In the late fifties and early sixties, Edie Adams was married to the very funny Ernie Kovacs. She appeared on his TV show with him. He coasted between very experimental comedy TV shows and some fun parts in movies (very funny in "Bell, Book and Candle," nicely dramatic in "Strangers When We Meet.")
Kovacs died tragically in a car crash in early 1962...leaving a Beverly Hills party in the car wife Edie Adams had driven TO the party. They switched cars, he drove home alone and crashed on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Grief-stricken at Kovacs' death, Edie Adams also learned that her free-spending husband owed millions to the IRS.
She refused charity from Hollywood celebs, but instead sought roles in movies and on TV. She got a lot of them.
Funny thing: she was great in "The Apartment' and "Lover Come Back" while Ernie Kovacs was still alive. But she was just as great -- no change, really -- in the movies she made after he died: Its a Mad Mad World, Call Me Bwana, and quite nicely dramatic in The Best Man. Aided by some tax courses she took at UCLA, Edie Adams paid off all her back taxes from her beloved Ernie.
I think of Edie Adams bravery whenever I see her in one of these 60's movies...but I must say I think of her great beauty and smiling personality FIRST.
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GreatPersonality
12 years ago
When I was a young girl in Washington state in the 70s, there was an Edie Adams' Cut 'n Curl beauty salon in the Hi-Ho shopping center in Puyallup. My mom sometimes went there. I asked her "Who is Edie Adams?" and she told me the story of her being married to Ernie Kovacs (whom my dad really enjoyed so I remembered the name) and how his death left her with a lot of debt to the IRS. She told me that Edie paid back the entire amount due. So if my memory is correct (no guarantees) then Edie also paid back the IRS from other earnings, as well. Even when I was young I admired the ingenuity and spunk of that actress. She was memorable in this movie.
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