Carol Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in New York City. She started modelling as a child, working under the name Carolyn Lee. She was so successful as a model that she appeared on the cover of Life when she was only 15. She was in her early teens when she began acting. Because former child actress Carolyn Lee had already registered the name with Actors Equity, she changed her stage name to "Carol Lynley." It was a simple case of taking the final syllable of "Carolyn" and combining it with the name "Lee."
Carol Lynley made her television debut in an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1956. In the final years of the Fifties she appeared on the shows The Alcoa Hour, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The DuPont Show of the Month, Pursuit, Shirley Temple's Storybook, and General Electric Theatre. She made her film debut in the Disney film The Light in the Forest in 1958. In the late Fifties she also appeared in the films Holiday for Lovers (1959), Blue Denim (1959), and Hound-Dog Man (1959). She made her debut in Broadway in The Potting Shed in 1957. She originated the role of Janet Willard in Blue Denim on Broadway the following year.
The Sixties saw Carol Lynley's film career at its height. She starred in the films Return to Peyton Place (1961), The Last Sunset (1961), The Stripper (1963), Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963), The Cardinal (1963), Shock Treatment (1964), The Pleasure Seekers (1964), Harlow (1965), Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), The Shuttered Room (1967), Danger Route (1967), The Maltese Bippy (1969), Once You Kiss a Stranger... (1969), and Norwood (1970). She made several guest appearances on television during the decade, including the shows The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Alcoa Premiere, The Virginian, The Dick Powell Show, Run for Your Life, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Invaders, The F.B.I., Journey to the Unknown, The Big Valley, It Takes a Thief, The Immortal, The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, and The Most Deadly Game.
By the early Seventies Miss Lynley's film career was in decline. Despite a high profile role in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), most of her career was spent in television during the decade. She also appeared in the films Beware! The Blob (1972), Cotter (1973), The Four Deuces (1975), Bad Georgia Road (1977), The Washington Affair (1977), The Cat and Canary (1978), and The Shape of Things to Come (1979). On television she made several guest appearances on Fantasy Island. She also guest starred on the shows Night Gallery, The Sixth Sense, Orson Welles' Great Mysteries, The Magician, The Evil Touch, Thriller, Quincy M.E., Police Woman, Kojak, Future Cop, Hawaii Five-O, Richie Brockelman Private Eye, Sword of Justice, The Littlest Hobo, and Charlie's Angels. She appeared in several TV movies throughout the decade,the most notable of which was The Night Stalker (which would eventually lead to the TV show Kolchak: The Night Stalker). She appeared one last time on Broadway in Absurd Person Singular.
In the Eighties she guest starred on the shows Hart to Hart, Baker's Dozen, The Fall Guy, Hotel, Fantasy Island, Tales of the Unexpected, Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, Finder of Lost Loves, Night Heat, Another World, and Monsters. She appeared in the films Vigilante (1982), Balboa (1983), Blackout (1988), Dark Tower (1989), and Spirits (1990).
In the Nineties Carol Lynley appeared in the movies Neon Signs (1996), Flypaper (1999), and Drowning on Dry Land (1999). In the Naughts she appeared in the feature film A Light in the Forest (2003) and the short subject "Vic" (2006).
Carol Lynley's career began at what was in some ways a fortuitous time for her. In the late Fifties and early Sixties, blonde, teenage actresses were very much in fashion, examples of which include Sandra Dee, Hayley Mills, Tuesday Weld, and, on the other side of the Pond, Julia Lockwood. That having been said, Carol Lynley went beyond the wholesome, sensitive image of her early career. In Return to Peyton Place she played a bestselling author who returns to her hometown and has an affair with a married man. In Under the Yum Yum Tree she played a young woman whose boyfriend moves in with her (a strictly platonic arrangement) in order to determine how compatible they are. In The Pleasure Seekers she played a secretary who had just ended an affair and is in love with her boss. In Bunny Lake is Missing she played a mother whose daughter has disappeared (the "Bunny" of the title). In The Poseidon Adventure she played the singer of the ship of the title (although her singing voice was dubbed by singer Renee Armand). On television Carol Lynley played an even wider variety of roles. Starting out as one of many teenage blondes in Hollywood in the Fifties, Carol Lynley proved extremely versatile as an actress.
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