Many older baby boomers probably still have a soft spot in their heart for the perky and talented Connie Stevens, who started her show business career as a teen singer, then moved into small movie roles (mentored by Jerry Lewis).  She finally found national prominence with her role as Cricket Blake in the popular TV series Hawaiian Eye, which ran from 1959 to 1962.  Around the same time, a talented and good-looking young actor named James Stacy was appearing on TV on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet and making headway in some minor movie roles.  These two attractive young people met, fell in love, and later married on October 12, 1963.

Connie was under contract to Warner Bros., who also gave her additional chances for big-screen stardom in several dramatic films including Susan Slade and Parrish, in addition to casting her in many of their other TV shows like 77 Sunset Strip and in guest roles in their popular Westerns Sugarfoot, Maverick,  and Cheyenne.  Meanwhile, James Stacy was getting a few nice movie roles in lightweight young adult comedies like A Swingin’ Summer and Winter-A-Go-Go, and then more TV in masculine-themed series like Combat! and TV oaters like Cimarron Strip and The Monroes. 

By that time, however, Connie Stevens’ and James Stacy’s glamorous Hollywood fairytale marriage was coming to an end, and they divorced in 1966.  The two young performers lives may have diverged at this point, but both went on to interesting careers.  Connie, of course, found her true path as a light comedic actress and eminently well-preserved sex symbol who was a frequent TV guest star and appeared in many movies, including Way..Way Out opposite her early supporter Jerry Lewis, Grease 2, and many more.  She was a frequent guest on Bob Hope’s USO tours and on his specials.  Ms. Stevens also branched out into the life of a successful entrepreneur, selling cosmetics and spa products, in addition to producing and directing a number of documentaries and getting involved in the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild.  (Connie married singer Eddie Fisher in 1967, but they were divorced in 1969, and she has not remarried.)

Fate wasn’t quite as kind to James Stacy.  He married actress Kim Darby in 1968, but their marriage lasted little over a year.  In 1968 Stacy started a three-year run in the popular TV Western Lancer, and in 1969 appeared opposite Raquel Welch in the theatrical Flare-up.  Many guest star roles on major TV series of the day came up on a regular basis, and if his career wasn’t perhaps everything that his looks and talent might have promised, he was still young enough and many roles were no doubt still in his future. 

What he didn’t count on was September 27, 1973, when he was out riding his motorcycle with his girlfriend on the back.  They were struck by a drunk driver; Stacy’s girlfriend was killed and Stacy suffered catastrophic injuries, including losing his left arm and leg.  Despite this shocking accident and the tremendous battle it took to come back from it, Stacy began acting again, first in the 1975 western Posse starring Kirk Douglas.  He garnered kudos for his work in Just a Little Inconvenience, a TV movie co-starring Lee Majors and Barbara Hershey, about a discouraged wounded Vietnam war veteran who amazingly learns to ski.  Stacy was an avid skier himself, and of course this movie was designed with his courage and capabilities in mind, and he received an Emmy nomination for his work.  Other interesting movie and TV roles followed, parts in movies like Something Wicked This Way Comes and especially TV guest roles in series like Cagney & Lacey (another Emmy nomination), Highway to Heaven and the sophisticated crime drama Wiseguy.

His last movie role was in 1991’s F/X2, and his story gets fairly melodramatic at this point.  In 1995 he’s involved in a serious molestation case, flees to Hawaii and tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.  He did time at California’s Chino penal facility and today has a website and a still-loyal following of fans who haven’t forgotten the charm and talent of James Stacy, despite the buffeting life has given him.