Silver screen star passes away at 77
By Keldine Hull
Carol Lynley, known for her role in the Gene Hackman led cult-classic “Poseidon Adventure,” passed away in her sleep on September 3 in her Pacific Palisades home. She was 77.
Lynley got her start as a successful child model for the Sears & Roebuck department store in New York and transitioned to Broadway in her early teens. In 1959 and 1960, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her roles in “The Light in the Forest” and “Blue Denim” respectively. Lynley also starred in “Return to Peyton Place” (1961), “Under the Yum Yum Tree” (1963) alongside Jack Lemon, “The Cardinal” (1963) and 1965’s “The Bunny Lake is Missing” with Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward.
Lynley’s role as skittish lounge singer Nonnie Parry in “Poseidon Adventure” (1972) was perhaps one of her most well- known roles. Her character performed the Academy Award hit “The Morning After,” although the vocals were dubbed.
The blond hair, blue eyed beauty also appeared in several television shows including “Hawaii Five- 0, “The Love Boat,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Her last known role was in 2006 in Sylvester Stallone’s 30-minute shoot “Vic.”
Lynley’s daughter, Jill Selsman, told People in a statement, “She loved to dance, going to the ballet, seeing anything on Broadway. I basically lived at Lincoln Center as a child because of her. She had an easy approach to life and always took the good with the bad. She was a bon vivant. There really was no situation that couldn’t be improved or ignored because there really was so much fun to be had, why dwell on things you can’t change.”
Selsman continued, “Clearly, you can’t change death, but if there is a world beyond, she’s dancing with her great friend Fred Astaire and enjoying her new life as much as she enjoyed her previous one.”
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