Carroll Baker

She was one of those blonde beauties who left their mark on Hollywood, heirs to the incomparable Marilyn Monroe . But as with the quintessential platinum diva, Baker’s star shone brightly but she faded too soon. It is true that Carroll Baker’s artistic life spanned more than fifty years, from the 1950s to the new millennium, however her great roles almost came to an end in the 1960s. A real shame . Her fault was due to her continuous disagreements with her studies and her early departure to Europe, where she completed a very uneven filmography.

Carroll Baker was born Karolina Piekarski on May 28, 1931 in Johnston, Pennsylvania (United States), although her blonde hair and milky skin clearly denote her Polish ancestry. The daughter of a salesman, she soon became a girl in show business, as she worked as a dancer in a “night club” and as an accompanist in magic performances. At the age of 21, she got married, although the marriage union was so fleeting that it barely lasted eight months. She then appeared for the first time in a movie, the niceEasy to Love , starring the mermaid Esther Williams , and later began to do television commercials and collaborated sporadically in some series. It was clear that the young Carroll had enough hook and appeal to the public. She then decided to enter the prestigious Actor’s Studio to pursue a career in the world of acting.

His luck started very soon. In 1955 she married again, this time with director Jack Garfein. And the following year she would join the cast of the monumentalGiant , George Stevens drama with Rock Hudson , Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean in the lead roles. And then she was chosen by the great Elia Kazan to star inBaby Doll , an excellent drama based on a Tennessee Williams play about a 19-year-old girl who marries a mature man prematurely. As usual for the Mississippi playwright, the plot had its small dose of scandal. Carroll Baker’s interpretation was shocking and his seduction skills striking. The Academy fell in love with the 25-year-old blonde and nominated her for an Oscar for best supporting actress. Her booming she slipped into the role of Patricia, Gregory Peck ‘s fiancée inHorizons of greatness , an excellent western where Baker brought out her most capricious and haughty side, in opposition to the little teacher Jean Simmons . But Carroll Baker was not an easy actress. She refused to do some roles for Warner and this led to her losing important contracts with the production company. And the problems continued with other companies and so, by refusing to appear in some films based on works by Erskine Caldwell, she lost the possibility of starring.The three faces of Eva (1957) for Fox, andThe cat on the zinc roof (958) andThe Karamazov brothers (1958) for MGM.

Still some interesting papers kept appearing, although they would not last long. In 1959 she filmed with Clark Gable the estimable romantic comedyI’m Not For You , by Walter Lang . In 1959 she played a Spanish novice who falls in love with an English soldier at the time of the Napoleonic Wars in Broken Promise and in 1961 she stars in Puente al sol , a war drama set in World War II. That same year she played a rape victim in the excellent drama Something Wild , written and directed by her husband Jack Garfein. Her husband then, because the following year the couple would divorce. The marriage had two children, and the actress would not marry again until 1983, when she would join her life with Donald Burton until his death in 2007.

On a professional level, estimable secondary roles would come later in two westerns:The conquest of the West (1962), where he would fall in love with James Stewart ; YThe Great Combat (1964), the final Indian takeover directed by John Ford . He also stood out in some deep dramas, where he gave free rein to his most seductive roles, asThe Insatiables (1964), along with George Peppard , or the films directed by Gordon Douglas Sylvia (1965) and the biopic Harlow, the platinum blonde (1967). And she in between she tried the sacred story, in the role of Veronica inThe Greatest Story Ever Told , where he once again collaborated with George Stevens , or in the old-fashioned adventure film The Kenyan Adventurer .

From then on, the life and career of Carroll Baker, who had not yet turned forty, takes a radical turn. She went to live in Europe, specifically in Italy, and began to appear in much more minority films, often with criminal plots, closer to terror or intrigue, and of course allowing the actress to show her more explicitly sensual side. She thus began her journey with L’harem (1967), directed by Marco Ferreri from a script by Rafael Azcona , and with the horror film El dulce cuerpo de Deborah (1968). With director Umberto Lenzi she shoots Orgasmo (1969), So sweet, so wonderful (1969),A drug called Helen (1970) andDetrás del silencio (1972), the latter filmed in Spain, likeThe Last Mrs. Anderson (1971). The actress would end the decade with several minor jobs.

With more than fifty years of age, Carroll Baker would return to North America and try to resume a career that was already slipping away. In 1983 he appeared in Bob Fosse ‘s musical Star 80 and joined Matt Dillon and Elizabeth McGovern in the dramaThe outcast (1986). Better luck had with the important role of him in the estimableIron Stem (1987), by Hector Babenco . But Baker’s star was fading fast. The last important works of his have taken place in telefilms or in poor quality products, with the exception of the notableThe Game (1997). In 2003 the actress retired permanently.