Lola Albright

Today’s morning name, risen up from my subconscious for reasons I cannot fathom. But there she is, an icon of the ’50s and ’60s, all sultry-voiced, notably on American tv’s Peter Gunn (1958-61), with its film noir tone and jazz music. Here she is with the star of the show, Craig Stevens:

(People smoked a lot in those days. Cigarettes provided the film noir haze.)

You can watch, and hear, Albright singing “How High the Moon” on the show in this YouTube clip.

(On tv film noir, see my 10/29/13: posting “Briefly noted: tv film noir”.)

On Albright, from Wikipedia:

Lola Jean Albright (born July 20, 1924) is an American singer and actress.

She worked as a model before moving to Hollywood, studied piano for 20 years and worked as a receptionist at radio station WAKR in Akron,[3] beginning when she was 15. At 18, she moved to Cleveland and was a stenographer at WTAM radio. Her first radio performance came on WJW in Cleveland.

… For [several years after her film debut in 1947], she appeared in secondary roles in over twenty films, including several ‘B’ Westerns.

… She made guest appearances in [many] television series

… In 1958, she was cast on Peter Gunn, the television detective series produced by Blake Edwards and scored by Henry Mancini. Albright played Edie Hart, a nightclub singer and the romantic interest of Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens).

 

Leave a Reply


%d bloggers like this: