EDIE ADAMS

April 16, 1927

Edie Adams was born Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Her family moved around before settling in Tenafly, New Jersey, where she attended Tenafly High School. Ada Enke taught her daughter singing and piano. Adams’s grandmother, a seamstress, taught her how to sew. She earned a vocal degree from Juilliard and then graduated from Columbia School of Drama. She studied at the Actors Studio in New York and at the Traphagen School of Fashion. Initially, Adams could not decide whether to pursue a career in fashion or music, so she tossed a coin, and music won.

In August 1949, she joined the cast of “Versatile Varieties” an early television variety show. In 1951, she became a vocalist for “Ernie in Kovacsland” and by 1954, she had married its star, comedian Ernie Kovacs. 

“Here was this guy with the big moustache, the big cigar, and the silly hat. I thought, ‘I don’t know what this is, but it’s for me’.“ ~ Edie Adams, about Ernie Kovacs

She made her Broadway debut in the musical Wonderful Town in 1952, which earned her the Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer. A few years later, she won a supporting actress Tony Award for playing Daisy Mae in the musical Li’l Abner (1956, above). In 1956, she promoted the musical on Desilu’s “The Walter Winchell Show.” Following that were more musical and dramatic ventures on the stage, as well as joining Kovacs on his various television shows.  

In April 1960, Adams and Kovacs were the very last guest stars to encounter the Ricardos as they guest-starred as themselves in “Lucy Meets the Mustache” on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.”  

In it, Adams showed off her bravura musical talents by singing the poignant ballad “That’s All” – a fitting goodbye to characters America had come to know and love. 

In a interview later in her life, Adams told a story that when she arrived on set, she was approached by Lucy’s hairstylist who insisted that she needed her hair done. Adams told her that she had just had it down that morning and the stylist confided that “Lucy doesn’t like it”.  Adams’ hair was then washed, set, and styled. Lucy took one look at it and realized it was too much like her own and told them to change it back.  So Adams’ hair was again washed, set, and styled.  All for a half-day shoot!  Desi apologized on behalf of his wife, explaining that Lucy was in a bad mood that day.

In 1961 and 1962, Adams was interviewed on the Desilu show “Here’s Hollywood.”  The series talked to celebrities in their own homes. 

In 1962 and 1963, she had her own show “Here’s Edie” for which she even got to design some of the costumes. The show was nominated for two Emmy Awards. 

In 1968, Edie Adams appeared on an episode of “The Lucy Show” as an old flame of Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon) looking to take him away from his wife. 

To scare her off, Lucy pretends to be “Mooney’s Other Wife” (TLS S6;E18).

In 2000, Adams participated in interviews for “American Masters’ Finding Lucy.”

She died on October 15, 2008 at age 81.  After Kovacs died in 1962, she married twice more. She had two children – Josh and Mia.  Like Kovacs, Mia was killed in a car crash in 1982.