The scintillating, sultry-eyed blonde (formerly a redhead) star of
screen, TV and award-winning stage went on to become best known,
however, for her sensual delivery pitching cigars in taunting '60s ads
and commercials with her Mae Westian
come-on line "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" This,
of course, was at a time when smoking was considered quite sexy and
fashionable, and Edie Adams went above and beyond the call of duty in
making these ads legendary.
Edie had her hand dipped in all pools of entertainment. She was a
singing siren, an award-winning Broadway musical entertainer, a deft
impressionist and comedienne, a serious dramatic actress, a commercial
saleswoman and a viable TV celebrity. Off-stage, she showed remarkable
poise and resourcefulness when her famous first husband, landmark TV
comic Ernie Kovacs, was tragically
killed in a January 1962 car crash in Los Angeles and she found her
family finances in dire straits.
She was born Edith Elizabeth Enke on April 16, 1927, in the relatively
small town of Kingston, Pennsylvania, but moved while fairly young to
Grove City. Her family relocated again, this time to Tenafly, New
Jersey, where she grew up. Following her graduation from high school,
Edie aspired to become an opera singer and studied voice and piano at
New York's Juilliard School of Music. She then went on to take acting
classes at the Columbia School of Drama.
Her theatrical debut occurred with a 1947 production of "Blithe Spirit",
and a year later she appeared in the stage show "Goodnight Ladies".
Gradually building up her singing reputation via the nightclub circuit,
her big break came when Arthur Godfrey
booked her on his "Talent Scouts" show. She didn't come out the winner,
but a TV director who caught sight of her performance envisioned in her a
seductive "straight man" who could mesh well with a certain zany
comedian. In 1951, Edie (then known as Edith Adams) was signed up as a
featured singer on Ernie Kovacs's
comedy show that originated in Philadelphia. The show, live and
unrehearsed, became an innovative, groundbreaking effort in the
relatively new medium. Outrageous and even incomprehensible at times,
his comedy was deemed way ahead of its time and, as a result, had
problems reaching mainstream audiences who didn't "get it", and the
programs were short-lived. Various Kovacs platforms that included Edie
were
Ernie in Kovacsland (1951),
"Kovacs on the Korner" (1952), and, of course,
The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952).
She and Kovacs eloped to Mexico City in 1954 and their union produced a
daughter, Mia Kovacs. The duo were a popular
couple in the Hollywood social circuit (moving there from New York in
the late '50s) and the connections she developed out there were quite
valuable in furthering her career.
Early '50s TV opened many doors for Edie and she waltzed right through
them. Her New York stage debut in the popular musical "Wonderful Town"
in 1952 had her walking away with the Theatre World Award for "Best
Newcomer". A few years later, she slithered away with a supporting Tony
Award for her bodacious take on the "Daisy Mae" character in the
musical "Li'l Abner" (1956). Following that were more musical and
dramatic ventures on the stage, including "The Merry Widow" (1957) (a
show she would return to more than once), "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1960)
and "Free as a Bird" (1960). On film, Edie showed the public that she
wasn't just a pretty face with her sharply unsympathetic supporting
performance in Billy Wilder's
Das Appartement (1960) and a funny,
sexier one in the second of Rock Hudson and
Doris Day's three battle-of-the-sexes
romps, Ein Pyjama für zwei (1961).
Surprisingly, Edie and Ernie never appeared together in a film. Edie
remained primarily a TV fixture and, outside of her Emmy-nominated
coupling with Kovacs, winningly played the Fairy Godmother in
Julie Andrews' popular TV version
of Cinderella (1957),
appeared regularly with Jack Paar and
Dinah Shore on their respective variety
shows, acted on various prime-time shows, and graced a number of
celebrity game and talk show panels.
One of Edie's last pairings with Kovacs was in 1960 when they appeared
as guests on the very last episode of
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957).
The pair appeared as themselves, with one of the highlights being Edie
crooning the lovely ballad "That's All". Kovacs' sudden 1962 death was
a terrible reversal of fortunes for Edie. An inveterate gambler, he
left her owing much money to the IRS. Instead of filing bankruptcy,
however, she worked her way out of debt. In the process, her career
received a second wind. Perhaps it didn't hurt that the public adored
Edie and that she was a genuinely sympathetic figure in the wake of her
private tragedy.
She returned to the nightclub circuit from whence she came, recorded
albums, and also toured the country in various dramatic and musical
comedy vehicles, including "Rain" (as Sadie Thompson), "Bells Are
Ringing", "Annie Get Your Gun" (as Annie Oakley), "I Do! I Do!",
"Anything Goes" and "Bus Stop". She also received outstanding notices
in a few of her films, whether dramas
(Verliebt in einen Fremden (1963),
Der Kandidat (1964)) or frivolous
comedies (Bob auf Safari (1963),
Eine total, total verrückte Welt (1963),
Ein Ehebett zur Probe (1963),
Venedig sehen - und erben (1967)). Moreover,
she was handed her own musical variety show
Here's Edie (1963) (aka "The Edie
Adams Show") and received a couple of Emmy nominations for her efforts.
She also took advantage of her famous impressions of
Zsa Zsa Gabor and others, appearing in
various TV comedy formats.
More than anything, however, it was her come-hither temptress pitching
Muriel cigars that had TV audiences' tongues wagging. It was a
smashingly successful and highly profitable coup for Edie
professionally. Her late husband, a notorious cigar smoker, at one time
sold Dutch Master cigars on TV. The idea then for Edie to pitch a
competing slimmer cigar on TV was only natural. She had much to do with
the direction of the commercials, which ran throughout the 1960s,
providing them with a perfect blend of class, glamour and sensuality.
While growing noticeably heavier in later years, she never lost her
trademark humor and sex appeal. Edie could still be seen from time to
time on the stage in such shows as "The Best Little Whorehouse in
Texas", the female version of "The Odd Couple", "Hello, Dolly!" and
"Nunsense". She remained committed to the end to restoring/preserving
her late husband's videotapes and kinescopes of his ground-breaking '50s
TV work. She also recalled her offbeat life with Kovacs in the book
"Sing a Pretty Song", which was published in 1990.
Edie got married again in 1964, to photographer Marty Mills, with whom she had a
son, Josh Mills. That union ended in
divorce in 1971. The following year, Edie married jazz trumpeter
Pete Candoli. She and Candoli, who died in
January of 2008, divorced in 1989. In another eerie, tragic
circumstance, daughter Mia Kovacs was killed
in a 1982 Los Angeles auto accident at age 22 -- 20 years after her
father's similar demise. Suffering from cancer and losing weight in
her latter years, the beloved Edie died of complications from pneumonia at
age 81 in Los Angeles.
