--- name: "Carroll Baker" canonical: "https://film.one/person/carroll-baker" roles: ["Actor"] born: "28 May 1931" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T04:08:13.683065+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Carroll Baker Actor. Born 28 May 1931 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 28 May 1931, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA - **Active:** 1956–1962 - **Also known as:** Carrol Baker, Karolina Piekarski, کارول بیکر - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 74 (1), 1960s 62 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Baker, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q233891, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004647/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14701 ## Fi1m on Carroll Baker > Carroll Baker was trained to play wanting, and Hollywood mostly asked her to be wanted. The two films we have reviewed give her a chapter and a subject rather than a part; the one that gave her a lead, *Baby Doll*, fixed her image. In *How the West Was Won* (1962), Carroll Baker's Eve Prescott looks at James Stewart's trapper and decides, more or less on sight, that she will marry him. Stewart is well into middle age, the film hopes we will not notice, and Baker has about a minute to make the wanting real before Henry Hathaway hands the story on to Debbie Reynolds and the wagon train. That was her position for much of her career. She trained at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg, where the feeling is meant to be built slowly and from underneath, and the pictures kept asking her to have it ready by the second reel. 1956 was the year. *Giant* gave her Luz Benedict II, the rancher's daughter, in George Stevens's Texas saga, and *Baby Doll*, Elia Kazan's film of Tennessee Williams, gave her a lead and the image she carried afterwards. From then on she was cast, and seen, as a sex symbol, and *The Carpetbaggers* (1964) confirmed it. In between came the westerns: *The Big Country* (1958) for William Wyler, and two films with John Ford, whom she called Pappy and said she was grateful forever to have worked with. Contract disputes sent her to Europe in the late 1960s and 1970s; she came back to American supporting roles and television from the late 1970s, with *Ironweed* (1987) the one critics noticed, and stopped acting around 2003. Neither of the films we have reviewed is a fair test, and we should say so. *Giant* is an hour too long, and the hour it did not need is the one she is in. The children grow up, Baker and Dennis Hopper and Sal Mineo arrive, and the screenplay hands each of them a topic to stand for instead of a person to be. We felt for her: the first ninety minutes had shown racism in a kitchen and in a doctor's refusal, and she is brought on to have it explained to her. *How the West Was Won* is more parade than film, and she is the float that goes past first. We were bored through most of her chapter, though the fault is Hathaway's pacing and a script that has Stewart's Linus and everyone else waiting for the next set piece. What we can see in both is an actor doing the small, interior work the Actors Studio taught, in films built to be looked at from a distance. Cinerama does not reward a flicker across a face, and a five-chapter saga does not stop to watch one. The studio wanted a symbol and had hired a student of Strasberg, and neither side got over it. It is a strange thing to be part of the reason a film is an hour too long and to have been given nothing to do in that hour. In *Giant*, Baker manages both, and none of it is her fault. ## Biography Carroll Baker is an American actress. She was born on 28 May 1931 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, she began performing on Broadway in 1954. Baker made her film debut in a supporting role as Luz Benedict II in *Giant* (1956). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her leading performance in *Baby Doll* (1956). Other early film roles include *The Big Country* (1958) and *How the West Was Won* (1962). In the mid-1960s she appeared in *The Carpetbaggers* (1964) and *Harlow* (1965). Baker later worked in Europe, starring in several Italian giallo and horror films. She returned to American cinema with supporting roles in *Star 80* (1983) and *Kindergarten Cop* (1990). She retired from acting in the early 2000s. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *How the West Was Won* (1962), Fi1m 62, as Eve Prescott Rawlings — [page](https://film.one/film/how-the-west-was-won.md) - *Giant* (1956), Fi1m 74, as Luz Benedict II — [page](https://film.one/film/giant-1956.md) ## Complete filmography (83) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Lyon's Den* (2003), series, as Jack's Mother - *Another Woman's Husband* (2000), as Laurel’s mother - *Roswell* (1999), series, as Claudia Parker - *Nowhere to Go* (1998), as Nana - *Rag and Bone* (1998), as Sister Marie, Tony's Aunt - *Heart Full of Rain* (1997), as Edith Pearl Dockett - *The Game* (1997), as Ilsa - *Skeletons* (1997), as Nancy Norton - *North Shore Fish* (1997), as Arlyne - *Just Your Luck* (1996), as Momie - *E! True Hollywood Story* (1996), series, Actor - *La signora della città* (1996), as Martha Sheppard - *Dalva* (1996), as Naomi - *Storie di seduzione* (1995), as Diana's Mother - *In the Flesh* (1995), as Elaine Mitchelson - *Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage* (1994), as Baby Doll Meighan (archive footage) - *Chicago Hope* (1994), series, as Sylvie Tannen - *A Kiss to Die For* (1993), as Mrs. Graham - *Men Don't Tell* (1993), as Ruth - *Judgment Day: The John List Story* (1993), as Alma List - *Cyber Eden* (1992), as Madame - *Blonde Fist* (1991), as Lovell Summers - *P.S. I Luv U* (1991), series, as Victoria - *Kindergarten Cop* (1990), as Eleanor Crisp - *Gipsy Angel* (1990), as Pheobe - *Grand* (1990), series, as Viva - *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), series, as Mother Paloma ("segment "The Trap") - *Ironweed* (1987), as Annie Phelan - *On Fire* (1987), as Maureen Leary - *Native Son* (1986), as Mrs. Dalton - *L.A. Law* (1986), series, as Rae Morrison - *What Mad Pursuit* (1985), as Louise Steinhauser - *Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil* (1985), as Gerda Hoffman - *Murder, She Wrote* (1984), series, as Sibella Stone - *The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud* (1984), as Mama Freud - *Sharing Time* (1984), series, as Fran Haley - *Star 80* (1983), as Dorothy's Mum - *Red Monarch* (1983), as Ellen Brown - *American Playhouse* (1982), series, as Mrs. Dalton - *The Watcher in the Woods* (1980), as Helen Curtis - *The World Is Full of Married Men* (1979), as Linda Cooper - *Cyclone* (1978), as Sheila - *Bad* (1977), as Hazel Aiken - *Shattered Dreams* (1976), as Carol - *Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife* (1976), as Laura - *Blackmail Chase* (1976), as Polly Pott - *The Sky is Falling* (1975), as Treasure - *The Private Lesson* (1975), as Laura Formenti - *The Next Victim* (1975), as Sandy Marshall - *Valentina... The Virgin Wife* (1975), as Lucia - *The Body* (1974), as Madeliene - *The Flower with Petals of Steel* (1973), as Evelyne Graffi - *Baba Yaga* (1973), as Baba Yaga - *Thriller* (1973), series, as Sandy Marshall - *Knife of Ice* (1972), as Martha Caldwell - *The Devil with Seven Faces* (1971), as Julie Harrison / Mary Harrison - *Captain Apache* (1971), as Maude - *The Fourth Victim* (1971), as Julie Spencer / Lillian Martin - *A Quiet Place to Kill* (1970), as Helen - *So Sweet... So Perverse* (1969), as Nicole Perrier - *W. Somerset Maugham* (1969), series, as Sadie Thompson - *Paranoia* (1969), as Kathryn West - *The Sweet Body of Deborah* (1968), as Deborah - *Jack of Diamonds* (1967), as Carroll Baker - *The Harem* (1967), as Margherita - *Harlow* (1965), as Jean Harlow - *Mister Moses* (1965), as Julie Anderson - *The Greatest Story Ever Told* (1965), as Veronica - *Sylvia* (1965), as Sylvia: West (Karoki, Kay, Carlyle) - *Cheyenne Autumn* (1964), as Deborah Wright - *The Carpetbaggers* (1964), as Rina Marlowe Cord - *The Paradise Suite* (1963), as Lena Roland - *Station Six-Sahara* (1963), as Catherine - *How the West Was Won* (1962), as Eve Prescott Rawlings — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/how-the-west-was-won.md) - *Something Wild* (1961), as Mary Ann Robinson - *Bridge to the Sun* (1961), as Gwen Terasaki - *The Miracle* (1959), as Teresa - *But Not for Me* (1959), as Ellie Brown / Borden - *The Big Country* (1958), as Patricia Terrill - *Baby Doll* (1956), as Baby Doll Meighan - *Giant* (1956), as Luz Benedict II — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/giant-1956.md) - *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, as Lena Roland - *Easy to Love* (1953), as Clarice ## Gallery - ![Carroll Baker in 1964 portrait promoting Harlow](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-8c094783536a.jpg) Carroll Baker in 1964 portrait promoting Harlow — Paramount Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Carroll_Baker_1964_portrait.jpg/1280px-Carroll_Baker_1964_portrait.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Carroll Baker photographed by Norman Hargood on the set of Station Six-Sahara (1963)](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-0e4f0591decb.jpg) Carroll Baker photographed by Norman Hargood on the set of Station Six-Sahara (1963) — Hargood, Norman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Carroll_Baker_Station_Six_63.jpg/1280px-Carroll_Baker_Station_Six_63.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Carroll Baker](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-aa378971b2eb.jpg) Carroll Baker — Image via TMDB - ![Carroll Baker](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-a3886076460a.jpg) Carroll Baker — Image via TMDB - ![Carroll Baker](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-176b24d57fcf.jpg) Carroll Baker — Image via TMDB - ![Carroll Baker](https://film.one/media/person/1238682/gallery-3b4e6f1b12c8.jpg) Carroll Baker — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1957: Best Actress (nominated), for *Baby Doll* ### Other awards — 2 won - star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 1960: star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (won) - Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year 1957: Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/carroll-baker