Sue Lyon

Sue Lyon is an American actress who was born on July 10, 1946, in Davenport, Iowa, and died on December 26, 2019. She is best known for her role as Dolores “Lolita” Haze in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film Lolita; For this performance, he won the Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Lyon, who grew up as the youngest of five siblings in his early childhood, lost his father just before his birthday. In order to support her family financially, she became a child model in Dallas, and then her mother took her to Los Angeles to look for wider opportunities. The young girl, who started modeling for the JCPenney agency at the age of 11, gained her first acting experiences in programs such as "Dennis the Menace" and "The Loretta Young Show" in 1959.

He became friends with Michelle Gilliam (later Michelle Phillips), whom he met in California; A year ago, Gilliam gifted Lyon the novel "Lolita", and this book became an important reference for the movie in which Lyon would star in the future.

Lyon's film career was shaped by her roles in important productions such as John Huston's "The Night of the Iguana" (1964), John Ford's "7 Women" (1966), Frank Sinatra's "Tony Rome" (1967) and George C. Scott's "The Flim Flam Man" (1967). However, job offers decreased in the 1970s and he ended his acting activities following the movie "Alligator" in 1980.

As for the movie "Lolita", Lyon, who had only two small role experience, was chosen among 800 candidates and took the lead role when she was 14 years old. While 53-year-old James Mason was next to him, British actress Jill Haworth was initially preferred, and although it was later offered to the young star Hayley Mills, who was contracted with Disney, the studio rejected this choice.

In the Los Angeles Times' news dated September 28, 1960, it was announced that Lyon had been cast; The film had its world premiere in New York on June 13, 1962, and was subsequently released in Germany, England and France. Lyon's performance in this role received critical acclaim and earned him a Golden Globe award; He was only 15 years old when he attended the premiere.

In the same year, MGM Records released a 7-inch record containing a single called "Lolita Ya Ya" and a song called "Turn off The Moon", but these songs did not find a place in the charts. Although writer Vladimir Nabokov thought Lyon was the right choice for the role, he later stated that the ideal actress was Catherine Demongeot in the movie "Zazie dans le Métro"; Demongeot is four years younger than Lyon.

Sue Lyon was born on July 10, 1946 in Davenport, Iowa, USA. He passed away on December 26, 2019.

Productions in which he took part

He took part in 32 productions in total; 12 of the most well-known are listed.

• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
• What's My Line? (1950)
• Love, American Style (1969) — Barbara
• Fantasy Island (1978) — Jill Nolan
• The Bob Hope Show (1950)
• Night Gallery (1970)
• Police Story (1973)
• Dennis the Menace (1959) — Blonde with Valentine Card (uncredited)
• Letter to Loretta (1953) — Laurie
• Lolita (1962) — Dolores "Lolita" Haze
• Alligator (1980) — ABC Newswoman
• The Night of the Iguana (1964) — Charlotte Goodall

Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.