Lola Albright, 92, sultry singer in 'Peter Gunn' series . By Matt
Schudel Washington Post . WASHINGTON - Lola Albright, an alluring
actress who was perhaps best known for her role as a sultry nightclub
singer in the noirish television detective series "Peter Gunn," died
March 23 in Los Angeles. She was 92. Her death was first reported by
the Akron Beacon-Journal in her Ohio hometown. The cause was not
disclosed. Ms. Albright made her screen debut in the late 1940s and
appeared in numerous westerns and other B movies before being cast in
"Peter Gunn," an adult drama that aired from 1958 to 1961 and has
become a cult classic. The series, created by director Blake Edwards,
starred Craig Stevens in the title role as a debonair detective, with
Ms. Albright playing his often-stood-up girlfriend, Edie Hart. She
crooned a song in each episode at a shabby-chic jazz club called
Mother's, which never seemed to close. (In the show's final season,
Edie had her own club.) "There she is, Lola Albright, slinking her way
onto the screen, frequently in song, at the gritty club called
Mother's," critic Diane Werts wrote in 2012 for the website
TVWorthWatching.com. "She's a sexy chanteuse, but she's more - Gunn's
girlfriend, and his rock, and a frisky partner in play. Ms. Albright
was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Peter Gunn," which had a striking
theme song that won two Grammy Awards for its composer, Henry Mancini.
Ms. Albright's languorous singing and beauty contributed to the moody
aura of "Peter Gunn," which ran for 114 episodes on NBC and later ABC.
"She was perfect casting for that role because she had an off-the-cuff
kind of jazz delivery that was very hard to find," Mancini said in
1992. "Just enough to believe that she'd be singing in that club and
that she shouldn't be on Broadway or doing movies. Beyond the formulaic
westerns and science fiction movies, Ms. Albright was often cast as a
femme fatale, including as a lusty married woman pursuing Kirk Douglas
in the 1949 boxing movie "Champion. She played a beauty pageant
contestant with a driven mother in "Beauty on Parade" (1950). In 1955,
she appeared as one of Frank Sinatra's many love interests in "The
Tender Trap. Ms. Albright began acting in television during the
medium's infancy and had a recurring role in "The Bob Cummings Show" in
the 1950s before landing her part in "Peter Gunn. One of the few times
she was cast in the leading role came in 1961 with "A Cold Wind in
August," an edgy drama directed by Alexander Singer. Ms. Albright
portrayed an aging stripper, Iris Hartford, who seduces a teenage boy.
"What's your hurry? she tells the boy, played by Scott Marlowe. "You
got a heavy date? You gotta go out and hustle hubcaps? A New York Times
critic dismissed the film as exploitation, saying the producers "have
confused art with blatant sex. But a New York Herald Tribune reviewer
noted that "there is much to commend this oddly compelling independent
production, not the least of which is a striking performance by Lola
Albright. The role created friction in her marriage, Ms. Albright said
in a 1961 interview, but added: "I couldn't turn it down - it was a
showcase role, the kind that comes around once in a lifetime and a
chance to show what I really can do. Lois Jean Albright was born July
20, 1924, in Akron. Her parents were gospel singers, and she studied
music throughout her childhood. Before she turned 20, she had been a
receptionist at a Cleveland radio station, married an announcer, and
moved to Chicago. While she was working as a model, a photographer
suggested that Ms. Albright give Hollywood a try. She had dozens of
film and TV credits in the 1950s and 1960s, ranging from "The Monolith
Monsters" to "Gunsmoke," "The Beverly Hillbillies" to "Burke's Law,"
and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" to the Elvis Presley boxing movie "Kid
Galahad. She released two albums as a singer, "Lola Wants You" (1957)
and "Dreamsville" (1959), both with music conducted by Mancini. In
1966, she had a role as Tuesday Weld's suicidal mother in the oddball
serio-comedy "Lord Love a Duck," for which she won a best-acting award
at the Berlin Film Festival. Ms. Albright's final film appearance came
in 1968, when she played David Niven's wife in the generation-gap farce
"The Impossible Years. Her marriages to Warren Dean, actor Jack Carson,
and musician and restaurant owner Bill Chadney ended in divorce. "I was
blinded by her beauty," Carson once said, "and realized we both had
made a mistake. She leaves a stepdaughter from her third marriage. Ms.
Albright had occasional TV roles into the mid-1980s, then retired to a
life of semi-seclusion. Discussing her daring role in "A Cold Wind in
August," she said in 1961, "Some people come up to me and say, 'Lola,
you shouldn't play that kind of part - it isn't you. Well, I count to
10, bite my tongue and then tell them that I'm an actress: I don't want
to play myself.