Carroll Baker Biography

Movie legend Carroll Baker was born on May 28, 1931 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania to Virginia Baker and William Baker, a travelling salesman of Polish Ancestry. She got her education from St. Petersburg College in Florida and worked then as a magician’s assistant and dancer.

In 1953, she started her film career by portraying a small role in “Easy to Love”. She also appeared in TV commercials and attended workshops at Actors Studio in New York after her separation with first husband Louie Ritter. Her appearance in the Broadway production “All Summer Long” impressed famed director Elia Kazan who gave her a breakthrough in the controversial film “Baby Doll” in 1956, the film that took her to instant fame and gave her a very much deserved Academy Award nomination.

Carroll Baker appeared in variety of film genres: romances, such as “The Miracle” where she was paired by Roger Moore (1959); westerns including The Big Country (1958) and How the West Was Won (1962); melodramas including “Something Wild” (1961) which was directed by her second husband Jack Garfein. She also starred in Garson Kanin’s “Come on Strong” on Broadway in 1962.

In 1964, Carroll Baker did the movie “Carpetbaggers” where romance sparkled between her and the film’s producer, Joseph E. Levine. Under Levine, she starred in two sexy films in 1965 entitled “Sylvia” and "Harlow". The latter, however did not succeed in spite of much publicity and the relationship between her and Joseph Lavine ended too, after this film.

Carroll Baker moved to Italy after her drawn-out legal dispute with Paramount Pictures and divorce from her second marriage. Several years had passed then starred in thrillers, including The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968), Paranoia (1970), and Baba Yaga (1973). During those times, shooting locations brought her to different parts of the world and finally, she was brought back to America when she played the lead role in Andy Warhol’s “Bad” (1977).

Carroll Baker transformed into character work in the 80’s when she played the mother of Dorothy Stratten in “Star 80” (1983) and Jack Nicholson's wife in “Ironweed” (1987). It was also during the 80’s when she married her third husband Donald Burton and when the three books which she had written were published; “Baby Doll, An Autobiography” (in 1983), and “A Roman Tale” and “To Africa, With Love” (both in 1985).

Carroll Baker’s continued to do film and television works a few times during the nineties. In 2006, the DVD version of Baby Doll, which features a documentary about the impact the film had on her career, was released.

Carroll Baker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1725 Vine Street.