Carroll Baker born May 28, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] is an American retired actress. 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 Baker had other early film roles in Giant and the romantic comedy But Not for Me In , she appeared in the controversial independent film Something Wild , directed by her then husband Jack Garfein , playing a traumatized rape victim.
In the mids, as a contract player for Paramount Pictures , Baker became a sex symbol after appearing as a hedonistic widow in The Carpetbaggers The film's producer, Joseph E. Levine , cast her in Sylvia before giving her the role of Jean Harlow in the biopic Harlow Despite significant prepublicity, Harlow was a critical failure, and Baker relocated to Italy in 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 , a series of four films with Umberto Lenzi beginning with Orgasmo and ending with Knife of Ice , and Corrado Farina 's Baba Yaga She re-emerged for American audiences as a character actress in the Andy Warhol โproduced dark comedy Bad Baker appeared in supporting roles in several acclaimed dramas in the s, including the true-crime drama Star 80 as the mother of murder victim Dorothy Stratten , and the racial drama Native Son , based on the novel by Richard Wright.
In , she had a supporting part in Ironweed Law , and Roswell. She also had supporting parts in several big-budget films, such as Kindergarten Cop and the David Fincher โdirected thriller The Game She formally retired from acting in In addition to acting, Baker is also the author of two autobiographies and two novels. According to Baker, her mother struggled as a single parent, and the family was poor for much of her upbringing.
Baker attended Greensburg Salem High School in Greensburg, Pennsylvania , where she was a debate team member and active in the marching band and school musicals. Petersburg, Florida , where she attended St.
