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Connie Stevens (born August 8, 1938) is an United
States|American Actor|actress and singer.

She was born Concetta Rosalie Anna Ingolia in
Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Peter Ingolia
(known as musician Teddy Stevens) and singer
Eleanor McGinley.

The real name of her father is Peter Ingolia, and
Connie adopted his stage name of Stevens as hers.
Her parents were divorced and she lived with
grandparents. At age eight, she started attending
Catholic boarding school|boarding schools. Actor
John Megna was her half-brother.

Coming from a musical family, she formed a singing
group called The Foremost, the other three
vocalist|vocalists went on to fame as The
Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles,
California|Los Angeles with her father. When she
was sixteen, she started another singing group,
The Three Debs. She enrolled at a professional
school, sang professionally and appeared in local
repertory theatre. 

Stevens then started working as a movie extra.
After appearing in four B movies, Jerry Lewis saw
her in Dragstrip Riot and cast her in
Rock-A-Bye-Baby. Soon after that, she signed a
contract with Warner Brothers.

She played 'Cricket Blake' in the popular
Television detective series Hawaiian Eye from 1959
in television|1959 to 1962 in television|1962, a
role that made her famous. In a televised
interview on August 26, 2003, with Larry King on
CNN|CNN's Larry King Live, Stevens recounted that
while on the set of "Hawaiian Eye" she was told
she a telephone call from Elvis Presley. She
didn't believe it, but in fact it was him,
inviting her to a party, saying he would come to
her house and pick her up personally. They dated
for a time and she says they remained lifelong
friends.  

Her first album was titled Concetta (1958 in
music|1958). She had minor hits with the songs
Blame It On My Youth, Looking For A Boy, and
Spring Is Here. After making several appearances
on the Warner Bros. hit TV series 77 Sunset Strip,
she recorded the hit novelty song Kookie, Kookie,
Lend Me Your Comb, a duet with one of the shows
stars, Edward Byrnes. She also recorded the hit
single (music)|single Sixteen Reasons (1961 in
music|1961). Other releases were Why'd You Wanna
Make Me Cry?, Mr. Songwriter, and Now That You've
Gone.   

Stevens felt she should be given a raise in 1962,
and during the dispute with the studio she was
placed on suspension. She was also angered over
being denied a chance to audition for the lead in
the upcoming Warner Bros. musical My Fair Lady.
The differences between her and Warner Bros. were
patched up long enough, however, for her to star
as Wendy Conway in the TV sitcom Wendy And Me
(1964 in television|1964)-(1965 in
television|1965) with George Burns, who also
produced the show.

She also worked in summer stock, and she starred
in the Broadway theatre|Broadway production of
Neil Simon|Neil Simon's Star Spangled Girl with
Anthony Perkins.

Connie Stevens has had two husbands, actor James
Stacy (married 1963-divorced 1967) and singer
Eddie Fisher (singer)|Eddie Fisher (married
1967-divorced 1969). She is the mother of
actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher.

In the 1970s, Stevens started singing the Ace Is
The Place theme song on Ace Hardware TV
commercials in Southern California, was a guest on
the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast a few times, had a
regular role on the 1986 in television|1986 TV
series Rowdies and appeared numerous times on the 
Bob Hope United Service Organizations|USO
specials, including his Christmas Show from the
Persian Gulf (1988 in television|1988).

Among her charitable works, she founded the
Windfeather project to award scholarships to
Native American Indians. In 1991, Stevens received
the Lady of Humanities Award from Shriners
Hospital and the Humanitarian of the Year Award by
the Sons of Italy in Washington, DC.

Stevens developed her own cosmetic skin care
product line, Forever Spring, and in the 1990s
opened the Connie Stevens Garden Sanctuary Day Spa
in Los Angeles.

In 1994, she issued her first recording in several
years, Tradition: A Family at Christmas, along
with her two daughters.

She has also made nightclub appearances and
headlined in major Las Vegas showrooms.

Connie Stevens has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame at 6249 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood,
California|Hollywood, and she has a star on the
Star Walk in Palm Springs, California|Palm
Springs.

==Filmography==
*Young and Dangerous (1957)
*Eighteen and Anxious (1957)
*Dragstrip Riot (1958)
*Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
*The Party Crashers (1958)
*Parrish (1961)
*Susan Slade (1961)
*Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
*Two on a Guillotine (1965)
*Never Too Late (1965)
*Way... Way Out (1966)
*The Last Generation (1971) 
*The Grissom Gang (1971)
*Scorchy (1976)
*Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
(Cameo)
*Grease 2 (1982)
*Back to the Beach (1987)
*Tapeheads (1988)
*Love Is All There Is (1996)
*James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997)
*A Healing (1997) (producer, director, writer,
cinematographer, and editer only)
*Returning Mickey Stern (2002)

==External links==
*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828328/ IMDb entry
for Connie Stevens