Carroll Baker
Known for: Acting
Carroll Baker (born May 28, 1931) is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in the adaptation of two Tennessee Williams plays into the film Baby Doll in 1956. In the mid-1960s, as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, Baker became a sex symbol after appearing as a hedonistic widow in The Carpetbaggers (1964). The film's producer, Joseph E. Levine, cast her in Sylvia before giving her the role of Jean Harlow in the biopic Harlow (1965). Despite significant prepublicity, Harlow was a critical failure, and Baker relocated to Italy in 1966 amid a legal dispute over her contract with Paramount and Levine's overseeing of her career. In Europe, she spent the next 10 years starring in hard-edged giallo and horror films, including Romolo Guerrieri's The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), a series of four films with Umberto Lenzi beginning with Orgasmo (1969) and ending with Knife of Ice (1972), and Corrado Farina's Baba Yaga (1973). Baker appeared in supporting roles in several acclaimed dramas in the 1980s, including the drama Star 80 (1983) as the mother of murder victim Dorothy Stratten, and the racial drama Native Son (1986), based on the novel by Richard Wright. Through the 1990s Baker had guest roles in several television series, such as Murder, She Wrote; L.A. Law, and Roswell. She formally retired from acting in 2003.
Filmography
Series
The Mike Douglas Show
Self
1961
Series
What's My Line?
Self - Mystery Guest
1950
Series
Murder, She Wrote
Sibella Stone
1984
Series
Chicago Hope
Sylvie Tannen
1994
Series
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
1962
Series
L.A. Law
Rae Morrison
1986
Series
American Playhouse
Mrs. Dalton
1982
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Series
Tales from the Crypt
Mother Paloma ("segment "The Trap")
1989
Series
Roswell
Claudia Parker
1999
Series
Cinépanorama
Self
1956
Series
Thriller
Sandy Marshall
1973
Film
The Game
Ilsa
1997
Series
The Lyon's Den
Jack's Mother
2003
Film
Giant
Luz Benedict II
1956
Series
Grand
Viva
1990
Film
Kindergarten Cop
Eleanor Crisp
1990
Series
P.S. I Luv U
Victoria
1991
Film
How the West Was Won
Eve Prescott Rawlings
1962
Film
The Big Country
Patricia Terrill
1958
Film
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Veronica
1965
Film
Cheyenne Autumn
Deborah Wright
1964
Series
E! True Hollywood Story
1996
W. Somerset Maugham
Sadie Thompson
1969
Film
Bad
Hazel Aiken
1977
Film
Ironweed
Annie Phelan
1987
Film
The Private Lesson
Laura Formenti
1975
Sharing Time
Fran Haley
1984
Film
The Watcher in the Woods
Helen Curtis
1980
Film
Baby Doll
Baby Doll Meighan
1956
Series
Armchair Theatre
Lena Roland
1956
Film
Star 80
Dorothy's Mum
1983
Film
Cyclone
Sheila
1978
Film
The Carpetbaggers
Rina Marlowe Cord
1964
Film
Hollywood Uncensored
Self
1987
Film
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
Baby Doll Meighan (archive footage)
1994
Film
A Quiet Place to Kill
Helen
1970
Film
The Sweet Body of Deborah
Deborah
1968
Film
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
Self
1997
Film
Mister Moses
Julie Anderson
1965
Film
So Sweet... So Perverse
Nicole Perrier
1969
Film
Captain Apache
Maude
1971
Film
But Not for Me
Ellie Brown / Borden
1959
Film
Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga
1973
Film
Something Wild
Mary Ann Robinson
1961
Film
Harlow
Jean Harlow
1965
Film
Heart Full of Rain
Edith Pearl Dockett
1997
Film
The Devil with Seven Faces
Julie Harrison / Mary Harrison
1971
Film
Paranoia
Kathryn West
1969
Film
Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife
Laura
1976
Film
You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story
Self
2008
Film
Valentina... The Virgin Wife
Lucia
1975
Film
Easy to Love
Clarice
1953
Film
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
Gerda Hoffman
1985
Film
Men Don't Tell
Ruth
1993
Film
Just Your Luck
Momie
1996
Film
In the Flesh
Elaine Mitchelson
1995
Film
Judgment Day: The John List Story
Alma List
1993
Film
James Dean: The First American Teenager
Self
1975
Film
Another Woman's Husband
Laurel’s mother
2000
Film
Blonde Fist
Lovell Summers
1991
Film
The Sky is Falling
Treasure
1975
Film
The Miracle
Teresa
1959
Film
A Kiss to Die For
Mrs. Graham
1993
Film
Roger Moore: A Matter of Class
Self
1995
Film
Station Six-Sahara
Catherine
1963
Film
Shattered Dreams
Carol
1976
Film
Gipsy Angel
Pheobe
1990
Film
The World Is Full of Married Men
Linda Cooper
1979
Film
Dalva
Naomi
1996
Film
Heart of the Festival
Self (archive footage)
2002
Film
Blackmail Chase
Polly Pott
1976
Film
Jack of Diamonds
Carroll Baker
1967
Film
Native Son
Mrs. Dalton
1986
Film
Bridge to the Sun
Gwen Terasaki
1961
Film
The Harem
Margherita
1967
Film
Time Machine: When Cowboys Were King
Self
2003
Film
Charlton Heston: For All Seasons
Self
1995
Film
The Fourth Victim
Julie Spencer / Lillian Martin
1971
Film
The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud
Mama Freud
1984
Film
The Flower with Petals of Steel
Evelyne Graffi
1973
Film
Clark Gable: Tall, Dark, and Handsome
Self
1996
Film
Fun in the Big Country
Self
1958
Film
Western Legenden - Made in Hollywood
Self
2009
Film
North Shore Fish
Arlyne
1997
Film
Skeletons
Nancy Norton
1997
Film
Rag and Bone
Sister Marie, Tony's Aunt
1998
Film
Knife of Ice
Martha Caldwell
1972
Film
La signora della città
Martha Sheppard
1996
Film
New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant'
Self
1956
Film
Red Monarch
Ellen Brown
1983
Film
Lionpower from MGM
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1967
Film
Sylvia
Sylvia: West (Karoki, Kay, Carlyle)
1965
Film
On Fire
Maureen Leary
1987
Film
Baby Doll: See No Evil
Self
2006
Film
The Body
Madeliene
1974
Film
Return to 'Giant'
Self
1996
Film
Cinerama Adventure
Self
2002
Film
Cyber Eden
Madame
1992
Film
What Mad Pursuit
Louise Steinhauser
1985
Film
Storie di seduzione
Diana's Mother
1995
The Paradise Suite
Lena Roland
1963
Hollywood Scandals
Self
2011
Film
Carroll Baker: Vom Baby Doll zur Lady Glamour
Self
2017
Film
The Next Victim
Sandy Marshall
1975
Film
Memories of Giant
Self
1998
Nowhere to Go
Nana
1998