his permission for her to appear in the film but told the press that he did not want her to see the finished film 10 11 Other young actresses considered for the role were Joey Heatherton and Sandra Dee The film trade magazine Variety reported on August 10 1960 that James Mason was set for the part of Humbert Humbert and that Tuesday Weld was likely to be cast in the title role On September 28 1960 the Los Angeles Times reported the casting of Lyon 10 Lyon s age edit Although Vladimir Nabokov originally thought that Sue Lyon was the right selection to play Lolita years later Nabokov said that the ideal Lolita would have been Catherine Demongeot a young French actress who had played the child Zazie in Louis Malle s Zazie in the Metro 1960 The tomboyish Demongeot was four years younger than Lyon 12 In Nabokov s novel the character Lolita is 12 years old 13 Lyon was 14 3 15 13 during most of production and a month shy of her 16th birthday when the film premiered 14 13 15 Although Kubrick raised the age of Lolita to dampen down the backlash from censors and pressure groups in a time when the Production Code was still in force his Lolita was still considered one of the most controversial films of the day because of the scandalous relationship at its heart 16 In the opening paragraphs of the novel Nabokov writes She was Lo plain Lo in the morning standing four feet ten in one sock The adolescent Sue Lyon was 5 3 inches tall 160 centimeters and had a developed bust whereas the Lolita in the novel is a flat chested 12 year old and likely pre pubescent Kubrick was counseled by people at the Production Code Administration that he had to cast an actress with developed breasts or he would run afoul of the Hays Code Producer James B Harris explained that 14 year old Sue Lyon looked older than her age We knew we must make Lolita a sex object where everyone in the audience could understand why everyone would want to jump on her He also said in a 2015 Film Comment interview We made sure when we cast her that she was a definite sex object not something that could be interpreted as being perverted Harris said that he and Kubrick through casting the older Sue Lyon changed Nabokov s book as we wanted it to come off as a love story and to feel very sympathetic with Humbert 17 Sue Lyon was cast so that the relationship of the onscreen Humbert Humbert and Lolita would not look sexually perverse Ironically months after Lolita was released the Hays Code was amended in October 1962 to allow sex aberrations on screen 10 Critical reaction edit Stanley Kubrick s Lolita had its world premiere on June 13 1962 at Loew s State Theatre in New York City two days after its press screening 18 19 Lolita was released in West Germany on June 21 and had its London premiere on September 6 It was released in France on November 5 20 nbsp Lolita 1962 theatrical release poster featuring Sue Lyon in heart shaped sunglasses West Side Story was number one at the box office that week and would be succeeded by the Cary Grant Doris Day comedy That Touch of Mink the week of June 27 In an article published in The New York Times on June 24 a fortnight after he had reviewed Lolita Bosley Crowther compared it to That Touch of Mink arguing that both films emphasized cruelty towards men In Crowther s original New York Times review he noted that the screenplay of film changed the tenor of the story and Lyon was not the child of the book It became a more conventional tale of an older man and younger woman He wrote She looks to be a good 17 years old possessed of a striking figure and a devilishly haughty teenage air He went on The distinction is fine we will grant you but she is definitely not a nymphet 14 Dwight McDonald in a review in the September 1962 issue of Esquire Magazine called the film disappointing 21 Pauline Kael defended the casting of Sue Lyon in the part noting that American girls in the early 1960s often looked much more physically mature for their age than did girls of comparable age in the past A fan of Kubrick s adaptation Kael wrote The surprise of Lolita is how enjoyable it is it s the first new American comedy since those great days in the 40 s when Preston Sturges recreated comedy with verbal slapstick At times it s so far out that you gasp as you laugh 22 A contemporary review in Variety was dismissive of the production in its opening lines Vladimir Nabokov s witty grotesque novel is in its film version like a bee from which the stinger has been removed It still buzzes with a sort of promising irreverence but it lacks the power to shock and eventually makes very little point either as comedy or satire 23 The Variety staff review ended with an appraisal of Lyon Sue Lyon makes an auspicious film debut as the deceitful child woman who d just as soon go to a movie as romp in the hay It s a difficult assignment and if she never quite registers as either wanton or pathetic it may be due as much to the compromises of the script as to her inexperience In 1962 MGM Records released a 7 vinyl single recorded by Lyon singing the lyrics Ya ya in Nelson Riddle s Lolita Ya Ya a send up of ye ye singers The B side had her singing Turn off The Moon 24 Both songs were co written by producer James B Harris brother J Robert Harris Neither song charted Sue Lyon attended the 35th Academy Awards The picture s sole nomination was Vladimir Nabokov for Oscar for Best Screenplay Adapted From Another Medium but he lost to Horton Foote who adapted To Kill a Mockingbird for the screen Effect on Sue Lyon s psyche edit Sue Lyon was 15 when the film premiered in June 1962 14 too young to watch the film in a theater 7 She became an instant celebrity and won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer Female 25 Though Lyon rarely entered the public realm after the end of her film career in the 1980s in 1996 she made an appearance During this she said My destruction as a person dates from that movie Lolita exposed me to temptations no girl of that age should undergo 26 I defy any pretty girl who is rocketed to stardom at 14 in a sex nymphet role to stay on a level path thereafter 26 27 28 According to her daughter Nona Harrison Sue Lyon suffered from bipolar disorder 29 Post Lolita career editIn 1960 Lyon was bound to a seven year professional services contract to Kubrick Lolita producer James B Harris and production company Seven Arts Productions when she accepted the part in Lolita 30 31 The Night of the Iguana 1964 in which she appeared opposite Richard Burton was a Seven Arts picture Lyon was featured on the theatrical release poster embracing Burton The movie was released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer which Seven Arts had a deal with as was 7 Women 1967 in which Lyon co starred with first billed Oscar winner Anne Bancroft to whom Lyon received second billing Lyon also was second billed to George C Scott in The Flim Flam Man 1967 and Frank Sinatra in Tony Rome 1967 After the Kubrick Harris Seven Arts contract expired she did not again appear in A list motion pictures She appeared in the 1969 low budget spaghetti western Four Rode Out top billed over former Bonanza star Pernell Roberts whose career was in eclipse In 1969 she also appeared in a TV version of Arsenic and Old Lace that starred Bob Crane of Hogan s Heroes and Helen Hayes She also made the first of her two appearances on the TV comedy Love American Style that year which is indicative of the drop off in her acting career In the 1970s her career likely was negatively impacted by an interracial marriage to African American football player Roland Harrison in 1971 and a subsequent marriage to imprisoned murderer Cotton Adamson in 1973 Racial intermarriage between white and Black people was rare in 1971 the year she co starred with George Hamilton in Evel Knievel a higher end B movie State laws banning interracial marriage were not declared unconstitutional in the United States until the Supreme Court s 1967 Loving v Virginia decision Lyon and Harrison had a daughter Nona Merrill Harrison who was born in Los Angeles in 1972 32 33 A minor hit at the box office taking in 4 million in rentals 34 35 equivalent to approximately 30 093 673 in 2023 36 against a 450 000 budget 37 Evel Knievel was the last significant motion picture Lyon starred in After her marriages to Harrison and Adamson Lyon worked in supporting roles in B movies television movies and guest spots on TV series Grade Z movie star edit Towards the end of the 1970s she began appearing in Z movies including two produced by Charles Band In her first movie for Band Crash 1977 Oscar winner Jose Ferrer played her husband who is trying to kill her She retaliates by using her occult powers to manipulate objects to kill him In her second film for Band Lyon played the wife of Christopher Lee s astrophysicist character in the sci fi movie End of the World which received poor reviews after it was released in 1977 as part of a double bill with another low budget sci fi flick 38 Lee later lamented his participation in the film claiming he was misled as to the quality of the picture by producer Band 39 Lyon followed this up with a part in The Astral Factor which was also known as The Astral Fiend on its initial release in 1978 Yet another low budget sci fi flick the Astral movie went through three directors She then graced Towing a low budget comedy film based on newspaper columnist Mike Ryoko s expose of unethical vehicle towing companies Also known as Who Stole My Wheels and Garage Girls the Chicago based movie featuring one of the first appearances of actor Dennis Franz got one and one half stars from critic Roger Ebert 40 She ceased working in the entertainment industry after a bit part in the 1980 B movie Alligator In 1984 a recut version of The Astral Factor re titled Invisible Strangler was released making it the last time Sue Lyon appeared in a motion picture Personal life editIn California Lyon was friends with Michelle Gilliam who was two years older than her Gilliam would achieve fame as Michelle Phillips after marrying John Phillips and becoming part of the pop music quartet the Mamas and Papas According to Phillips she shared the controversial novel Lolita with Lyon in 1960 the year before she auditioned for the part 41 In a 1962 interview with German TV as part of the film s promotion Lyon said she and her mother had read it and discussed the novel after she was cast in the part In the year after Lyon s death Phillips alleged that her friend had lost her virginity to Lolita producer James B Harris 28 Early in her career starting in 1965 Lyon had a relationship with Scottish singer songwriter Donovan 42 Lyon was married five times briefly to Hampton Fancher actor and filmmaker 43 33 44 photographer and football coach Roland Harrison with whom she had a daughter 45 Gary D Cotton Adamson a convicted murderer 46 47 45 and Edward Weathers She married Richard Rudman an engineer in 1985 Their marriage ended in divorce in 2002 7 Her third marriage in 1973 to Adamson took place in a Colorado state prison where he was incarcerated 48 He had been convicted of robbery 49 and second degree murder The union was contentious and ended in 1974 45 She said at the time that people in the film industry had told her he had a negative effect on her career 45 Discussing her divorce from Adamson Lyon said I ve been told by people in the movie business specifically producers and film distributors that I can t get a job because I m married to Cotton Therefore right now we can t be married 50 Allegation of underage affair with producer edit In 2020 Michelle Phillips told journalist Sarah Weinman that producer James B Harris became emotionally involved with Sue Lyon during her stay in England to shoot Lolita and that Harris had become her first lover when she was 14 years old When contacted by Weinman the 92 year old Harris refused to respond to the allegation with an affirmation or denial At the time Stanley Kubrick s Lolita was in production the age of consent in the UK was 16 years old and 18 in Lyon s home state of California 51 Harris was nearly 18 years older than Lyon and a married man Death editLyon died in West Hollywood on the morning of December 26 2019 at the age of 73 52 While no specific cause of death was given she was reported to have been in poor health for some time 4 To be pretty and to stay pretty are two different things You can t take anything for granted and it s foolish to think you can You have to think ahead of how to build health and happiness You have to learn to avoid what is going to hurt you or someone else Sue Lyon 1967 52 33 Filmography editFilm edit Year 53 Title Role Notes 54 1962 Lolita Dolores Lolita Haze Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer 1964 The Night of the Iguana Charlotte Goodall 1966 7 Women Emma Clark 1967 The Flim Flam Man Bonnie Lee Packard Tony Rome Diana Pines 1969 Arsenic and Old Lace Elaine Dodd TV movie Four Rode Out Myra Polsen 1970 But I Don t Want to Get Married Laura TV movie 1971 Evel Knievel Linda 1973 Murder in a Blue World Ana Vernia Tarot Angela 1976 Smash Up on Interstate 5 Burnsey TV movie Crash Kim Denne 1977 End of the World Sylvia Boran Don t Push I ll Charge When I m Ready Wendy Sutherland TV movie made in 1969 1978 The Astral Factor Darlene DeLong Re released in 1984 as The Invisible Strangler Towing Lynn 1980 Alligator NBC Newswoman Final film role Television edit Year Title Role Notes 1959 Letter to Loretta Laurie 1 episode Alien Love 55 as Suellyn Lyon 1960 Dennis the Menace Blonde with Valentine Card uncredited 1 episode Miss Cathcart s Sunsuit 56 1969 1974 Love American Style Barbara EricJulie 2 episodes Love and the Extra Job Love and the Flying Finletters Love and the Golden Worm Love and the Itchy Condition Love and the Patrolperson Love and the Medium Love and the Bed 57 Love and the High School Flop Out 1970 The Virginian Belinda Ballard 1 episode Experiment at New Life 1971 Men at Law Bunny Phillips 1 episode Marathon Night Gallery Betsy 1 episode The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes Miss Lovecraft Sent Me The Hand of Borgus Weems Phantom of What Opera 1978 Police Story Caroline 1 episode River of Promises Fantasy Island Jill Nolan 1 episode Reunion Anniversary References edit Weinman Sarah October 24 2020 The Dark Side of Lolita Air Mail No 67 Retrieved March 12 2021 Olsen Mark December 28 2019 Sue Lyon actress who portrayed Lolita in scandalous 1962 movie dies at 73 The Washington Post Retrieved December 30 2019 a b Kilkenny Katie December 27 2019 Sue Lyon Teenage Star of Stanley Kubrick s Lolita Dies at 73 The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved June 17 2023 a b Genzlinger Neil December 27 2019 Sue Lyon Star of Lolita Is Dead at 73 The New York Times Retrieved January 1 2020 Archer Eugene September 28 1960 Schoolgirl Gets Lead in Lolita Sue Lyon a Model and TV Actress Signed for Film The New York Times p 33 Retrieved June 17 2023 HOLLYWOOD Nymphet Found Time October 10 1960 Archived from the original on August 8 2014 Retrieved June 17 2023 a b c d Sue Lyon Kubrick s Lolita dies aged 73 The Guardian Agence France Presse December 29 2019 Retrieved June 17 2023 Bergan Ronald December 31 2019 Sue Lyon obituary The Guardian Retrieved June 17 2023 Lisanti Tom 2001 Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema Interviews with 20 Actresses from Biker Beach and Elvis Movies McFarland p 71 ISBN 978 0 7864 0868 9 Vagg Stephen March 19 2022 Movie Star Cold Streaks Hayley Mills Filmink a b c AFI Catalog of Feature Films Lolita 1962 afi org American Film Institute Retrieved August 4 2023 Lolita 1962 tcm com Turner Classic Movies Retrieved August 4 2023 Boyd Brian 1991 Vladimir Nabokov the American years Princeton NJ Princeton University Press p 415 ISBN 9780691024714 Retrieved August 30 2013 a b c Hoffman Jordan December 28 2019 Sue Lyon Star of Lolita Dies at Age 73 Vanity Fair Retrieved June 17 2023 a b c Crowther Bosley June 14 1962 Screen Lolita Vladimir Nabokov s Adaptation of His Novel Sue Lyon and Mason in Leading Roles The New York Times Retrieved June 17 2023 Leaf Earl 1962 Sue Lyon sips a milkshake after the movie premiere of Lolita at Sandpipers in Los Angeles CA Getty Images Retrieved June 17 2023 Tallerico Brian Foreground Material Stanley Kubrick The Masterpiece Collection RogerEbert com Retrieved December 8 2014 Green Steph The troubling legacy of the Lolita story 60 years on BBC Retrieved August 3 2023 Lolita 1962 tcm com Turner Classic Movies Retrieved August 4 2023 This Day In History Stanley Kubrick s Lolita released history com History Channel Retrieved August 4 2023 Lolita Release info IMDb Retrieved August 4 2023 unreliable source McDonald Dwight Of Nymphets and Monsterettes Esquire Magazine Retrieved August 4 2023 Phillips Gene D LOLITA A Cinematic Classic Letter to the Editor The New York Times Retrieved August 4 2023 Lolita Variety January 1962 Retrieved August 4 2023 Lolita Ya Ya Sue Lyon vinylheaven com Vinyl Heaven Retrieved August 4 2023 Winners amp Nominees 1963 Hollywood Foreign Press Association Retrieved December 28 2019 a b Fenwick James October 29 2021 The exploitation of Sue Lyon Lolita 1962 archival research and questions for film history PDF Feminist Media Studies 23 4 1786 1801 doi 10 1080 14680777 2021 1996422 ISSN 1468 0777 S2CID 240267605 Retrieved June 17 2023 Ritzenhoff Karen A Metlic Dijana Szaniawski Jeremi 2022 Introduction Gender Power and Identity in The Films of Stanley Kubrick Routledge doi 10 4324 9781003208174 1 ISBN 978 1 003 20817 4 a b How Filming 1962 s Lolita Destroyed Actress Sue Lyon s Life Grunge August 11 2021 Retrieved June 17 2023 What happened to Sue Lyon Little is known about the Lolita star at age 73 but her estranged daughter offers some insights September 27 2019 Retrieved August 3 2023 via AOL Fenwick James 2023 The exploitation of Sue Lyon Lolita 1962 archival research and questions for film history Feminist Media Studies 23 4 London 2 doi 10 1080 14680777 2021 1996422 The Tragic Life and Death of Sue Lyon Lolita factsverse com Facts Verse September 13 2021 Retrieved August 3 2023 Sue Lyon glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen com Retrieved December 30 2019 a b c Lolita actress could keep people guessing The Sydney Morning Herald The Washington Post January 3 2020 Retrieved June 17 2023 Updated All time Film Champs Variety 9 January 1974 pg 60 Donahue Suzanne Mary 1987 American film distribution the changing marketplace UMI Research Press p 293 ISBN 978 0 8357 1776 2 Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved February 29 2024 Flynn Charles McCarthy Todd eds 1975 Kings of the Bs working within the Hollywood system an anthology of film history and criticism E P Dutton p 140 Mosely Stephen 2022 Christopher Lee The Loneliness of Evil Baltimore Midnight Marquee Press Inc ISBN 978 1644301289 Retrieved August 4 2023 End of the World 1977 moirareviews com Moira Horror Science Fiction amp Fantasy Reviews November 14 2013 Retrieved August 4 2023 Ebert Roger Towing rogerebert com Roger Ebert Estate Retrieved August 4 2023 California Dreamgirl Vanity Fair November 20 2007 Retrieved July 28 2023 Donovan waybackattack com Sue Lyon attends a party with Hampton Fancher in Los Angeles Getty Images 1962 Retrieved June 17 2023 Sue Lyon actress who portrayed Lolita in scandalous 1962 movie dies at 73 The Washington Post December 29 2019 Retrieved June 17 2023 a b c d Notes on People The New York Times November 15 1974 Retrieved June 17 2023 Actress Sue Lyon who married Colorado State Penitentiary inmate Gary Cotton Adamson in Nov 73 says she is divorcing him because people Actress Released From Hospital The Lincoln Star Lincoln Nebraska June 25 1976 Retrieved June 17 2023 via archive org 1973 Press Photo Sue Lyon marry Colorado State inmate Gary Adamson Retrieved June 17 2023 via eBay Cupp David February 27 1974 Manier amp Cotton Adamson in Adamson s cell Wall had pix of Adamson s wife The Denver Post Retrieved June 17 2023 via Getty Images Creamery robbery leads to murder Michael Carrigan for Denver DA January 20 2015 Retrieved June 17 2023 Olsen Mark December 28 2019 Sue Lyon teenage star of Stanley Kubrick s Lolita is dead at 73 Los Angeles Times Retrieved August 3 2023 Weinman Sarah The Dark Side of Lolita Sue Lyon was 14 when she starred in the film The producer slept with her anyway Airmail Retrieved August 3 2023 a b Olsen Mark December 28 2019 Sue Lyon teenage star of Stanley Kubrick s Lolita is dead at 73 Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 29 2019 Sue Lyon TV Guide Retrieved December 28 2019 Sue Lyon Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved December 28 2019 The Loretta Young Show S7 E6 Alien Love Retrieved June 17 2023 via YouTube Wheat Lorraine December 28 2019 Lolita Star Sue Lyon Dies at 73 Variety Retrieved June 17 2023 LOVE AMERICAN STYLE Love and the Bed Season One Sue Lyon and Roger Perry starred in a story about the battle for the ownership of a brass bed Getty Images December 29 1969 Retrieved June 17 2023 External links editSue Lyon at the TCM Movie Database Sue Lyon at IMDb Sue Lyon Getty Images Sue Lyon Tribute filmography photos at angelfire com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sue Lyon amp oldid 1210566214, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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