Lolita actress Sue Lyon passes away at age 73… after being cast in Stanley Kubrick’s controversial film at age 14
The actress who will for ever be remembered as the teenage star of Lolita has died aged 73.
Sue Lyon was just 14 years old when she was cast as the title character in director Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 adaptation of the novel by Vladimir Nabokov.
First published in 1955, the book won notoriety for its tale of a middle-aged man, Humbert Humbert, who is sexually obsessed with 12-year-old Lolita.
Sue Lyon passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday, at the age of 73. She’s seen here circa 1982
Kubrick cast Ms Lyon after auditioning 800 girls for the part, described by Nabokov’s protagonist as ‘the perfect nymphet’. Starring James Mason as Humbert and Peter Sellers as his rival, the film was marketed with the slogan: ‘How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?’
Ms Lyon’s relatively mature appearance made the film somewhat less shocking for early 1960s audiences and helped it to get past the censor, albeit with an X rating.
The film critic of The New York Times wrote at the time: ‘She looks to be a good 17 years old, possessed of a striking figure and a devilishly haughty air. The distinction is fine, we will grant you, but she is definitely not a “nymphet”.’
Ms Lyon was born in Devonport, Iowa, in 1946.
She won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for Lolita, but although she also starred alongside Richard Burton in the torrid 1964 drama The Night Of The Iguana, her career rarely touched the heights afterwards. She was wed five times, with her 1973 marriage to Cotton Adamson hitting the headlines because he was serving a prison sentence for murder.
They divorced a year later, with Ms Lyon claiming her marriage had had a negative impact on her career. She said: ‘I’ve been told by people in the movie business, specifically producers and film distributors, that I won’t get a job because I’m married to Cotton.’
Ms Lyon, who died on Boxing Day in Los Angeles, is survived by a daughter, Nona.
Iconic: Lyon was best known for playing the title role in Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1962 film, Lolita [pictured], in which she was cast at just 14 years old
RIP: Lyon starred in more than two dozen films and television shows during her career, which spanned from 1959 to 1980. Seen here in 1964
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