Edie Adams

Edie Adams (April 16, 1927 – October 15, 2008) was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most particularly, Marilyn Monroe.

Adams was born as Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania. The daughter of Sheldon and Ada (Adams) Enke, the family lived in Grove City for some years and spent a year in New York City before moving to Tenafly, New Jersey, where Edie finished high school. Edie's mother taught her how to sing and play the piano; mother and daughter were members of the Grove City Presbyterian church choir. Adams' grandmother, a seamstress, taught her how to sew. She made her own clothing beginning in the sixth grade and later had her own designer line of clothing, called Bonham, Inc.



Edie on the Dumont TV Special "Miss US Television"

She earned a vocal degree from the Juilliard School of Music, and then graduated from Columbia School of Drama. Edie also studied at the Actors Studio in New York and the Traphagen School of Fashion Design, where she became adept at designing and sewing. Initially, she could not decide whether to pursue a career in fashion design or music, so she tossed a coin, with music being the winner. In 1950, she won the "Miss U.S. Television" beauty contest, which led to an appearance with Milton Berle on his television show. Her earliest television work billed her as Edith Adams. One of Edie's early television appearances was on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts". She was seen by the producer of the Ernie Kovacs show "Three To Get Ready" (in Philadelphia), who invited her to audition. Edie, who was well-trained in classical music, had very little experience with popular music and could perform only three songs. She said later, "I sang them all during the audition, and if they had asked to hear another, I never would have made it." She became part of the show in July 1951. In one of the last interviews of his life, her first husband Ernie Kovacs looked back on the early days, saying, "I wish I could say I was the big shot that hired her, but it was my show in name only--the producer had all the say. Later on I did have something to say and I said it, 'Let's get married.".

Adams began working regularly on television with comedian Ernie Kovacs and talk show pioneer Jack Paar. After a courtship that included mariachi bands and an unexpected diamond engagement ring, Adams and Ernie Kovacs eloped; they were married on September 12, 1954, in Mexico City. Initially, Edie wasn't certain about marrying Kovacs. She went on a six week European cruise, hoping to come to a decision. After just three days away and many long distance phone calls, Adams returned home with an answer-it was "yes". It was Kovacs' second marriage, and a union that lasted until his death in a car accident on January 13, 1962.

The husband-wife team of Adams and Kovacs received Emmy nominations for best performances in a comedy series in 1957. In 1960, she and husband Ernie portrayed themselves as the guest stars in the final Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz "Lucy/Ricky Ricardo" coupling hour-long TV special on the Columbia Broadcasting System network. After Kovacs' death, his network, ABC, gave Adams a chance with her own show, "Here's Edie", which received five Emmy nominations but nevertheless was on for only one season, 1963. Kovacs was a noted cigar smoker, and Adams did a long-running series of 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 for Muriel cigars, which cost ten cents, showed Adams singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me" (based on the song, "Hey Big Spender" from the musical Sweet Charity.) In subsequent years, Adams made sporadic television appearances, including on "Fantasy Island", "The Love Boat", "Murder, She Wrote", and "Designing Women."

Adams starred on Broadway in "Wonderful Town" (1953) opposite Rosalind Russell (winning the Theatre World Award), and as Daisy Mae in "Li'l Abner" (1956), winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She played the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's original 1957 "Cinderella" broadcast. Adams was to play Daisy Mae in the film version of "Li'l Abner", but was unable to due to the late arrival of her daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs.



Edie and Sid Caesar, who replaced Ernie in this role.

 Adams played supporting roles in several films in the 1960s, including the bitter secretary of two-timing Fred MacMurray in the Oscar-winning film "The Apartment" (1960) and the wife of presidential candidate Cliff Robertson in 1964's "The Best Man." In 2003, as one of the surviving headliners from the all-star comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", she joined actors Marvin Kaplan and Sid Caesar at a 40th anniversary celebration of the movie. She was also a favorite nightclub headliner. 



Ernie with Bette and Kippie

Shortly after her husband's death, Adams won a "nasty custody battle" with Kovacs' ex-wife over her stepdaughters, Kip Raleigh "Kippie" Kovacs (1949–2001) (married Bill Lancaster, (1947–1997) son of Burt Lancaster) and Elizabeth ("Bette"). His ex-wife had previously kidnapped the girls during a visit; Adams and Kovacs worked tirelessly to locate his daughters and return them to their father's custody. The 1984 film "Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter" (in which Adams plays Mae West) deals with the real-life drama. Another court battle began for Adams in the same year; this time with her mother-in-law, who refused to believe there were more debts than assets in her son's estate. Mary Kovacs accused Edie of mismanaging the estate and petitioned for custody of her granddaughters. The dispute lasted for years with Edie remaining the administrator of her husband's estate and the guardian of the three girls.

She also worked for years to pay off Kovacs' massive back-taxes debt to the IRS. The couple's celebrity friends planned a TV special benefit for Edie and her family, but she declined, saying, "I can take care of my own children." Adams spent the next year working practically non-stop.

Edie started her own businesses: Edie Adams Cosmetics, which were sold door to door, and Edie Adams Cut 'n' Curl beauty salons, which she began in 1967. Edie also once owned a 160 acre California almond farm and was the spokeswoman for Sun Giant nuts. Because of her 20 years of commercials for Muriel cigars and her successful business ventures, Adams went from being mired in debt after Kovacs' fatal accident in 1962 to being a millionaire in 1989.

She is also known for her work in archiving her husband's television work. She later testified on the status of the archive of the short lived DuMont Television Network, where both she and husband Kovacs worked during the early 1950s. Adams claimed that so little value was given to the film archive that the entire collection was loaded into three trucks and dumped into Upper New York Bay. Upon discovering that her husband's work was disappearing through being discarded and re-use of the tapes, Edie Adams initially used the proceeds of his insurance policy to purchase the rights to as much footage as possible. She also used her own earnings for this purpose.

Adams had two later marriages, briefly to photographer Martin Mills and then to trumpeter Pete Candoli, with whom she appeared in a touring production of the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes." She gave birth to two children: a daughter, Mia Susan Kovacs, who was born in 1959 and killed in an automobile accident in 1982, and a son, Joshua Mills.

Edie Adams died in Los Angeles, California at age 81. According to her son, the causes were cancer and pneumonia. Edie is buried in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery between her daughter, Mia, and her stepdaughter, Kippie.

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