Carroll Baker

Biography

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.

Known For

Murder, She Wrote

The Mike Douglas Show

Chicago Hope

L.A. Law

The Merv Griffin Show

What's My Line?

Tales from the Crypt

Roswell

All Movies (88)

• Carroll Baker: Vom Baby Doll zur Lady Glamour2017 · as Self
• Hollywood Scandals2011 · as Self
• Western Legenden - Made in Hollywood2009 · as Self
• You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story2008 · as Self
• Baby Doll: See No Evil2006 · as Self
• Time Machine: When Cowboys Were King2003 · as Self
• Cinerama Adventure2002 · as Self
• Heart of the Festival2002 · as Self (archive footage)
• Another Woman's Husband2000 · as Laurel’s mother
• Memories of Giant1998 · as Self
• Nowhere to Go1998 · as Nana
• Rag and Bone1998 · as Sister Marie, Tony's Aunt
• Heart Full of Rain1997 · as Edith Pearl Dockett
• The Game1997 · as Ilsa
• Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western1997 · as Self
• Skeletons1997 · as Nancy Norton
• North Shore Fish1997 · as Arlyne
• Just Your Luck1996 · as Momie
• Return to 'Giant'1996 · as Self
• La signora della città1996 · as Martha Sheppard
• Dalva1996 · as Naomi
• Clark Gable: Tall, Dark, and Handsome1996 · as Self
• Storie di seduzione1995 · as Diana's Mother
• Roger Moore: A Matter of Class1995 · as Self
• Charlton Heston: For All Seasons1995 · as Self
• In the Flesh1995 · as Elaine Mitchelson
• Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage1994 · as Baby Doll Meighan (archive footage)
• A Kiss to Die For1993 · as Mrs. Graham
• Men Don't Tell1993 · as Ruth
• Judgment Day: The John List Story1993 · as Alma List
• Cyber Eden1992 · as Madame
• Blonde Fist1991 · as Lovell Summers
• Kindergarten Cop1990 · as Eleanor Crisp
• Gipsy Angel1990 · as Pheobe
• Ironweed1987 · as Annie Phelan
• Hollywood Uncensored1987 · as Self
• On Fire1987 · as Maureen Leary
• Native Son1986 · as Mrs. Dalton
• What Mad Pursuit1985 · as Louise Steinhauser
• Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil1985 · as Gerda Hoffman
• The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud1984 · as Mama Freud
• Star 801983 · as Dorothy's Mum
• Red Monarch1983 · as Ellen Brown
• The Watcher in the Woods1980 · as Helen Curtis
• The World Is Full of Married Men1979 · as Linda Cooper
• Cyclone1978 · as Sheila
• Bad1977 · as Hazel Aiken
• Shattered Dreams1976 · as Carol
• Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife1976 · as Laura
• Blackmail Chase1976 · as Polly Pott
• The Sky is Falling1975 · as Treasure
• The Private Lesson1975 · as Laura Formenti
• James Dean: The First American Teenager1975 · as Self
• The Next Victim1975 · as Sandy Marshall
• Valentina... The Virgin Wife1975 · as Lucia
• The Body1974 · as Madeliene
• The Flower with Petals of Steel1973 · as Evelyne Graffi
• Baba Yaga1973 · as Baba Yaga
• Knife of Ice1972 · as Martha Caldwell
• The Devil with Seven Faces1971 · as Julie Harrison / Mary Harrison
• Captain Apache1971 · as Maude
• The Fourth Victim1971 · as Julie Spencer / Lillian Martin
• A Quiet Place to Kill1970 · as Helen
• So Sweet... So Perverse1969 · as Nicole Perrier
• Paranoia1969 · as Kathryn West
• The Sweet Body of Deborah1968 · as Deborah
• Jack of Diamonds1967 · as Carroll Baker
• The Harem1967 · as Margherita
• Lionpower from MGM1967 · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Harlow1965 · as Jean Harlow
• Mister Moses1965 · as Julie Anderson
• The Greatest Story Ever Told1965 · as Veronica
• Sylvia1965 · as Sylvia: West (Karoki, Kay, Carlyle)
• Cheyenne Autumn1964 · as Deborah Wright
• The Carpetbaggers1964 · as Rina Marlowe Cord
• The Paradise Suite1963 · as Lena Roland
• Station Six-Sahara1963 · as Catherine
• How the West Was Won1962 · as Eve Prescott Rawlings
• Something Wild1961 · as Mary Ann Robinson
• Bridge to the Sun1961 · as Gwen Terasaki
• The Miracle1959 · as Teresa
• But Not for Me1959 · as Ellie Brown / Borden
• The Big Country1958 · as Patricia Terrill
• Fun in the Big Country1958 · as Self
• Baby Doll1956 · as Baby Doll Meighan
• Giant1956 · as Luz Benedict II
• New York Premiere Telecast 'Giant'1956 · as Self
• Easy to Love1953 · as Clarice

All TV Shows (17)

• The Lyon's Den2003 · as Jack's Mother
• Roswell1999 · as Claudia Parker
• E! True Hollywood Story1996
• Chicago Hope1994 · as Sylvie Tannen
• P.S. I Luv U1991 · as Victoria
• Grand1990 · as Viva
• Tales from the Crypt1989 · as Mother Paloma ("segment "The Trap")
• L.A. Law1986 · as Rae Morrison
• Murder, She Wrote1984 · as Sibella Stone
• Thriller1973 · as Sandy Marshall
• W. Somerset Maugham1969 · as Sadie Thompson
• The Merv Griffin Show1962 · as Self
• The Mike Douglas Show1961 · as Self
• Armchair Theatre1956 · as Lena Roland
• Cinépanorama1956 · as Self
• The Oscars1953 · as Self
• What's My Line?1950 · as Self - Mystery Guest