Edie Adams

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Edie Adams
Birth name	Elizabeth Edith Enke
Born	April 16, 1927 (age 79) Kingston, Pennsylvania, USA
Other name(s)	Edith Adams
Spouse(s)	Marty Mills (1964) (divorced) Pete Candoli (1972-1989)

Edie Adams (born Elizabeth Edith Enke) is an American singer and light comedienne who was born on April 16, 1927, in Kingston, Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of both the Juilliard School of Music and the Columbia School of Drama. She was "Miss U.S. Television" in 1950. In those early television days, she was known as Edith Adams.

She began her career in television working with comedian Ernie Kovacs. They married on September 12, 1954, and remained together until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962. They had a daughter , Mia Susan, who was also killed in a car accident (in 1982) at the age of 22. Kovacs was a noted cigar smoker, and Edie did TV commercials for Muriel Cigars. She remained the pitch-lady for Muriel well after Kovacs' death, intoning in a Mae West style and sexy outfit, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" Another commercial showed the alluring Adams singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me." A Muriel cigar then cost a dime.

Kovacs' network, ABC, gave Edie a chance with her own show, Here's Edie, but it was a one-season casualty. Edie made sporadic appearances through the decades on television, including on Designing Women.

Edie Adams married actor Marty Mills in 1964. He was the father of her son, Josh Mills, her surviving child. However, the marriage ended in divorce. Her most recent marriage was to noted trumpet player Pete Candoli, which lasted from 1972 until their divorce in 1989. They toured and performed together, with Candoli serving as her music director.

She starred on Broadway in Wonderful Town (1953) opposite Rosalind Russell, and in Li'l Abner (1956). She played "Miss Olsen" in the 1960 film comedy The Apartment and is one of the few surviving headliners from the all-star movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

[edit] Filmography

• Showdown at Ulcer Gulch (1956) (short subject)
• The Apartment (1960)
• Lover Come Back (1961)
• Call Me Bwana (1963)
• Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
• The Best Man (1964)
• Made in Paris (1966)
• The Oscar (1966)
• The Honey Pot (1967)
• Up in Smoke (1978)
• Racquet (1979)
• The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980)
• Boxoffice (1982)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)

[edit] Television Work

• Ernie in Kovacsland (1951) (canceled after 2 months)
• The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952-1956)
• Cinderella (1957)
• Take a Good Look (panelist from 1960-1961)
• Here's Edie (1963-1964)
• Evil Roy Slade (1972)
• Cop on the Beat (1975)
• Superdome (1978)
• Fast Friends (1979)
• The Seekers (1979)
• Make Me an Offer (1980)
• Portrait of an Escort (1980)
• A Cry for Love (1980)
• The Haunting of Harrington House (1981)
• As the World Turns (cast member in 1982)
• Shooting Stars (1983)
• Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (1984)
• Adventures Beyond Belief (1987)
• Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989)
• Tales of the City (1993) (miniseries)

[edit] External links

• Edie Adams at the Internet Movie Database
• erniekovacs.net an Ernie Kovacs Tribute Site
• Edie's patent for a cigar holder ring

Persondata
NAME	Enke, Elizabeth Edith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Edie Adams
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American singer
DATE OF BIRTH	April 16, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kingston, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH