K. T. Stevens
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Biography
K. T. Stevens (July 20, 1919–June 13, 1994), born Gloria Wood in Los Angeles, California, was an American film actress. The daughter of director Sam Wood, Stevens made her first film appearance when she was just two years old in her father's silent film, Peck's Bad Boy (1921). As an adult, she changed her name to distance herself from her father's fame. In 1946, she married actor Hugh Marlowe; they divorced in the late 1960s.
Stevens appeared in a number of films in the 1940s and 1950s, including Port of New York with Yul Brynner. In addition, she acted on episodic television and appeared on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless as the veiled Vanessa Prentiss. Her last film role before her death from lung cancer was in the 1994 Whoopi Goldberg film Corrina, Corrina.
www.imdb.com website Updated: 2001 |
K. T. Stevens certainly had the requisite genes for an acting career as her father was the legendary director Sam Wood and her mother a stage performer. K.T. Stevens wasted no time either. By the time she was 2 years old, she had made her film debut in her father's silent classic "Peck's Bad Boy" (1921), which starred Jackie Coogan. Christened Gloria Wood, she was billed "Baby Gloria Wood" as a toddler. Following high school she decided to pursue acting full time, taking drama lessons and apprenticing in summer stock. In 1938 she toured in two productions: "You Can't Take It with You" and "My Sister Eileen." The following year she made her Broadway debut in a walk-on role in "Summer Light" which was directed by Lee Strasberg. At this point she was calling herself "Katharine Stevens" (after her favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn), as she did not want to ride on her famous father's coattails. Eventually, she settled on the initials "K.T." which she felt added mystery and flair. Although her film career subsided, she flourished on radio ("Junior Miss") and on the Broadway stage where "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1940), "Yankee Point" (1942) and "Nine Girls" 1943) helped boost her reputation. K.T. met actor Hugh Marlowe after they appeared together on Broadway in "The Land Is Bright" (1941). Co-starring in a 1944 Chicago production of "The Voice of the Turtle," they married in 1946. The couple went on to grace more than 20 stage shows together, including a Broadway production of the classic film "Laura" in which she played the mysterious title role and he the obsessed detective. In the 1950s K.T. moved to TV episodics with "Perry Mason," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Big Valley" just a few of her guest appearances. She possessed an open-faced prettiness and seemed ideal for film noir, but her chance to break through never materialized despite decent roles in Kitty Foyle: "The Natural History of a Woman" (1940), which was directed by her father, "The Great Man's Lady" (1942) starring Barbara Stanwyck, "Port of New York" (1949) with Yul Brynner, "Vice Squad" (1953) featuring Paulette Goddard and the sci-fi film "Missile to the Moon" (1958). Following her 1967 divorce from Marlowe, K.T. abandoned acting for a time in favor of teaching nursery school. She eventually returned to TV and made some strides in daytime soaps, most notably "The Young and the Restless" (1973). She also served three terms as President of the L.A. local branch of AFTRA.
K.T. had two sons, Jeffrey, born in 1948 and Christian, born in 1951, the latter best known these days as sportscaster Chris Marlowe.
She died of lung cancer in 1994.
- K. T. Stevens appeared in YANK magazine on 25 June 1944
Filmography
- For a complete filmography, see [ K. T. Stevens ] at the Internet Movie Database
External links
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